road trip 2009: day 3
wednesday we left a little later than i had wanted cuz we slept in and had to pack the car for the upcoming week. we left the bay area around 11 am and started heading east into the central valley. lots of orchards and farms. it was actually a pretty nice drive.
impressed i get 3g this far into the central valley. about an hour from yosemite.
i really had no idea what to expect from yosemite. i don’t think i had ever even seen a picture (well, probably had, just hadn’t realized it). we paid the entrance fee, and started a downward descent. we were surrounded by forrest then went into a tunnel. as soon as we came out the other end, bam, one of the most amazing views i’ve ever seen.
made it to yosemite. pretty awesome.
this is one time that the iphone camera just couldn’t cut it. the view of the opening of the valley and bridalvale falls was breathtaking. on the way down to the valley floor, we stopped at another waterfall and climbed out onto some rocks right next to the drop off. adam has those photos and sadly hasn’t posted them anywhere (HINT!). we walked up the base of bridavale falls and got pretty wet. i also got a strange voicemail from the anti-fraud division of my bank then. apparently they didn’t believe me that i was actually moving to sacramende. weird. we parked down on the valley floor and did some hiking.
yosemite falls: tallest waterfall in the US.
i really wanted to hike to the top of the falls, but it’s a six hour roundtrip hike, so it wasn’t possible. someday. honestly i could spend weeks there hiking. someday i want go backpacking in the granite highlands. adding that to my list of goals. we did a small hike around the the edge of the valley and came head to head with a deer. i guess it was pretty used to humans because it just kept walking towards us. it didn’t go off the path until i started walking towards it with my hands spread out in the air to make me look big. we grabbed a late lunch at the grill at the main lodge area. i checked my final byu grades while eating.
final byu gpa: 3.85. meh, should have been better. VHDL classes killed me. this is why I’m going over to CS.
after eating, we decided to get back on the road. my dad looked up motel room info for us while we got my car battery jumped (left the lights after going through the tunnel…whoops).
this was our last view of the valley as we drove out. el capitan to the left, bridalvale falls to the right. beautiful. the drive down to fresno and onto the five was pretty uneventful, except for adam feeling a bit sick from me taking the curvy roads too quick.
quick restroom and stretch break. about 90 miles north of Bakersfield. stopping there for the night.
let me just say, there were some really really smelly places along that road. i dunno if it was chemical plants or garbage dumps, but there were a few places i was choking. we finally arrived in bakersfield and got a room at motel 6. we were both looking forward to a good nights sleep after a long day of driving.
made it to Bakersfield. seedy hotel room, but it’s a place to sleep.