Sharla & I left Barstow this morning after a wonderful night’s rest and headed up the east side of the Sierra Nevada to the eastern entrance to Yosemite National Park. Very warm, but the mountains were right there, nearly close enough to touch, including Mount Whitney, the highest point in the United States.
One of the “cool” things that we did on the way was to stop at a Jerky Shop that had been advertized for over 100 miles before we got there. (“Great Jerky 100 miles ahead”…”Great Jerky 50 miles ahead”…”Great Jerky 20 miles ahead”…well, you get the idea!) By the time we got there I was having cravings for jerky for some reason! So when we got there, we stopped and went in. The store itself is really small – just a little bigger than my living room at home – and there was very little in the store; just three kinds of jerky (shrink wrapped for freshness), a few different kinds of nuts, and a few kinds of dried fruit. Anyway, we bought some o
f the regular jerky and took it with us – a total stop time of about 3 minutes. (The jerky was fine – not the best I ever had, but definitely better than the dessicated stuff that you get in most stores.)
The approach to Yosemite from the east is over Tioga Pass (top altitude right at the entry gate: 9,975 feet!), and climbs about 5000 feet out of the desert into pine trees and two feet of snow along both sides of the road in about 15 minutes. We were greeted by the ranger at the gate (our pass and id was already in my hand) with her saying, “I’m closed, so go on in!” (Interesting!) so we just headed on in. For quite a while we drove along with things looking just like a spring drive in the Cascades. Then we stopped at a pull-out where we could see the Yosemite Valley, and the view was spectacular. It is all formations made of granite in various shades of gray. There was Half Dome and a few other peaks that I couldn’t identify.
From there we drove along the valley with no other views of these landmarks, finally turning into the entrance to the Valley itself. Driving along the Merced River (which I mistakenly thought was the “Yosemite River”, which doesn’t exist!), we came to several pullouts and overlooks, and the view was amazing from all of them. There are several waterfalls that make Multnomah Falls look like a leaky faucet – I’m talking a more than 1000 foot drop straight down! We drove by El Capitan, and then arrived at the Village and a very nicely done Visitor Center. We took in the sights for aobut 3 hours, and then drove an hour to get to a little town called Mariposa, about 30 miles away from the park, where we are spending the night. By the way, this is a small town, which means that it was a bit of a trick finding something to eat after 9 at night – everything’s closed! (We finally found a Chinese restaurant who was open for 10 more minutes, so we ordered some Mandarin Chicken, Chicken Chow Mein, and Fried Pork Fried Rice, to go. The food was fair [Chan’s of Dundee is DEFINITELY better by a long way], but it satisfied our hungries.
Tomorrow we are headed for the valley, and then north toward home (we have to be back in town by evening time, day after tomorrow). Stopping place uncertain at this point, but we probably WON’T get all the way home tomorrow.
Keep praying!
Love to all,
Pastor Will & Sharla