Day 1:
We headed out in the morning and decided to drive down through Santaquin, over to Eureka, across miles of desert that led us through the fascinating town of Tonopah, NV. I seriously wanted to take pictures of that quaint little place all afternoon. This was my favorite sign:
I laughed for a good long time over that sign.
We continued through fields of windmills,
a crazy beautiful lightning storm (which of course did not show up on this video but at least you can see the rain),
more desert,
some hilly roads,
and finally into Yosemite.
I had no idea this route to California even existed but I highly recommend it if you ever get the chance to take the drive. I was completely intrigued by the little towns we drove through, and the long stretching roads were pleasantly uncluttered with traffic.
We arrived in Yosemite just before the sun dipped over the horizon, when the whole world is bathed in that honey colored golden light. It was magical. We stopped at a small scattering of cabins that bordered a lodge and a meadow that ran right up to the edge of a large Granite Slab. I was so happy I almost started belting out "Rocky Mountain High" right then and there (hey, it seemed fitting), although, if my memory serves me correctly I did let out a few uncontained squeals of delight. Ha.
Up above the parking lot was an amphitheater bordered by some white zig zagging Christmas lights hanging in the trees. Someone was playing the guitar and singing into a microphone. We were drawn to the sound and wandered up that way until we met a sign that stated it was the employee village. Part of me wishes we would have gone and checked out the scene anyway but we still had to find a campsite and the light was starting to fade. We turned around and headed back down the hill while I soaked in the acoustic rasp of the guitar and the pure mystery of this wild new place. A couple of flannel clad guys were hiking up the hill as we were heading down. One of them, with light brown hair and a few days of handsome scruff smiled at me as our eyes met. He looked a little something like this:
(See: Flannel Shirt + Light Brown Hair + Handsome Scruff = Good Combination)
Do you know how long it has been since a handsome boy smiled at me just so? It was kind of fun. And it made me think I should go on road trips to cool places a little more often.
When the last rays of sunshine were hitting the mountaintops we got our first glimpse of Half Dome:
It is teeny tiny from this overlook but I was still completely thrilled by the sight.
This is a slightly closer view with Brent & Katie hamming it up.
After we stopped for a few pictures we sped on out of there in search of a campsite. Let me just say that looking for a spot to lay our heads, after 10:00 p.m,. in one of the most popular National Parks in America, was no easy task. Even though we arrived on a Tuesday night all the campgrounds were full. After driving around the desired loop several times a kind hearted man (who happens to own an REI Store in Virginia) and his wife let us share a site with them. We were sooo grateful. I was so tired/hungry that I was starting to go into crazy, laughy, weird mode. I think Katie was a little surprised to see that side of me. At that point we almost skipped dinner in favor of our sleeping bags but we had to unload all of our food from the car anyway and put it in a bear locker (funny story about this coming up in part 2), so we boiled some water and cooked up a few mountain house meals before turning in for the night. I snuggled down into my bed and thought about bears before drifting off to sleep; their shaggy coats weaving their way around my dreams.
