Day 3, Friday, July 23, 2010

We started with a drive to Yosemite National Park. Cold coastal fog gave way to hot, toasted hills. Miles and miles of golden brown farm land. Signs for Cherries-Oranges-Artichokes! are replaced by Cashews-Pistachios-Nuts! I’m curious about the town of Los Banos. Wondering if we should have a restroom break just because.

Drove past our hotel at Mariposa. While trying to turn around, we stumbled upon the Mariposa Historic Jail. It only had five rooms – one for misdemeanor prisoners, one for felony prisoners, two solitary confinements, and a sweltering upstairs exercise room/gallows entrance. On the misdemeanor side, one of the prisoners had drawn a picture of a buzzard smoking a cigarette. On the other (felony) side, there was a picture of a dog by the same prisoner. Our guide didn’t say whether the art was by Henry Ivy, the last man executed there in 1879.

Yosemite. Crowded. We visited the valley on the first day. Our idea was to park and take the shuttle to see the various high points. But by the time we waited in line for the bus, then the bus sat in traffic, it was quicker to walk. We left the valley loop and headed down to see the sequoias at Mariposa Grove. Saw a big beautiful doe standing by the side of the road. Mariposa Grove was much less packed. The trees were amazing. On the way back to the parking lot, we were stalked by a grey fox (he was trying to get across the trail and was looking for a break in the groups of hikers). There were lots of crows, robins, and Stellar’s jays. The ground squirrels weren’t quite tame, but they weren’t too bothered by people, either. Kimberly had a bad nosebleed and had to go to the bathrooms to wash hands. The composting toilets were perhaps a bit over-capacity and it was truly rank. Alex kicked up dust on the trail the entire way and was technically too filthy to get in the car, but we couldn’t just leave him there. We saw two more deer on the way back to the hotel.

Andrew’s highlights: Mariposa Grove; Grizzly Giant; Tunnel Tree; wrong turn in valley, causing a repeat; Plankton sound-alike competition, very smelly composting toilet, Kimberly running through restaurant, shouting “Mommy had to help pull it out with toilet paper!” dry, hot, kind of boring in the middle; fox sighting, Mariposa Jail; $25 hats in Yosemite shop; filthy Alex with light barely making it through his light-up shoes.