A Lot of Prayers Were Said

19 Oct18

Larry earned serious brownie points this morning by braving the chilly morning air to get coffees from the Curry Village shop.  After a quick breaky in our room (muesli bar and an apple) we decided to hike to Mirror Lake. We had read the signs about this being mountain lion country so Jenny decided a mountain lion bashing stick was her chosen method of defence so that stick came to Mirror Lake and back with us.  It did its job of keeping the mountain lions away!  Well Mirror Lake turned out to be Mirror Sand pit as it was very dry without a hint of moisture. Oh well lots of steps on the Fitbits and still very scenic with the morning sun on the granite rock faces.

  

     

                                                       

We walked all the way into Yosemite Village and went into the village shop  (what a tardis – looked tiny on the outside by huge inside) and checked out the touristy things to buy.  Jenny ended up with a good priced jacket to replace the ones that Kate has purloined. After this frenetic shopping spree we headed to the cafe to purchase a roll to share as most things in America are large, one roll between two people is sufficient for lunch.

After that we jumped on the free shuttle bus that goes all over Yosemite valley so we could look at the sites without expending any energy.

All good so far.  After the bus journey we headed back to our cabin to get suitably prepared to drive to Glacier Point. On the way just out of the village we came across the cliff face called El Capitan that had lots of rock climbers on it. You could hardly see them as the cliff is enormous. We had the binoculars and we could make out the humans spread out on the rock face. There is photo following that you have to zoom in to see the climbers.  We counted at least 30 of them up there.

Onwards and upwards (literally) next in the car towards Glacier Point but we had to go through a tunnel first which has a viewing area of the valley before it.

The road was OK to the turn off onto Glacier Point Road, pretty imaginative naming going on around here. This was a bit narrower but very, very winding and steep. Jenny was driving and Larry was wishing for beer as it was stressful being in the passenger side of a left hand drive car and not having a steering wheel and a cliff drop off next to your door.  It was fine, though, and Larry should just be more trusting of Jenny’s capabilities behind the wheel. Still would have been better with beer.

Well we made it and as we climbed the last little track up to the viewing areas it became apparent that the view is spectacular. We were roughly 7200 feet above sea level. The photos try to do justice but the views are superb. Half Dome dominates the vista and is a sight to see. We could see the valley floor where all the accommodation is and we could actually see our cabin, as a tiny speck.

After an afternoon smoko of water and cookies, whilst keeping the ravenous squirrels away from the cookie packet, we decided we had enough of the views and headed back down the mountain.

 

The following pic is looking back up at the viewing platform on Clacier Point. The pointy but is where there is a semi famous photo of two ladies balanced on on foot and the viewing platform is to the left of it.

Larry drove back down and rarely touched the accelerator for roughly 20 something miles.  Much less hair raising though, not because Larry was driving, but because we hugged the cliff side instead of the cliff edge.  After getting back to the cabin Larry found the two Bud Lights cans he had squirreled away and sorted them out in a hurry and joined Jenny at the guest lounge where she had gone to get Wifi.  

We got talking to the bloke at the next table who happened to be in the US navy and was going to Sydney and New Zealand at New years. We gave some advice and he some to us as he is from San Diego(although originally from New York) so gave us some recommendations of places to go when we get there.

Finally it got too chilly to sit out on the verandah any longer, even with newly acquired jacket and beers, so we had to eat something and we were both craving vegetables so we went to the bae marie and had a couple of pieces of fried chicken and a plate load of veg each and then sat next to the roaring log fire and ate our plates bare.

Back to the cabin and Larry talked Ben through some pool maintenance (pump hadn’t liked the storm and power failures) whilst Jenny had a shower whilst the tank was full of hot water (the tepid one this morning having not gone down well).