Yesterday we took a drive through some very scenic country. We headed to the park and first visited Hetch Hetchy valley. The lake is below its high water bathtub mark, but not by much.
We then continued on highway 120 to highway 140 to Mariposa then back to the RV park via highway 49. Highway 49 is a very narrow and windy road not recommended for motorhomes or trailers over 30′. Yup, it was great! We didn’t take any pictures, but the country was very nice. Lots of mining history there, and there were a number of old mines we could see pieces of.
Today we tried to bicycle in the park. We left at 7:00 to get there before the crowds, and we did get a good parking place. Turns out we didn’t do much biking though. The detours they had in place for road construction in the valley impacted the bike trails too, and we weren’t crazy enough to ride on the over crowded narrow roads. We only got in 5.7 miles, but we enjoyed what we had. We spent quite a bit of time at the museum by the Visitor’s Center. There was an interpretive ranger playing Native American flutes that set the environment for the wonderful display of baskets woven by the native Miwoks. There is also a recreated Miwok village just outside the museum with a very good set of interpretive signs. After the museum we just wandered around. I got some more nice waterfall shots.
After the ride, we came back to the campground. Kevin took a nice nap while I enjoyed just sitting outside and relaxing. It has finally warmed up, and the skies were very blue as you can see from the pictures. Nice change! I also cleaned up the sewing I did on the two quilts I am working on. All the initial sewing is done, but I need to press the strip sets before subcutting the blocks. I can’t seem to find an ironing mat to buy, so I will probably just finish them at home. We ended the evening with a “last night” dinner with the rally attendees. I put that in quotes because the rally continues through Saturday night, but people are starting to leave a bit early. Therefore the dinner was tonight. The little restaurant we ate at was so-so. Standard small town fare, not too bad but not too good either (my salmon was overcooked). Oh well, we go for the company not the food.
Tomorrow is a living history day at Columbia, CA. It is called Diggings 1852 and supposedly has >150 reenactors in a tent city from 1852, the height of the local gold rush. I think it will be fun.
We actually didn’t stay too long or do any walking. A light mist turned to a dreary cold rain, and we did not have adequate gear. We visited the park headquarters, had lunch in the lodge bar, and took the shuttle bus round trip through the stops. Back in camp we warmed up and dried off, then some of us went to the oldest saloon in California, the Iron Door. Fun local place, and they had a good local dark beer.