Day 24
We woke up feeling kinda drained after a bug filled night and went into town for breakfast. We were stunned by what we saw: on the way in to town it was dark, and we could see a dark silhouette in the sky which we thought was maybe clouds; but once we stepped outside we realised that the town was at the foot of huge mountains towering above it. It was an amazing sight, and I just stood there for a while taking it all in. I was so in awe of it that I actually forgot to take any pictures! So here's one borrowed from Wikipedia.



We stopped for a very quick breakfast and headed out towards Tioga Pass. The drive was straight through a long valley in between two huge mountain ranges and arrived at Mono lake around 2 hours later.


The mountains towered above us

Mono lake is a salt water lake with a small museum giving a bit of information about the ecology of the area. We had a quick walk around before heading into Lee Vining to see the upside down house; a house that is literally built upside down with everything stuck to the ceiling. It was a nice little attraction so we got some photos and had a quick look around the small museum next to it, then went to a small diner for some lunch, and my 427th burger of the trip. I still like burgers.



After lunch we drove towards Yosemite through Tioga Pass. What a drive that was! Driving round the side of these huge mountains was amazing. We switched between having the roof down and back up as the rain started and stopped, as we wanted to get the best view possible. I had to be careful about enjoying the view too much however, as it was a long way down if I forgot to turn a corner. The first stop was Tuolumne Meadows, a beautiful meadow that had a quiet river running through it. We followed one of the trails and saw all sorts of wildlife all over the place. After a while of walking we came across a small log structure, which contained small puddles of water with bubbles coming out of the ground; these soda springs were dotted around the place and were pretty interesting.



We carried on along Tioga Road until we finally reached Yosemite Valley where we'd be camping. The campsite was very busy, and there wasn't the privacy of the Grand Canyon, but there was still plenty of space. The view was outstanding, as it was in a valley surrounded by huge mountains in every direction. The campsite was covered in large trees, with the tents and RVs set up in between them. By the time we arrived it was pretty late, so we set up the tent and started a fire to cook some food before getting an early(ish) night. Again, as with Grand Canyon there were a few people that ignored the quiet curfew, but I eventually managed to get to sleep. Rach was going to hear about this in the morning! Grumble grumble grumble...