We woke up to more rain today. Nevertheless, we got ready and left in good time, and made our way back into Yosemite Valley. Needless to say, the weather was no better there.
We drove to a place called Curry Village, which is at the end of the road, as far as you can go into the valley by car. There is a huge campsite there, with a lot of ready made tent/cabin things that you can rent out if you're a lazy camper. We'd considered renting one when we were planning our trip, but I refused, on the basis that they were $40 a night or something ridiculous, and we'd still have to provide most of our own kit. We were glad we didn't anyway, because of the weather.
Our reasons for going to Curry Village were twofold. One, because there were a couple of walks that started from there which we thought might be less busy, and two because there was an outdoor clothing store there, which Claire wanted to compare to Cotswold.
We had a good look round the shop, which was quite good, but not as good as a lot of outdoor stores back home, and especially not Cotswold. We did buy a couple of things, and spotted a really nifty camping cooking set to try and get when we get home.
Finally, we could delay it no longer, we donned all our waterproofs and set off up the valley towards Mirror Lake. Despite the rain, we had a nice walk, as there was hardly anyone else around. The river was very full. I only took one photo all day as the rain and mist were so bad.
We had a hot coffee when we got back to Curry Village. I had a slight disagreement with the vendor, as the stall was called "Peet's Coffee and Tea", but they didn't sell tea. I pointed this out to them, as well as the fact that their San Francisco branch had a huge range of very nice tea on offer, but I think my comments fell on deaf ears. They probably spat in my coffee too.
We're staying tonight at a place called Buck Meadows, which is near the north western gate to the national park. We're staying in our own cabin, which looked like it might be terrible when we pulled up, but turned out to be OK, although a bit cold.
We've had a housekeeping session after arriving this afternoon. We did the laundry, which was a huge relief to both of us (and probably the general American public too), as we're getting fed up of sniff testing everything before wearing.
In between the washing and drying stage, we had some homemade pie at the local restaurant/diner, which was a perfect mid-laundry snack.
Then (and this is the really exciting bit), we went to the next town to do some grocery shopping.
We've noticed that most American supermarkets seem to have a limited selection of healthy food. For example, fresh fruit and vegetables, and whole grain breakfast cereal without sugar coating.
I did not have high hopes for the supermarket from the outside, but when we went in it was like an Aladdin's cave full of wholefoods and other less healthy, but equally fascinating stuff.
Not only was there a whole aisle of fruit and veg, but it looked incredibly fresh, and was sprayed periodically by automated sprinklers! Inside the shop! There was a whole section (5' square) just for popcorn! And, in the breakfast cereal aisle, there was shredded wheat, and All Bran! I've been regretting not bringing my own All Bran all week as it's a crucial part of my diet. I won't go into why, but I'm sure you can use your imagination.
So we spent much more than we'd planned, but we came out of the shop with the much missed All Bran, and all the ingredients for cheese and tomato sandwiches. And some nice cookies, and fish shaped cheese biscuits, and apples and bananas.
Tomorrow the weather forecast is better. I think there may even be sunshine forecast, but we will be happy if the rain just holds off. We're going to visit Hetch Hetchy reservoir tomorrow, which is a less popular area of the national park, in the north western section.
We have already had some experience of Hetch Hetchy, as it supplies the water to San Francisco, which was entirely to our satisfaction when we were there.
We're off for a romantic anniversary dinner in the restaurant/diner now. Hopefully the main courses will be as good as the pie.
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Location:Yosemite National Park
And I'm sure you'll both enjoy dessert ;)
ReplyDeleteHappy anniversary!