Yosemite

Driving to Yosemite took us through the Central Valley - a huge agricultural area where everything we eat is grown, apparently. As you approach the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, the road is on the edge of a cliff with constant switchbacks. Video to come... We entered the park on Hwy. 120 which gave us a great view down the Valley. Since we arrived in the late afternoon, we checked in to our tent cabin and then had dinner before walking some of the bike paths, just marveling at the 3000' cliffs all around. We made it through a 43 degree night with no bears and lots of wool blankets, despite our main heater and light being off (they provided a lamp and space heater.) The next morning we took the Valley Floor Tram Tour - a great way to see the prettiest sights in the park with no driving. The weather was gorgeous as you can see. While on the tour, we saw the helicopter search and rescue teams practicing plucking climbers off the cliffs, and saw boulders dynamited off trails from rock slides. An exciting day!

As we left the park on Hwy. 140, a ranger stopped us to look at our front tire: there was a significant bubble on the sidewall and the front two were almost completely worn. He helped us call National and recommended we put on the spare to get down the mountains. National said we could drive to Fresno (look at a map to see how far that is!) to get a new car, or if we replaced the tire, they might pay for it.We carefully made it to Mariposa and a recommended garage, but alas no tire available. Three more stops with no success, and we're on to Merced. We finally get to a Pep Boys and have the tire replaced - $95 and an hour later, we're on the road. All told, it took us 8 hours from leaving the park to our bed in Sonoma. I'm reserving energy for the fight with National over getting our money for the tire replacement. Even if we have to pay it ourselves, it was worth it to avoid a possible blowout on the way home. Many thanks to Glenn Gibbons at the Arch Rock entrance for his sharp eye on our tires!

We slept well after our adventure yesterday. Today we're wrapping up a few wineries we haven't covered yet, and revisiting a few we liked but didn't buy from. San Francisco tomorrow, then home Sunday. Where did the time go?!