Day Fourteen: Yosemite

On Monday we awoke in luxury at the Miner’s Motel. You may wonder: how could they stay there without being miners? Fortunately, the portly proprietor allowed us to slip in unchallenged. Once we saw the room, we thought Mrs. Miner might introduce us to the business end of her pick axe in the middle of the night, but all turned out well.

We ate food at a diner in Jamestown, which is smack in the middle of Gold Country. One establishment guaranteed a $5 golden nugget to anyone who prospected in their concrete pool. We shunned riches, however, and made our way up the mountains to Yosemite. In the park, we took in the most spectacular vistas possible.

The waterfalls were so massive that they appeared to fall in slow motion. Observing one from a distance, Jason noted that it took ten seconds for one finger of water to travel from the top of the fall to the bottom.

After we viewed the views, we hiked around a bit in the Mariposa Grove of ancient Sequoia trees. We do not compare.

After enjoying the food and scenery at a nearby taqueria, we began a 7 hour trip to Las Vegas. Penelope delivered us onto the Strip at 4AM. Naturally, the fake exotic destinations were still open for business.