Tom's National Park Adventure

Today we had planned as a driving exploration day. Our plan was to drive the Tioga road that bisects the park east to west. We traveled on a west to east direction until we ran out of the park. We kept going east until we ran into Mono Lake. We spent some time exploring the lake area and then turned back and retraced our tracks until we found our way back to Yosemite Valley. This is where our campground is located.

We stopped by the local market and picked up some supplies…..(more $.99 per can Budweiser) and other things. Oh yes, Mr. Borgmeyer Jeff is still drinking Budweiser! We were able to borrow a bike for Jeff, get it adjusted for his height and then took a ride to view the $500.00 per night Ahwahnee hotel. Very Nice accommodations I must say. Then we peddled home again. It’s just about time to rustle up some dinner.

Here are some of todays pictures

More than 40 years ago Diane and I drove from St. Louis to San Francisco. I was in a friends wedding. We took a two week vacation to do the trip. We decided to go to the Grand Canyon since neither of us had ever been there. We came up the east side of the Sierra mountains and cut across the Tioga Pass through Yosemite National Park. Today Jeff and I drove the same road Diane and I drove 40 years ago. Diane and I and Jeff and I both stopped and had lunch at Tenaya Lake. I have remembered that lake all these years. It is still as beautiful as I remembered it!

Mono Lake is a very large body of water. It is a very salty body of water. It doesn’t have any living fish in it! Too Salty. The lake is fed from several rivers and streams. All of this water is from the runoff of the melting snow. The combination of the salty lake water and the fresh snowmelt water creates “ Tufas”. It reminds me of stalagmites in a cave, except they grow up from the lake floor. It was an interesting place to check out. We visited a very nice Visitors center and got to watch a movie!

After we finished checking out Mono Lake, we went back across the Tioga Pass through the park going east to west this time. We stopped again at Tenaya Lake for lunch.