Yosemite National Park – What more can you say?

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Our journey took us from Las Vegas to Yosemite. There couldn’t really be a greater contrast. It seems as though pretty much everywhere we visit is our personal favourite of California – but this really is it.

We changed our routing at the last minute for a more straightforward journey courtesy of a bit more web research, it seemed that the road we were planning to take was not advisable and might even be closed, even though it’s only October. Had this been the case, we faced a possible 9 hour detour – not worth the risk!

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So, the drive itself was a fairly straightforward 8 hours or so – but with an overnight stop in Bakersfield (ok, but certainly no reason to go there other than to stopover). The next morning we left at 7 am to get into the Park by 10 am and arrived at the South entrance, intending to drive through to Yosemite village and see the main sights, then leave by the West exit where we were staying overnight.

After a couple of hours on the state highway, we started travelling through the most beautiful scenery – forests, rocks and rivers – that you could imagine. Our maximum speed was 40 mph for the next hour and we stopped several times for photo opportunities.

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Then we arrived at the Park itself! OK, so we’d thought we were there all along!

So, many more stops and many more photographs later, and we eventually arrived at the visitor centre for a refreshment stop and to review our maps. Because we had already seen many of the main sights on the road from the south, and were likely to see more on our way through, we opted for a walk around the village itself and follow the path through to the famous waterfall. Another faux pas. On asking one of the rangers where the waterfall actually was, Jackie was promptly told ‘well ma’am, you see it don’t rain too much here through the summer, so you’re actually looking at it, but it’s dry right now …’

I'm not leaving 'till I've seen a bear...
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Oh well, off for some bear hunting then. No luck there either, although we did see several squirrels this time and some deer.

Anyway, the Park is truly stunning and can only be even more beautiful in the winter when it snows, although we wouldn’t fancy the roads then. Hope you enjoy the photos.

Now, if you want a real laugh, we stayed that night at the Yosemite View Lodge. Sounds glamorous? Not! Have a look at the reviews on www.tripadvisor.com – they say it all, especially about the ‘dining experience’. We did laugh.