Yosemite

Location: Mariposa Grove (map of approx. location of parking lot ) (album)
Miles: 1148.1

Groveland on Sunday morning is dead. D-E-A-D dead. Even the breakfast places are closed. I wandered the main drag, hungry and alone, looking for someone to make me some toast. That’s all I wanted, toast. And Eggs. And Potatoes. Maybe some bacon. Mmmm, bacon. And Tea, of course. That’s all I wanted.

I found a place, of course, with all those things, right across the street from where I started. Oh, well, I got to see the town.

Right, then. On the road. Beautiful day and all that. The speed limit in the park is 35 mph in most places, which makes going pretty slow, but I turned off the music and with the top down I could hear birds singing, so I just rolled along, stopping often to take pictures. The valley really is spectacular, and the trees are big. The signs on the hiking trail giving the distances to various points of interest were complete fiction. At one point I had 0.8 miles to go. I walked for a little while, dragging my sorry butt up a hill, and passed another sign. Distance to go: 0.8 miles. I’m slow, but not that slow.

There were people from all over the world there. There were some French people arguing with each other; when I passed them on the trail I said “excusé moi” (which I later realized was the wrong thing to say), but it sure made them self-conscious. On the way back down I passed two chinese women walking with their little girls. One of the women was talking animatedly to them, at length, and all were obviously having a good time. I understood only one word, but it was used more than once: Cinderella.

On the way back down the hill I took more small roads, and found my way back here, to the enigma that is Oakdale. Geographical schizophrenic. Last time through I spotted a billboard for a hotel that had free DSL and here I am now, DSLing away and watching late night TV. I thought I’d save some money and go to the grocery store for tonight’s vittles, and spent more than I would have in a restaurant. I am eating better food, though.

Sorry, I have to make a call now to make an appointment with a mobility specialist.

6 thoughts on “Yosemite

  1. Loved the pix. So finally my Cavalier has something about which to gloat over your Miata -it got its picture taken while the tree was still standing — although it had to pose in front of the tree since cars were no longer allowed to drive through it.

  2. I will second Carol Anne on the pix. Its hard to describe, but an alrready interesting diary is just made more profound by pictures. I don’t think it would be so noticable if the pictures weren’t good. Despite your claim you are no ansel adams, they are good pix. What camera do you use?

  3. Thanks for the nice words – especially you, Dr… uh… Pants. Glad you happened by.

    You know, it’s hard to say Dr Pants without smiling. I can only imagine what field of Medicine you’re in.

    “Dr Pants. Paging Dr Pants. Dr Pants, please report to the operating room immediately.”

    Dr Pants. Heh.

    As for the pics, thanks. The digital revolution has made it possible for a cheapass like me to succeed at photography. My approach is to take lots and lots of pictures, then throw most of them away.

    Hey, you know what would be cool? A camera that was like a fly eye – I would point it in the general direction of something interesting, then pick out the best of the hundred pictures it took. Flycam, yeah… *scratches chin*

    >>>>>>

  4. >>>>>>>

    Lacking a flycam, I use a Fujifilm FinePix 3.2Mp camera. I chose it because it has a relatively large lens and a 6x optical zoom, but it was still affordable. I wanted the large lens so I could work in low-light conditions (bars) without using the flash. I first used it for my epic 30 days, 30 bars, 1 novel adventure.

    I bought it partway through that month, and in contrast I have yet to develop the film for the rest of the months. That was 18 months ago. Hooray Digital!

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