Tiff & Jared's adventures

California was not too nice to us (me) at the beginning. After leaving Crater Lake, we drove the to Lake Tahoe, unsuccessfully making two souvenir stops and losing 45 minutes. I guess I was trying to make up the time because I found myself going 81 in a 65 mph zone, and so did the California cop who pulled me over. **First time ever being pulled over FYI. Ended up with a nice $167 ticket and some change. We didn’t even make it to Tahoe until 8 that night, and it seemed like everything fought against us so we wouldn’t see it. We finally did see it, and after Crater Lake, we honestly weren’t that impressed. Too much commercialization around the lake and not enough nature. Contemplated stopping at a brewery but we headed back to the campsite because we were ready to pass out.

The next day, we only had a three hour drive to Yosemite. Our campground was a 30 minute drive to the Tioga Pass entrance, but we didn’t realize how long it would take us to get to the valley floor (where most of the magic is). The first day, we didn’t get out of the car really until 3. We did the one mile loop to see Yosemite Falls, and we got a good view of the Lower falls.

I wish we had the time to hike to the upper falls. From there, we drove to Tunnel View, which might hands down be the prettiest view in the park. In one vantage point, we were able to see Bridalveil Falls, El Capitan and Half Dome. Absolutely stunning.

We then went up even higher to Glacier Point where we had some other great views like this.There was even an astronomy club up there with huge telescopes doing a sweet presentation, but we couldn’t stay because we had a two hour drive back to our campsite. Didn’t end up getting home until 11.

The next day, we left earlyish to get to a hike we wanted to do, Cathedral Lakes. Holy crap that was a workout. Seven to twelve miles, no one really knows. We estimate that it was somewhere around 10 miles out and back. Probably the hardest hike either of us had done. We estimate that we climbed a total of 1000 feet in elevation change, and when you’re already hiking at 9000 feet in altitude to begin with, it’s not easy. The ascent was super hard but the view was all worth it. It dropped us off into a meadow with winding streams and a beautiful mountain backdrop, and we had to climb over a short hill to see the alpine lake. It was blue, big and surrounded by trees. That was the Lower Lakes – there was an Upper Lakes, but between the exhaustion and mosquito bites, we decided not to trek the extra 1 mile round trip.

After wobbling back down to the car, we drove a few miles to Tenaya Lake. By that time, it was 5 and a little chilly for swimming. We ate a late lunch and lounged on the beach. I pitched my hammock for the first time, and in the process of doing so, upset a woodpecker in one of my post trees. It didn’t stop yapping for the whole time I was trying to nap,but I did get to see its “spouse” bring back some food and mouth feed it. #Natureiscool. After that, we packed up and headed back to the campsite, excited that we wouldn’t have to set up the tent for the first time on our trip. We were swamped and planned to be asleep by 8:30. Great to our surprise, there had been a thunderstorm and most of our stuff was either soaked or damp. We had to take everything out, put a bunch of stuff in the dryer, and hang the rest on the car. Took at least an hour or two and didn’t get to bed until about 11. It could have been worse though – at least we had a place to sleep!

Today: Left Yosemite for good ole Las Vegas. Meant to stop at Death Valley National Park along the way but due to storms, the road we needed was closed and we had to backtrack. Saw it from afar and that’s all I needed because my car’s thermostat said it was a whopping 100+ degrees outside. We got to Vegas around 4:30 and checked into Tuscany Suites. Finally, a bed and shower that’s not operated by quarters!! First thing’s first. We used our handy dandy coupon book to get two drinks at the casino bar, then proceeded to the Player’s Club desk to get our complimentary $10 playing card. I didn’t really recognize any games, so we went straight for the electronic poker game. At first, we were raking in the small cash – anywhere from 25 cents to $1.40. Then, before leaving for dinner, we struck it big. We had a King, Jack and Ace of diamonds and decided to go big or go home. When we got dealt the next hand, we saw that we got a ROYAL FLUSH!!!  According to Jared, there was a 1 in 40,000 chance of that happening. It was so fun to see the cash amount rising and rising until it stopped at $77.50. We called the slot manager over to see why we didn’t win the jackpot of $568 above the game, and he told us that was reserved for the “Bet 10” machines; sadly, we were on the bet 5. But hey, going in with 0 and coming out with $80 isn’t a bad deal.

We then went to dinner at Gangham Asian BBQ dining, a neat place where we ordered Japanese tapas off the menu and cooked them ourselves on a grill at the table. It was a yummy experience, and we got two free macaroon ice cream sandwiches out of it!

After that, we took a quick drive down the Las Vegas Strip. It was crazy! There was a pyramid, the Eiffel Tower, a NYC skyline replica, a freakin’ roller coaster, the Statue of Liberty and other senseless things. All the lights were so glamorous and it was cool to see all the grandeur hotels like the Bellagio and Caesar’s Palace. Then, getting back to the hotel, we each got one more beer and tried our hands at poker again. Unfortunately, luck was not on our side and we came out $5 poorer. But hey, we can’t complain with a net $75 gain 😉 Vegas, you were good to us.

Tomorrow, we’re heading to Hoover Dam and then camping in the parking lot for our hike to Havasu Falls. We’ll be heading down around 5AM to beat the heat, so please keep us in your thoughts! Will update the blog after Havasu 😀