The journey to Yosemite, was quite easy. Much of the route is freeway and Interstate and it only took around 3 hours to reach the visitor's centre in Mariposa, where we picked up literature on the park and were told of various options for staying. We also filled the car up again, having used about 3/4 a tank of fuel.
Our original plan was to stay here and go into the park the following day, but as it was early and we had so far to go the next day, we decided to press on into the park and try and stay there. We quickly scouted a hotel in Mariposa ($110 a night) in case we had to come back and then drove onto the park entrance.
I'd researched a bit about various passes for national parks and decided that a Golden Eagle pass would make sense if we visited more than 3 parks. However, when we got to the park, I found out that the Golden Eagle pass was more expensive than reported on the website. The good news, though, was that there was a special pass which allows entry to National Parks only (The Golden Eagle covers other things too) for a year for $50 (per car/family). This suited our needs well, so we bought one and, as it turned out, we got our money's worth over the next week.
As we drove into Yosemite, we started to take in the steep rock faces and the meadows, but the first really impressive sight is El Capitan.
As you drive across the meadows, taking in the "Warning - Bears!" signs, it suddenly rears up in front of you, dominating the skyline.
After a short stop here, we drove into the Yosemite Village complex. Here there are shops, lodges, post offices and a visitors centre. We found that there were some places at Camp Curry and the kids were excited when they found out they were, effectively, tents! With the kids sold, and mindful of not really wanting to drive back the way we'd already come, we decided to stay here overnight.
The accommodation here is in Tent-like cabins. Being wooden framed and canvas clad, there's not a lot to protect you from the local Black Bear population so all food (plus toiletries, etc) had to be left in the bear-proof boxes outside.
Having dumped our luggage in the cabin and our food in the box, we wandered down to the centre of Camp Curry, where we enjoyed a great pizza and beer at the foot of more awe-inspiring cliffs. The whole atmosphere of the surroundings here was enjoyable, with many people around and squirrels picking up scraps and deer wandering around the edges of the plaza, grazing in the bushes.
After a rather cold night in the chalet we woke early and left for what we imagined would be our longest day in the car. We stopped briefly at Yosemite Falls, but the usually impressive falls were dry, so we pressed on. The first part of the journey was fabulous, as we headed up onto the top of the cliffs which dominate the Yosemite valley campgrounds. Along this stretch, dense woodlands contrast with barren fields of rock higher up.
Once out of Yosemite, we encountered the huge, barren landscapes of Nevada and Arizona. Mile upon mile of straight road were interspersed by rows of hills. After a couple we started measuring the straights and found that mostly, there were 14 mile straights between the rows of hills. God was certainly in a rigid frame of mind when he designed this part of 'his own country', but he seemed to lose interest when it came to putting anything in it! Thankfully, the lawmakers apply sensible 65-75 mph speed limits out here and our Dodge Intrepid proved a comfortable means of disposing of this monotonous landscape.
At one point we spotted a 'town' called Rachel on the map. This is Mandy's sister's name, so we say this as something exciting (which is probably as good a measure of the tedium of this journey as any!). However, as we reached the 'city' limits it became clear that the town was no more than a few shacks and a disproportionate number of rusty pickup trucks. What people do out here is anyone's guess, but, for me, this seemed as close to a living hell as you could get!
We managed to reach Fredonia, which is in Arizona, before darkness and the first motel we spotted (right across the crossroads as we drove into the town) was the Grand Canyon Motel. We parked up and I went to investigate. The motel was old and faded, but comfortable, very cheap ($33 a night) and it proved a lovely spot to sit in the garden in the warm evening air, whilst Lauren loved the kittens and Ryan enjoyed playing with his trains.
There wasn't much to do in Fredonia, so we drove to the teeming metropolis of Kanab, Utah to eat. First night we ate in rather nice Mexican restaurant. The bizarre thing was that there was an hour's difference in time between the two towns, just 7 miles apart, due to use of different time zones in the two states. After our day at the grand Canyon, we drove back there to a Pizza Hut, which not only had no beer, but also NO COFFEE!!!!!