Day 11

Let's just say last night was not a great night. Two in the morning, I was awakened by a noise that sounded like the crinkling of a food wrapper. I was deeply asleep. I woke Joe up. He claimed it was the styrofoam cooler with the ice melting in it. Didn't make sense to me, but I thought I was dreaming it. Ten minutes later after falling back asleep, I heard it again. This time Joe heard it. He got out of bed to investigate (the man's job.) I told him I suspected it came from the dresser where we had left a half eaten bag of corn chips (last night's dinner.) He did a look around, and a shake up of things, with no answers to be had as to what the noise was. Then he looked at our styrofoam cooler that we had sitting on the floor. Sure enough! A rodent of some sort had been chewing on the corners of the cooler! SOB! Pieces of styrofoam littered the floor! Now that there was positive proof that we were sharing a room with a rodent, I just know I am not going to be sleeping until he is taken care of. I called the front desk. Maybe they can set up a mouse trap for us. Of course, no one answered. Joe is now clearly annoyed by the entire situation. Thinks I am being a baby. I'm feeling fearful that the rodent could climb into our bed. Joe says that won't happen. I told him about my Grampa who told the story of waking in the middle of the night once, to see a rat staring him in the face, as he lay on his chest. Joe says it must have been during the Depression and surely that couldn't happen now. Not sure of that logic. At any rate, with no support from the hotel front desk, and apparently, my husband, I set off to devise a plan of my own to catch this critter. I took our blue recycling container and emptied it out. The I took a handful of fragrant, yummy corn chips and placed them into the bottom of the blue container. Next, I laid it on its' side where the cooler used to be. Then, Joe and I laid in bed in wait. A few minutes go by. A noise was heard somewhere, not sure where. Joe sprang out of bed to tip the blue container up, capturing the rodent. Instead, we discovered that the rodent had out smarted us and quickly, and quietly, taken his corn chip back to his/her home in the cozy base board hot water heater in our room! We could hear him munching away. Joe is now even more annoyed. Mad at me for poking him and mouthing words to him about what was going on and what he needed to do about the container. At any rate, I had him move the container closer to the bed so he could reach it quickly without scaring the rodent off. Again, we lay in wait. Now we hear the rodent, not in the blue container, but closer to the head of our bed. I poke Joe. And, mouth to him, "I think the rodent is by the head of our bed." He tries tipping the blue container up, hoping for a capture. No such luck. He tells me to be quiet that I am scaring the rodent before he can be captured. He tells me that if I poke him one more time, he will be angry. To me that is not too scary. So we wait. We can hear the rodent munching on a corn chip in the base board heat. We wait some more. Now the rodent, with his full belly, is ready for a nap, and we don't hear from him again. Joe announces that he is wide awake. He takes out his computer and starts working on ebay, or Kodak, or what ever, I am not sure what he is doing. I try and sleep, but keep thinking about the rodent getting into bed with us. I lay there, unable to sleep. Finally, at four a.m. (with the rodent now deeply asleep) I say to Joe, let's try and go to sleep. He says, "I suppose you mean with the light on". I'm like, of course with the light on. He agrees, but reminds me he will be angry if I poke him again. Some how we manage to fall asleep for two hours. Now we wake up our stretch of early morning, wake up early to beat the crowds is broken and no rodent is in the blue recycling bin! I walk over the the base board hot water heater and give it a good hard kick! How do you like that, you rodent!? Sorry, are we disturbing your sleep!? Then, I got nervous because I could hear him stirring, and was afraid he would come running out. I tell you, I was not sorry to check out of that place! I told them at the front desk about our resident rodent. They said, "Oh yeah, it is cold out. They like to come in where it is warmer."

The rest of the day was uneventful. A pleasant ride to Yosemite Park. Stopped along the way at Target so I could pick up a new book to read. Somehow, I have managed to go through two books on this trip. Normally, I might read a book a month. Now I am peeling through them at great speed. The views were beautiful. Lots of groves of fruit, nut trees, golden fields, and magnificent mountain views.

We did a short hike through some groves of sequoias and burnt out groves of trees. Well traveled and no scary wildlife. Did see two mule deer. Lots of chipmunks. Some squirrels. Had an interesting conversation with our shuttle bus driver. Says lately they are seeing 80% of their riders are European's visiting our country because the dollar is worth so little to them! He also gave us a good tip on what to see and do tomorrow, so we are excited about what is to come then.

Our hotel is an old lodge in Wawona, right in Yosemite Park. In its' day, it must have been magnificent. Now, it is sadly in state of disrepair, but still filled to capacity. There are several, large cottages on the property and well as a golf course. Many of the rooms share a bathroom/shower with other rooms. Joe wisely upgraded us so we would have our own bathroom given that we are tired from our rodent encounter last night and feel the need for the comforts of an upgrade. The "lobby" is magnificent. A check in area, and two sitting areas. One has a fire going in the fireplace. Every night they have a piano player playing and entertaining while families wait their turn to be called in a for dinner reservations (very pricey menu.) Joe and I sat out on the porch. We ordered a drink and an appetizer, a California cheese sample platter with chutney and bread. It was lovely sitting out on the white wicker furniture people watching, enjoying the sunset. We chatted with a family from Massachusetts. They were taking their annual visit to CA where they have family. They have been here numerous times and had some interesting stories of their travels to share. Later, we went in to listen to the piano player. There were chairs, sofas, and love seats all around. All occupied. Lots of atmosphere here. People were having drinks a playing board games, waiting for their names to be called for dinner. I said to Joe that one hundred years from now, this will probably be a museum (not unlike the colonial museum we visited by the river today.) They will tell visitors how, years ago this room was a room where people who were waiting for dinner used to sit, play board games, and have a drink or two.

Day 10

We slept in today until 7:00 PST. Not wanting to venture outside with temps in the 30's I hung out in bed for a bit with the computer, while Joe took his shower. Stopped at the Ranger station to check on the forecast for the day and to make sure they got rid of the bat. The ranger today was a young guy. A bit weird with not much sense of humor. Sort of creepy, so we made a quick get away from there. We had a long breakfast (they were shorthanded at the lodge restaurant) before heading out hiking at nearly 10:30.

It was so cold! For much of the afternoon it ranged from 46-50 degrees according to our car thermometer. We first drove nearly an hour to the General Sherman tree in the Giant Forest. We made a few stops along the way at scenic pullouts for some photos. The roads were twisty and narrow. Made me nervous. I told Joe a few times to slow down. You could never be sure of who might come flying around the next corner! Some of the pullouts were in groves of sequoia trees. So amazingly huge!

When we got to where the Sherman tree was, there were lots of tourists. You walk and walk and when you see the tree you know it is the Sherman for sure! Biggest tree in the world! Outstanding! Hard to get a good photo of it to portray the actual size of this giant. 275' tall! Taller that the Statue of Liberty! The park did an excellent job creating a path and heavy wood fence through this area. We ventured off the common path a bit to explore deeper into the area, but only went so far until I got creeped out for thinking of running into a black bear. (I still suffer from PTSD from the close encounters with alligators in the Hillborough River.) Still, we did have a great hike in the woods. Saw a waterfall. Listened to the birds talking over us. Were amazed at the sequoias that had fallen many years ago, yet have many, many more who knows how long to go before they are totally decayed. It was interesting that you could see these trees, that obviously fell long ago, and over the years, after much decay, lost their original straight shape and collapsed at the curves of the ground below it, taking on the shape of the ground. It was as if they were fractured. You could see the fractures of their trunk. Some of the trees had been ravenged by the claws of bears who were rooting for bugs to eat. We even saw claw marks from bears on the wooden fence along some of the paths. Huge claw marks! It was so cold that I wrapped myself up in a blanket for this hike. Joe took a picture of me from behind, all bundled up. I looked like a hunch back hermit with my walking stick!

After this, we went to the Sequoia museum and had an interesting conversation with a young (teeny, tiny) female ranger about the risks of bear encounters, etc. Not a big risk, however, not one I want to take given my recent other wildlife encounters! At this point, back on the road, I was driving so Joe could check out the scenery. A heavy fog set in. You could see it pushing down on the trees. Joe had me pull over and he hiked (by himself) up a hill to catch the action on the camera. He got some great shots! After nearly an hour we stopped at the entrance to Big Stump. We hiked down a half mile or more. Along the way we saw the sad stumps of many sequoias who were chopped down in the 1800's for "sport" before people came to respect these giant trees. It made me sad. The trail was deserted except for Joe and I, and I found that a bit creepy! I tried to make noise as we went along, as to scare any black bear mommas with her babies away and not to surprise them. I'd say, "Watch out. Here we come, and we're big!" Must have worked, because we did not see any bears. We are hearing from many people that they have seen, or heard of encounters recently. At Big Stump we saw one stump that was particularly huge named the Mark Twain stump. It had stairs so you could climb up on top of it. From there we had a nice view of the grassy valley around us. Joe tried to take some pictures, but again hard to do given the diameter of the base of these trees. Rather than go back the way we came in to return to our car, we found a short cut to the road. Of course, we did not end up by our car and had to hike along the road for half a mile side stepping every time a car came speeding around a curve!

On the way back to our lodge we stopped at another lodge that advertised having a restaurant. We made our way up there and when we went to turn into the place, we were met with heavy, thick fog. I didn't want to go on, but Joe wanted to try it. Very quickly, we discovered that this was a one lane road and there was not a shoulder on either side of it! On my left was a steep hill. On my right was a lake! Needless to say, I drove quite cautiously and was glad that it was only a short ride to the lodge. Craving something hot to eat, we went in to find that the only thing hot was hot dogs that were turning around on those warmers like you see at a 7-11! Not much of a meal choice at all. On we went to the next lodge that had a sign out front that said "restaurant." Joe went in to check it out only to find out that they only served to their own guests!

It was 4:05 p.m. when we got back to the John Muir Lodge where we are staying. We thought how nice to stop at the restaurant and get a hot bowl of chili, but lunch ends at 4:00 sharp. No if's and's or but's! Dinner is at 5:00. So, we ended up going back to our room and having salsa and chips for dinner. Our fave! There is NO tv here! No cell phone service. Only internet 8( Just kidding! We can rough it till we get on the road tomorrow as we head onto the next adventure: Yosemite!

Not Only Are The Trees Big...

Take a look at the size of that chipmunk! They're sneaky, too - we didn't even notice him until we looked at our pictures later.

Day 9

Day 9

Today we got up at 4:30 for our long day of driving. It was neat to see the landscape as it changed becoming less desert looking to softer golden colors with more mountain ranges in the distance. We passed a community that had hundreds of windmills lining the barren mountains, providing them with power. I drove for the first time half way there, and Joe drove the rest. With stops, we made it to Kings Canyon Park in 8 hours.

When we arrived, we were told it would be a two hour wait for our room. So, we got some lunch then went to the visitor center. The Park Ranger gave us good ideas of how to spend our time for the next day and a half we would be there. While we were there we looked over the exhibits and when the information video started we went in and sat down to check that out. Not 2 minutes in to the video, a bat started flying around the room! Swear to God! At first, I thought it was part of the video! Sort of like when you are at Disney sitting watching a show in 3D and they spray water on you! Of course, I went running out of there! Two women beat me out and Joe followed me. I think I was yelling something! I feel like a magnet for these encounters be they Canadian Geese, alligators, sting rays, or bats!

So, at that point we went and check in. Our room is pretty neat. Actually, it is in a lodge. The lobby is a big sitting area with fire place, etc. You can get wi-fi there, read, play games, etc. We ran into a couple from Florida and talked to them about visiting Death Valley. In fact, after talking to them, we changed our plans to include an over night stay there on the 18th! Joe has never been there. I have been twice. It is just way cool, and not really out of our way. The room has no TV! We can mooch off the wi-fi in our room and be online, thank goodness! No cell phone reception either. Just like pioneer days for us!

We took a short hike/trip to see the General Grant Sequoia. Our first view of these magnificent trees. Of course, it is pretty cold here like it was in the GC. Still, a nice walk in the woods. We took lots of pics and our camera battery died. We first came upon a sequoia that was hollow at the base. Some young children came along and I cautioned them to be careful of bears if they were to go into the hollow of this tree. They took this as a challenge and went it one side and came out the other. How brave these children were!

We continued through a well marked path to see many more of these giant trees in a grove of sorts. It is hard to put into words how magnificent they are. Our pictures cannot capture how majestic they are. We tried taking panorama shots to capture these giant trees. Not sure how they came out. We saw numerous fallen giants, numerous fire damaged sequoias, and the third largest tree in the world! During our walk, we also enjoyed listening to the birds. Two robins seemed to become attached to us on this walk, following us around a bit. We saw chipmunks and other delicate birds that I cannot identify right now, but hope to later know what they were.

Joe went deep into a fallen tree from the root end. I got two good shots of that. At the end of this trail, was a sequoia that was fallen and completely hollow. There was a path that led us the entire length of this tree. The inside had been eaten by insects, and later suffered a fire that hollowed it out, which created this cool path! Imagine a tree so large you could walk inside it, standing upright!

We are a bit tired. Not much motivation for getting up early for me when the over night lows will be a cold 38 degrees! So, we hope to sleep in till maybe 6:00 PST tomorrow! We have our agenda for tomorrow planned, and are so looking forward to seeing even more giant sequoias, flowers, and birds. The bears are more active than usual this spring, and I am hoping not to add a bear encounter to my list of nature mishaps for this spring! I make sure I take my walking stick when we are out in the woods. We have met several people who can tell you a story about the bears they have seen!

Day 8

Day 8

There was a great continental buffet at the hotel which we enjoyed before heading out to the strip. We took our own car over the shuttle and found it easy to get around and parking was easy. There is a great mall there where we spent a lot of time just shopping. I got a new Fossil watch with some money Mom and Dad, and Rose gave me for my birthday. I'd had my eye on it online for some time, so I was excited to find it there. I also got a Brighton key chain I'd been wanting, plus a beautiful ring to match a turquoise bracelet I recently uncovered in our attic, that belonged to my Mom's "hoarding" cousin. We also had some gelato. $10 for two small scoops, but delish!!

After that we went to several of the casinos. Didn't do any gambling, except Joe put a dollar in a Tiki slot machine, which was gone within seconds! The most spectacular casino was the first one we went into, the Bellagio. Took tons of pictures. In the center of the hotel was a phenomenal flower and garden display. There was a walk way that had water spraying from one side to another every so often. The stream of the water looked as if it were a solid piece of clear plastic. Then there were bird cages filled with lorikeets. In the middle of everything was a decorative ferris wheel. There were two large ladybugs about two and a half feet long covered with live flowers. A large snail, also on display was covered in fresh red and white roses. We had lunch at the buffet there. The food was all first class! I had turkey with cranberry, spring rolls, bak chow (sp?), a croissant, curried duck, and sampled a few deserts. Joe stuck mostly with the pastas. We were both very happy! We hit the pool again, resting for the next leg of our adventure.

Day 7

Day 7

Left early from the hotel at the GC. About a 4-5 hour trip. Part of the way, we drove on the famed Rt. 66, which has always been of interest to Joe. There wasn't to much to see. An old gas station here and there, mostly set up as a tourist trap. A big let down for him. We stopped at an interesting cemetery in the woods. Most of the graves were Hispanic. One was of a young girl, 15. It was very ornately decorated with a pink wrought iron fence, pink benches, flowers, and memorabilia. Some one's little girl.

We were glad to head to the desert where we knew it would be warmer, and it was. We stopped at the Hoover Dam for a tour. We walked all over. Joe had never seen it before. Of course, it is an amazing marvel. We took the elevator to the center of it, where you are surrounded by carved out rocks that seep water. I got the tour guide all riled up by asking if it were true that there were bodies buried in the cement in the dam. He said, "No! That is an urban legend! Please, please go home and tell everyone that that is not true!" He really was tired of answering that question. It was interesting to see they are building a new bridge over the dam. This taking place after 9/11 to divert commercial traffic.

We were tired and hungry when we got to Vegas. So, after checking in, we went to Applebee's for a bite to eat. We also went to Walmart to stock up. Had to get my Walmart "fix". The rest of the day was spent beside the pool (which was a bit to cold for me.) We both fell asleep reading our books. After being in a small cramped room for three nights at the GC, we were happy to be in a Residence Inn (off the strip.) A very large room. Living room, kitchen, king size bed! We kept running into this cute little Mexican boy, about one year old. Total cutie pie!

Day 6

Joe-n-Michele's Excellent Adventure caught up with us today! We woke up at 5:00 and got on the shuttle to Hermit's Rest around 7:00 or so. The shuttle driver was a walking historian! Very interesting 40 minute ride to the end of the rim, the beginning of our 8 mile hike. We met a nice couple, celebrating their 26th anniversary by walking the entire rim in one day, hopefully. They were from Texas. We will never know if they made the entire 24 or so mile trek. Anyway, our hike started off cool and breezy. Not to hilly, and paved for a change! Along the way, there were so many pretty plants that I took pictures of along with some pretty steep cliffs we were quite respectful of! Sad to say now, but I did not make it past the 3 mile point before declaring defeat! Reluctantly, I reboarded the shuttle back to the hotel. Our intention was to drive to the overlooks we did not make it to on our abbreviated hike, but later found out cars are not allowed out there. So, we went to the hotel, loaded up our laundry, and headed out to the camp laundry. Joe wanted to take the shuttle to the laundry matt so he wouldn't have to give up his preemo parking spot, but I over ruled saying I did not want to lug laundry on the bus! So, we went and had a bite to eat at the camp store. Then visited the gift shop where I bought a nice snuggly, warm sweat shirt to wear on our last night here. I called home Jean, who is watching our dogs, to find out they are managing but truly missing us. Every car that goes by, they think we are coming home. We are missing them as well. Many people have dogs here with them, and I have to wonder how Lenny and Pups would like visiting the parks with us! Maybe next time. Back at the hotel, laundry folded and put away, Joe quickly fell asleep, and I finished a book I was reading as I dozed on and off. At this time, Joe has gone for some coffee, and we are hoping for a second wind and perhaps one last shuttle to the elusive overlooks along the rim. At any rate, we are leaving early tomorrow for Vegas where we eagerly anticipate embracing some warmer days. It has not gotten over 70 and breezy here at the GC! We had planned to stay at the Hard Rock in Vegas, but changed our minds after hearing that it is really a place for young single. Joe doesn't need to be seeing any of that young action! So, we are being more conservative and staying at a Residence Inn off the Strip, hoping to rest up for the 2nd half of our excellent adventure!