December 3-4, 2015 Mariposa and Yosemite National Park, California

 

We drove south on highway 49. It is very narrow with hairpin turns and very steep with sheer drop off on one side and granite walls on the other side. Not the easiest for a big motor home. The lady at the cidery said the road would be fine, but she obviously had not driven along it in anything very big. John drove about 25 mph and did fine. We arrived into Mariposa, another old gold rush town.

We are parked at the  Mariposa Fair grounds. It is right off the highway. They are setting up for a Christmas Bazaar the next couple days at the fairgrounds. We could get our photo with Santa, if we wanted. We plan on going to Yosemite tomorrow, may miss the bazaar.

Good thing we did not bring the bus to Yosemite, not sure it would have made it through this near the entrance to Yosemite. It was too long for this road anyway. From the Tunnel view point looking down the valley. There is fog in the shaded part over the river. On the left side is El Capitan, in the middle way back is Half Dome and on the right is Cathedral Rocks over Bridal Veil falls in the shadow.

 

John and I at the over look. People always want us to take their photo then they offer to take ours. John hates it, but he grins and bears it. I have my down sweater on, John has lots of layers on, it was in the high 30’s-but sunny. El Capitan reflected in the Merced River with a rim of ice. I slipped on the ice here and broke my glasses and had to wear them crooked the rest of the day.

 

Yosemite falls reflected in the Merced River with a rainbow on the upper falls. The falls come to the valley floor in three cascades and are 2,425 feet tall, the tallest falls in North America.

 

We hiked to the bottom of the lower falls, then hiked a mile  of the Valley Floor loop- through beautiful forest to  the Ahwahnee lodge.

 

The lobby of the Ahwahnee lodge. It was built in 1927 and very fancy. We were going to have lunch there, but found out to eat in the dining room men have to wear long pants and shirt with a collar and women a dress, or long pants and a shirt with a collar. John had on shorts and a t-shirt  and I had on a tee shirt. We could have eaten at the bar, but we wanted the dining room, so we passed and had our packed lunch when we got back to the car. On the way back there was mist over the meadows and a deer.

 

Looking back across the meadow from the south side. Once again we took someone’s photo and they took ours with the Upper Yosemite falls in the background. It made it up the high 40’s by afternoon.

 

As the shadows fell into the valley there was more mist. This is Half Dome on the right. The light was really cool in these trees.

 

Another shot of Half Dome and mist on the way out of the valley in front  of Cathedral Spires.

 

Last light on the valley. El Capitan on the left.  We got back into Mariposa in time to make the grand opening of the new location of the Prospector Brewery, which is just across the parking lot from the campground.