Yosemite--Looking for Sam

We hit the road on Saturday for the start of our return to Michigan. Packing and leaving was hard on many levels. First the physical part of finding, packing, and loading all of our stuff after two and a half months was quite taxing. Second, leaving and moving back from California was difficult.

We headed to Yosemite later than we anticipated. When we got to Mariposa we decided to spend the night there, because by the time we would have gotten to the park, it would have been dark. We found a delightful little motel called the Little Rock Inn. Vicki was the owner. We found out that she had spent four months in Lucca, near where we had stayed in Italy. The motel is a small place built in 1941 that has been completely redone.   We found it from our Frommers book, but she is also in Lonely Planet.  When we awoke on Sunday she had a home made breakfast ready. 
She loved Gus, and loved us too, giving us a friendly hug.   I think I will add her to Yelp!

We then went to the park, where the waterfalls were flowing profusely. It was very busy, as it was Easter Sunday, and the water is seasonal. We were surprised at the diversity of terrain, and the overall beauty of this place. Once more I was impressed at the foresight of those who protected such places with the National Park system. As we were hiking to Yosemite falls, we saw a crowd gathering, and there was a Bobcat hunting a squirrel. It was pretty cool and I was able to get a good picture of it.  Some of the park is still closed for winter.   We could have spent days in this park, but didn't really have the time to do that.    I think when you go to National Parks, you either have to decide to spend your whole time there to take advantage of some of the activities, or you just visit and get an overview.

Here is a link to our pictures.   http://picasaweb.google.com/danklim1/Yosemite#









After we left the park, we headed for Redlands via the Harris Ranch, as per a suggestion from our Novato neighbor Phillip. It was an interesting place and the lunch was very good. We then headed for Redlands, trying to avoid freeway traffic. It was a long trip, but we made it to the house. This is part of a house trade and we are quite happy with this place. It is large, has a nice yard, and Redlands is a nice quite community.

Monday we hung out in the area and took a bike ride.  We were very tired from our travels and just wanted to have a relaxing day.  The weather here is glorious, we had a glass of wine out on the patio.