Nights 265 and 266 - First in California

Hi and welcome back!

My mom sent me this picture from the backyard while dad and I were on the plane. She said it was weird not having the tent out there when she woke up.

No Tent

We left home around 10:00 yesterday so we would have time to get some last minute things at REI and be at the airport by 1:00.  We flew from Philadelphia to Atlanta, and then we had a four hour layover.  From there it was five hours from Atlanta to San Jose.

I only slept about 15 minutes on the plane, even though it felt like 1:00 a.m. when we landed.  We rented a car in San Jose and drove about two hours to Santa Nella.  It was only supposed to be about an hour and 25 minutes, but there was an accident, and we sat in traffic for awhile before we decided to turn around and find a different route.

Near Le Grand

We finally got the tent set up and got into our sleeping bags a little before 2:00, which felt like 5:00 to me!  As I was trying to fall asleep, I realized that almost exactly 24 hours before I woke up at home and went for a last hike in Pennsylvania.  It was a LONG day.


Today dad and I left the campground about 7:30.  The drive from Santa Nella is about three hours.  For the first hour or so, it was just farmland on either side of the road, with some mountains in the distance up ahead.  Then the farmland turned into rolling hills, and that turned into pretty tall, steep-sided mountains.

The Yosemi-Tea Coffee Shop in Mariposa

We were looking for a place to get breakfast, because we hadn't really passed any towns, when we found Mariposa.  One of the people we talked to said the Rim Fire wasn't far from town, and it was pretty hard to breathe here before it was finally put out.  

Right now we're in a diner in Mariposa, and we decided to post because they have WiFi.  From here it's about 45 minutes into the park and an additional half hour or so to the valley.  We'll tell you more and send more pictures once we get to the campsite.

Thanks for reading!