snapshots abroad: Yosemite

This morning we had a leisurely breakfast and drove to the nearby Mariposa Grove parking lot. This forest is home to over 500 mature giant sequoia trees. It has experienced many iterations of tourism practices. There are photos of Teddy Roosevelt riding in a car through a "tree tunnel". The California Tunnel Tree is the last one still living - all others have fallen down or a tunnel has been cut through a tree trunk that was already dead. At the visitors center there are shuttles transporting visitors up the two-mile access road for the grove. We were immediately enveloped in towering canopies and a rich understory of shrubs, pine cones, chipmunks, and deer. Most of the "paths" are paved roads that were previously used to transport visitors through the grove. Today it is nearly all footpaths except for use by those with limited mobility. Vehicles with special permits are allowed to drive up the park road and along some of the old paths. We made our way to some of the notable old Sequoias and then climbed higher to an old cabin.

When we returned to the parking lot via the shuttle it was getting pretty warm outside. We stopped at some picnic tables in town and ate our lunch while being pestered by flocks of birds. We had a siesta in as much shade as we could find at our campsite and later had a chill dinner - one more meal of dehydrated pouch dinners!

Hans' cold was really taking a hold of him tonight.

The next morning our only goal was to head back to San Francisco and then we would take a flight in the morning back to Maryland. Along the way we stopped for some really good coffee and a chance to stretch our legs. For lunch we went to a Mexican restaurant for extreme Micheladas and ceveche / aguachile