Mono Lake and Yosemite June, 2004

This was our first trip using our 2003 heavy duty diesel Dodge truck for pulling our travel trailer.  The truck's performance was incredible.

We left our house Friday afternoon, and headed East.  Near South Lake Tahoe, we turned South on Highway 89 where we crossed Luther Pass and Monitor Pass.  We were privileged to see a bear meandering along a hill as we passed by.

The old ghost town, Bodie, was "closed" when we got there.  There's about 3 miles of dirt road getting to the historical park, and it's very desolate out there.  We decided to head down another dirt road that goes South towards Mono Lake to find a place to camp.  We eventually found a spot we could fit the trailer in, backed in and spent the night.  Here's our little spot.  Notice the little meadow in the lower left of the picture - there's a small stream running through it.  That was the ONLY noise we heard.  The star show was spectacular.

The next morning we went into Bodie and explored a bit.

Here's a small sample of what you'll find if you explore Bodie.  It's a very interesting place, with a very  rich history.  We enjoyed lunch in our trailer before leaving the ghost town.

From here, we headed down to Mono Lake to do some more exploring.  Mono lake is a salt lake, since it has no outlets.  The water is currently about twice as "salty" as the ocean.  The salinity has been decreasing back to its natural concentration, and the level of the lake has been rising since they stopped diverting the water that feeds Mono Lake to the LA basin.  Here's a picture of Anna Joy at Mono Lake.  You can see the mineral columns behind her.  They're called tufas, and are caused by fresh water springs coming out of the ground under the salt lake.

We decided to take a hike around one of the many volcanic craters around Mono Lake.  This particular type of crater is called a plug dome.  After the initial explosive eruption, lava continued to flow from the center of the crater, but in a more gradual manner, creating a peak within the crater.  We were treated to an afternoon thunder storm on our hike.  The light rain felt really nice.

From here, we headed into Yosemite.  It was a last minute decision we made when we learned they had opened up the park a couple of weeks early.  We figured we stood a chance of actually getting a camp site without reservations.  Our truck pulled the trailer up the Eastern slope of Tioga Pass with ease, and those are some steep hills.

Notice the flag is at half staff, in respect for our recent passing of President Ronald Regan.

Tuolumne Meadows had a nice camp spot for us.  We enjoyed a camp fire, roasting hot dogs over the fire, playing games and all the normal camp site activities we're used to.  It was nice to have some time to actually relax since this trip was turning into a real road burner.

The next morning we headed into the valley floor to check out what people from all over the world come here to see.  The views in Yosemite are truly spectacular.

El Capitan is behind our rig, extending a lot farther than the lens of the camera could take in.  We could see some of the climbers going up the face of this huge piece of granite.

The visitor's center had a display of the Indian tribes who used to inhabit Yosemite Valley.  It was nice to have learned so much about Indian life in California when we visited Indian Grinding Rock State Park several months ago.  There are a lot of parallels between the two Indian tribes.

We also enjoyed a walk in the meadow.  Here's our silly girls trying to pose for a picture and tickle each other at the same time.

We decided to go up to Glacier Point, a spot in Yosemite we remember fondly from our younger married days.

The girls were very anxious to climb on granite.  We didn't have enough time to satisfy that desire fully, but here's a picture of them on a little piece of it while we were at Glacier Point.

We stayed at Glacier Point for a sunset ranger talk.  What Yosemite album would be complete without a picture of Half Dome?

We felt like we crammed a lot in on this trip with the short amount of time we had to work with.  We really enjoyed having the flexibility of having our "home" right there behind us.  We got to spend some good family time together, and that's the whole point for us.