View out the back deck at the Blue Butterfly Inn


Yosemite



Yosemite Falls


Half Dome Rock


Tenaya Lake


Mono Lake

Monument at Manzonar

From Rancho Mirage, California:
After two spectacular days in Yosemite we have started our gradual path back to the east coast. We left Yosemite via the Tioga Pass, a high road over the Sierra Mountains exceeding 9900 feet above sea level. Spectacular doesn't do enough to describe the scenery we have seen during the last couple of days. Yosemite is one of the most beautiful places we have both been. We look forward to returning again soon. After the Tioga Pass, we traveled to Mono Lake, and erie salt lake similar to the Great Salt Lake in Utah, with the addition of unusual rock formations. We arrived there at sunset, which intensified the erie and desolate nature of the lake which was surrounded by the snow covered Sierra Mountains. We spent the night in a outdoor resort town, Bishop, California. We enjoyed exploring it the next morning before starting our journey for the day. On our way to Rancho Mirage, we stopped at the Manzanar National Historic Site, an interment camp which existed during WWII which held Japanese Americans who were deported from California, Oregon and Washington. A sobering sight to see. The rest of the day we drove and drove and drove through nothingness-- and we mean nothingness. We are looking forward to a couple of days of R&R. The weather is going to be sunny and in the 80's here for the next two days (we are in the desert). We plan to visit Joshua Tree National Park too. Then on to our next destinations east…

Stats:
Location Today: Rancho Mirage, CA
Traveled 5503 Miles since we left Maryland
Approx. 2610 miles from Md
Visited the following states: Md, Va, Wv., Tn, Ky, Ar., Ok., Tx., Nm, Az, Nv, Ca.
Next Destination: Somewhere in Arizona
Nights on the Road: 29
Number of Hotels/Inns/B&B's: 16

Highlights:
Blue Butterfly B&B
Glacier Point, Yosemite
Tioga Pass
Mono Lake
Bishop, Ca (Schat's Bakery & Mahogany Smoked Meats)
Manzanar National Historic Site

Not so great stuff:
Hotels where pets have been in the rooms (even with a 'no pet policy' -- trouble for Lynn
High Altitude breathing
Long drives through nothingness