Sometimes, I want to pat myself of the back.  I come up with harebrained ideas and the boss sometimes acquiesces and supports it.  But today was one of those days where everything made sense.  We were tired last night.  Like, really tired.  Since we skipped out on a big dinner and were in bed by 7:30, we thought we were off to a good start.  Until our smoke alarm started to alarm in our room.  Since I do this whole fire thing for a living, I know how this works.  The general alarm wasn’t sounding and I knew that we weren’t doing anything in our room to cause issues but, to be safe, I started to usher my crowd out.  We opened the door and the night manager was standing there.  She  took our alarm off of the ceiling and we shrugged our shoulders and went to sleep.  After all, we were on the first floor and I liked our odds in getting out if need be.  You’d a thought that they’d have knocked a few bucks off of our total for the effort, but no.

My family thought I was insane when I told them we needed to be out of the room by 5 or so.  And we were.  I have to give the girls credit.  They have been efficient and speedy in all of our exits.  They understand that we have to drive to get to these places and today was no different.  My map buddy, Marilyn, told me that our destination was about 4 hours away.  So in search of CA-140 we went.  We hugged the bay for a bit and then turned inland towards Merced.  There was little to look at as we went.  Lots of farmland.  Lots and lots of fields.  Heck we even went through the artichoke capital of the world today.  As soon as we started east we began to climb in elevation.  We climbed ever higher and at 9, we were pulling to the entry gate at Yosemite National Park.  Our America the Beautiful Pass allowed us to skip the line.  It was like having a fast pass for entry.  The only problem is that we didn’t get a park map because we missed the guard shack.  By coming in on CA-140, we followed the Merced River all the way to the valley.  The caveat with this is you miss Tunnel View and then don’t get that wow factor.

However, we did get to Swinging Bridge and got out to look around.  Our first views of Yosemite Falls were amazing.  The falls were set against a brilliant blue sky, green trees and grass, and the still river.  We spent a few minutes skipping rocks and then headed to the Visitor’s Center.  Here we were able to grab our park map.  From there we walked to the Yosemite Falls Trail and enjoyed that easy mile walk.  I had forgotten how Yosemite assaults all of you senses.  I had not forgotten about the sights, but I had forgotten about the sound of the fall, the sounds of the birds, and the smell of the woods.  We lingered a few moments and tried our best to drink it all in.  In a thousand lifetimes, you still couldn’t do it.  Our snapshot was almost comical.  We walked back through the village and grabbed some food for the girls.  We got back to the car and drove around a bit to the El Capitan picnic area.  Lucy grabbed a table and got the one with the best view of the rock.  Eating our lunch in the shadow of this monolith was spectacular and one of those times when I felt like I did something right.

A word about driving the park.  Maps are terrible and the roadsigns are not much better.  Taking the wrong road could be problematic as turning around is near impossible.  By lunch it was getting very crowded.  Driving was difficult due to pedestrians, poor signage, and people who drive way yonder too fast.  We looped the valley and went by Bridal Veil Falls.  This walk was shorter than the first but steeper.  The view was nice but the overlook was crowded.  We drove a little more around the valley and all decided that a vacation at Yosemite wouldn’t be a bad way to spend a few days.  I could come back here in a heartbeat.

Our hotel for the evening wasn’t far away so we headed that way around 2, but not before stopping by the river one more time and taking off our shoes for an ice bath in the river.  CA-120 to Manteca would be interesting.  At one point, the road was so curvy, steep, and challenging I was unnerved.  I don’t usually get concerned on a road, but this one was one for the books.  However, since I am awesome, I got us down the hill safely.  We drove a few miles more and in only a couple of hours, we were in Manteca at the Hampton Inn.  We finally had our In and Out Burger experience.  All were pleased with the food and I was thrilled with the price.  The double-double protein style was awesome, though eating a burger wrapped in lettuce is challenging.  Messy, challenging, and fabulous.  I had promised a dip in the pool upon our return and I stayed true to my word.

Our odyssey is nearing completion.  To this point I have driven over 1600 miles.  I have less than 100  miles left to drive before returning the car to the rental car company.  We have cleaned out the car and begun the repacking for our return east.  Even though things are winding down, we still have so much to see.  So yes, I came up with a crazy idea to make this trip.  Yes, the boss agreed.  In the span of a week to date, we have seen some of the most amazing things in the world.  I wouldn’t trade a second or a mile driven for anything.