20 Tuesday

Before leaving Mariposa we visited the Visitors Centre to get some info on Yosemite. We entered Yosemite via the southern entrance and made our way up to Glacier Point (took us about an hour and a half). What a magnificent view. It was a view of Grand Canyon proportions. We were all quite overwhelmed by it. We visited the souvenir shop here and had a picnic lunch overlooking the view. After lunch we drove down into Yosemite valley. We stopped at heaps of vantage points to look at the fantastic views looking upwards towards Glacier Point at the sheer white stone hundreds of metres high. We looked around Yosemite Village and once again another souvenir shop. Also visited the visitors center. Even though it was Autumn (Fall) there were quite a few tourists, many belonging to tour parties. By all accounts this a good time of year to visit as apparently in mid-summer you cant move here. The weather was quite cloudy with a few spots of rain but it was still quite hot. Our destination for tonight was Lee Vining which is a small town on the other side of the Sierra Nevadas and we were beginning to think that we were running out of time to make it that far. However we had a good run up over the Tioga Pass (9,500 feet approx). Raewyn decided to have a practice run at this altitude to see how fit she was. Arrived at Lee Vining and managed to get the last accommodation available. Had dinner at a local restaurant but had to wait ages to get served so decided not to tip. We managed to sneak out after paying for our meal knowing we wouldn’t be coming here again.

 

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