Friday, July 23, 2010

Yosemite -- Last Day


On our final day in Yosemite we were determined to go rafting down the Merced.  The rental office didn’t open until 10am so we thought we’d walk over to the Ahwanhee just to see it.  Again we got lost on the trails and never made it!  But we were almost first in line for rafting.  Then we looked at the signs; everyone must be over 50 pounds (hummm, Max is about 30 pounds), the trip takes about 2+ hours, orientation is 30 minutes and bus ride back another 30 minutes when the bus comes (check out was at 11am and we were planning on leaving at noon).  Time was NOT working in our favor.  After another family discussion we decided to return again to Yosemite to raft, but today we should pack up our things and move on – after more ice cream, of course.

Within in 200 yards of the Curry Village parking lot I was pulled over by a Park Ranger for doing 37 in a 25mph zone.   He was very official asking for my license and registration, did I know why he stopped me, did I know the speed limit, etc., but then asked where we were going, I suppose expecting us to say something local and I said, “Uh, Australia.”  That took him aback and he promptly returned my papers without questioning the immigration status of my passengers and wished us bon voyage.

On the way south we knew the exact exit to take in Fresno to go through the Starbucks drive thru for 2 double tall non-fat lattes.   Diving southwest across the San Joaquin Valley was very interesting.   There was field after field of different fruit trees, vegetables and vineyards.  The variety of colors and topography was captivating.  We finally hit the  101 and drove south to Solvang, just north of Santa Barbara, to stay with our friends Lew and Genevieve.

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