Rambling round Yosemite

Friday 9th May

We got some groceries at the lobby last night so we have cereal (non-sugary!) for breakfast and Dave decides to wipe the bike down as it is really dusty.  By the time we get going it's 10am so we park the bike in the day parking take off our jackets and bike jeans and set off to find coffee ha ha!!

We find coffee and bananas and also cool patches, mine is really old school I love it.  We check the map at morning tea make a plan to walk up Vernal falls.  It claims on the map to be a moderate walk well if that's moderate I'd hate to see strenuous!!!!  I'm glad I'm fitter than I was a year ort so ago! it would have killed me! there were people carrying full packs up there!  We make it to the top and spend quite a bit of time up there looking around and taking heaps of photos.  We run from the bottom bridge to the bridge at the start and realise that it's probably around parkrun time at home so dub our run Yosemite Parkrun.  By the time we come down it's 2pm so a late lunch it is.  We get a really yummy roll and apples for lunch.

After lunch we take a stroll up to Mirror Lake as we took the kids up there last time it's really lovely.

On the way out of the park we attempt to buy petrol but it's an unmanned station and the stupid pump won't accept our card!

We buy a long neck to share and while I am blogging gorgeous Jenny skypes me it was so good to see her and hear her voice and although she couldn't hear me she could see me.  Love ya Jen.

We have a late dinner tonight and sit at the bar to be served by Kathy again and end up talking to a couple (Scott & Mardi) from Sacramento.  It is Scott's first time in Yosemite and Mardi had been told by her doctor that she needed a break after a car accident she is looking at surgery on her neck.  We also catch up with Mike from last night and meet a couple from Newcastle in England.

Vernal Falls - Yosemite NP

bottom bridge Vernal Falls

bottom bridge Vernal Falls

Vernal Falls from Midway

Yosemite here we come!!!

Thursday 8th May

I didn't sleep very well last night the undersheet on the bed was sliding and I was not comfy!  The owner of the hotel Bob brings coffee/tea and muesli bars out to the patio for breakfast.  It's not a fantastic breakfast but he brings it out early so we can get going early which is great.

My coms work again hallelujah! and we are off to Yosmite, I am very excited to be going there again we went there with the kids in 2000 it was my birthday so a different time of year.

Our directions are good and we are soon travelling along a very windy mountain road.  We are planning to stop at Sequoia National Forest (ours parks pass pays for this) and anyone know what is unusual about the word Sequoia?  Along the way we stop at a toilet on the side of the road and decide to stretch our legs I had a little tumble down an embnakment and ended up with a grass skidmark on my right knee oops.

We stop at the Trail of 100 giants (a sequoia forest) it is amazing these trees are huge and we have taken heaps of photos.  Our morning stop was to be at Camp Nelson and we were thinking brunch would be good but when we get there the cafe doesn't open till 11am so we wander up the road to a small gift shop where I buy some gorgeous earrings (of course!) and talk to Dearne the shop owner she is a lovely lady and tells us that there is a restaurant in Pierpoint Springs that would still be serving breakfast so we ride over there.  We order one serving of scrambled eggs with cowboy potatoes and one serving of fruits of the forest pie and share both it is more than enough to satisfy us.  We chat to the postmaster/server and he gives us some local info about the road ahead and we are soon on our way, we use the bathroom nefore leaving and I'm so glad I did it's just lovely!!

In Fresno we stopped at a Maccas and had a drink and after that we went to a servo to pump up the back suspension and the bike handles sooo much better!!

Riding down into Yosemite this afternoon was beautiful and we worked out that last time we came in through the western gate and left through the southern gate and this time we came in through the southern gate and will leave through the eastern gate so nearly all directions covered.  We had taken off our gloves as the day heated up and then riding into Yosemite we stopped on the side of the road to put them back on as it was freezing.

We arrived at Cedar Lodge which is where we stayed with the kids in 2000 and at first it doesn't look familiar but then I look closely and I remember it.  Our room is on the high side of the resort and at the back so Dave asks if we can park the bike up the back near our room and is told no so he asks for a room where he can park out the front and so we move rooms. 

We have dinner at the bar and watch a random basketball game and get chatting to a guy who has worked here since 1987 and he tells us all the good places to stop over Tioga Pass which we will go on this Saturday.  He also tells us it will be pretty snowy up there.  It is a really comfy bed tonight and I fall asleep quickly. 

Death Valley "Under the sea, under the sea"

Our table at Furnace Creek Ranch - Death Valley

mens toilet at breakfast

our room Yosemite

Bye Vegas

Wednesday 7th May
When we start off this morning my coms is working again HURRAY!!!!!  We leave Las Vegas and ride down to Fremont street and ride past The pawn shop we've seen on TV.

We ride out of town and up to Red Rock Canyon.  The visitors centre is really cool, we buy some pins and we learn a bit about the canyon.  It is a 13 mile loop through the canyon and out the other side the rock formations are amazing and it's a gorgeous day so a great day for a ride through the canyon. 

Then we head for Pahrump for petrol.  The ride is fairly straight and there is snow on the nearby mountains, no wonder it's so cold.  We arrive in Pahrump and attempt to fuel the bike at one pump and we have a problem that we've encountered before when we swipe our credit card the screen asks for a zip code, we asked the man behind the counter why it does this and how we can fix it he gave us a really round about answer that told us nothing.  Not every pump asks for a zip so we moved the bike to another pump and completed the transaction (which we can do entirely at the pump so unless we want to buy coffee or use the loo then we just ride away).  We bought coffee, hot chocolate and a piece of cake for $2.90!! we then follow our instructions to head to Death Valley and they take us in a complete circle in town bahahahaha so we pull into a bank carpark and ask another biker how we find Death Valley he was very helpful (was riding a very beat up Harley looked like it had been over a few times LOL).  The turn off was just outside of town and off we go.  It's a really cool day so hopefully Death Valley won't be too hot.  As we come into the valley there is a kiosk where you can buy tickets into the park but we decide to wait until we get to the information centre because we want to buy an annual pass ($80) because we are going to be going to several parks, forests and reserves.  Riding through Death Valley is very different to what we both expected the terrain is very hilly with mountains all around, we both expected it to be flat and desert-like there is actually quite a bit of vegetation along the way.  When we get to the information centre the temp is 90F about 32C and 190ft below sea level.  We buy our annual pass and some more pins (they are great with a thermometer on 134F the highest temp ever recorded in Death Valley).  We have lunch at a diner just up the road and are surprised again at what turns up on our plates we both ordered rolls and not only did we get our rolls which were yummy but we also get chips and pickle ha ha

We stop in a town called Ridgecrest at Maccas and get hot tea yay!!!!  Riding out to Lake Isabella we go up to almost 6000ft elevation it's so cold! but a great ride along winding roads.  We get to Lake Isabella and try to fuel up at the service station and come across the zip code thing again so abandon that station and ask the attendant where the hotel is because we had ridden past and doubled back and still not seen it.  While I am in talking to the attendant Dave asks a tanker driver what's with the zip code thingy and he tells him that it's a security function and that it's the zip code of where the credit card was first issued and it doesn't work on international cards so we decided that whenever we come to one of those we will use cash.  We ride over to the hotel we were directed to and find it's the wrong one and the person there tells us it's 4 miles back from the way we came and when we finally find it the hotel is actually situated in a little place called Mountain Mesa and we hadn't even started looking for it so no wonder we missed it!!  By the time we arrive it's after 7pm so priority is food and the hotel manager directs us to a Mexican restaurant up the road about a mile.  On the way there is a service station and yes you guessed it the zip code thing again so I go in and pay at the counter so Dave can fill the bike and the attendant says "oh I LOVE your accent!" hahaha  We go up to the restaurant El Portal and it's very yummy our server Sandy is fairly serious but when we ask her name and talk to her she smiles.  After dinner we head back and after a little mucking around we get connected to the wifi.

Happy 50th woohooooo

Tuesday 6th May
Happy 50th Birthday to my gorgeous hubby.
We get up early and go for a run towards Old Las Vegas.  It's quite cool and running helps warm us up.  We see quite a few people out running.  We ran 6km and did 20 squats waiting for the crossing to change ha ha.  Again we see LOTS of homeless people.  It's terribly sad.

After breakfast (oats huzzah!!) we go to the bus stop near the hotel and buy a ticket $8ea for 24hrs (the buses run 24/7) we can jump on and off as often as we like.  We travel up ther strip to Mandalay Bay and check out the Shark Reef/Aquarium it's really cool and even has pirahnas!!  You can touch the sting rays (they are so soft) and it has a tunnel you walk through and the sharks and saw fish swim over you.

We walk down the strip a bit more check out the Luxor and New York, New York.  NY, NY is the cleanest smelling casino in the whole of the strip!!  People are still allowed to smoke indoors ewwwwww!!
Then we catch the bus back down to The Venetian to meet up for our presentation at 12:40pm.  We have to fill out some paperwork and David asks the lady "do we get lunch first?" ha ha he was hungry.  She says "why yes sir!" anyway we are loaded onto a bus and it starts...........we pick up some other couples at other hotels and then we are driven out of town to a resort complex where we are asked to take a seat.  Each couple is assigned somebody and suddenly a young man calls our names, his name is Walter and he is delightful we warm to him straight away.  Walter then drives us to another resort to have lunch sooo by the time we get to lunch it's 2pm.  Lunch is delicious and Walter is lovely company.  He does talk to us a little about the timeshare deal that he is selling and then after lunch takes us back to the first resort and gives us some history, background and a basic idea of the deal, he then shows us around and then takes us back to finalise the deal.  We just don't have the disposable cash to make that kind of deal and explain to Walter that we will not be buying timeshare today.  He has to call over his boss to make sure he has done his job.  The boss offers us a reduced deal but we explain to ther boss that even at the reduced rate we cannot commit to the deal.  We are then shown to a room where another person Jerry asks us some questions to make sure that Walter treated us with respect and to finalise our gifts.  We are then shown to yet another room to process our gifts.  We are given vouchers to convert to Human Nature tickets, vouchers for dinner at Tintoretto Restaurant and $30 change.  We are then shown to a bus where other couples are waiting to go back to their hotels we are the last to be dropped off and arrive at our hotel at 6pm 5 1/2 hours after we started.

We quickly change into clothes for the show and dinner.  We walk up to The Venetian and I am scared that there will be no tickets left over for show tonight and that we would miss out but at the box office our vouchers are converted to actual tickets so we buy drinks and go in and sit down.

Human Nature are AMAZING!!!! and after the show we line up to meet them.  I get to shake their hands and tell them how much I enjoyed the show.  While waiting in the line we meet a couple from Georgetown!!! (which is in Newcastle) they are almost at the end of their holiday and have been everywhere NY/LA and LV.

We went to redeem our dinner vouchers the food was delicious. so today we spent $6 for my glass of wine for dinner plus the tip a very cheap day and we got to meet Walter a quality young man :))

New York New York

apples NY NY

lunch at Silverton with Walter

Yeah Vegas baby!!!

Monday 5th May

Travelling to Vegas this morning was a bit of an adventure as my coms is still not working.  Pity, as we had visited the company the other day and told them how great it was ha ha  Anyway hand gestures and shoulder tapping with a little bit of shouting.  Worked OK we missed a turn and ended up not going out to Lake Arrowhead or Big Bear Lake as intended BUT this ended up being a good thing because some wooden scaffolding being used for road works caught fire this must have happened just after we passed Victorville.  And the I15 was closed for 2 days.  Phew we got through!!!

It was a fairly cool start and after we missed our diversion we stopped at a Maccas on the highway for a hot cuppa to warm up a bit and ran into a whole lot of people walking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) it winds through the USA from Mexico to Canada along the crest of the mountains it takes 6 months to walk.  One of the girls doing the PCT is an Aussie, Ella from Canberra.  They have stopped in at Maccas for breakfast they all look sooo tired and dirty ha ha I don't think I could do it for 6 nights let alone 6 months!!!!  One guy's shirt could stand up on it's own I reckon due to the congealed sweat that is where his pack sits yuk!
We wish them well and keep going.

We stop at a service station for petrol and have Taco Bell for lunch.

We arrive in Vegas mid afternoon it's blowing a gale!!!  Our hotel is straight across the road from Circus Circus (we stayed there in 2000).  We settle in Dave goes to get some beer and then has a nap and I update the blog. 

We walk up the strip a bit to have a look around and try to decide what we might eat and then what we might do tomorrow.
Walking along the strip are lots of people all drinking humongous cocktails with huge long straws sticking out of them.  It's Cinco de Mayo (basically Mexican equivalent of July 4th).  Trying to choose a place to eat is really hard.  On the way up the strip the Mirage 'volcano' goes off it's pretty cool and there are hundreds of people around the lake watching.  We wanted to go to Outback Steakhouse but there was a 20 minute wait so we kept walking and came to a beer & burger restaurant near The Venetian (there are gondolas in the canal out the front it's quiet and they have a table now)  it's not a cheap meal but it's tasty and quick.  We walk up the ramp to Madam Tussauds to have a look but it's 5 minutes past 9 and they are closed we will probably go there tomorrow.  Then we walk further up the strip and go on the High Roller (world's highest ferris wheel) it's amazing and all the lights of Vegas look so great from up there.  On the way back to our hotel David suggests we go to buy our Human Nature tickets for tomorrow night and on the way to Madam Tussauds I had seen a ticket desk so we went up there.

The guy at the desk says "Hi what show do you want to see?" and we tell him and he says "what would you say if I said I could give you those tickets for $10 each with free dinner AND a free lunch?"
He said all we had to do was give him $50 and attend a presentation that would take 2-3 hours of our time.  So we agreed....I was a bit nervous but $10 Human Nature tickets sounded good.

Just walking back to our room is an experience as there are sooo many beggars on the streets.  Each has their own unique way to beg some are hilarious (the guy dressed as cupid complete with little bow & arrow, the guy holding as sign saying "kick me in the nuts for $1 no cup"), some honest holding signs such as "I need money for weed" and some just sad one man who is obviously high/drunk shadow boxing and talking loudly about how good he is and we should give him money for the 'show'.  We cannot give any of them money because give money to one and they all look at you like lost puppies it's so sad.

Our room is comfortable but noisy so earplugs are a must.

remember this kids?

and this?

our room in Vegas

David found the 'peice of resistance' in the bike ha ha

May the 4th be with you!

Sunday 4th May
The day starts out a little frustrating as my coms unit will not turn on, so we take the charger with us and decide to ask at the church if we might plug it in.  It means that to give directions I must use hand signals and shoulder taps to communicate but we do pretty well and arrive only a few minutes late.

We went to church this morning at Expression 58 we were greeted by the cutest little girl Savannah (3) and many people introduced themselves and made us feel at home, including Heather who told us that an Aussie couple attends the church.  During the service the Pastor Shaun Boltz is giving words of encouragement to different people.  Even down to nailing people's birthdays/anniversaries etc.  He is talking to one particular young woman and says I see a ray of sunshine over your mother, suddenly from the other side of the church the woman's mother calls out and says "my name is Sunshine!" she is the young woman's mother and Shaun did not know that! it's a very cool word.  After the service Heather introduced us to Sarah an Aussie who lives in LA and works in the film industry as does her husband (who was at home with their 2 year old who is unwell).  It was nice to hear an Aussie accent.  She told us about the lookout at Griffith Park and the observatory.  

The church didn't have a carpark so David had parked the bike up the road a bit in a strip mall carpark.  There was a Radio shack there so we got a connector that connects the CASSETTE DECK! (yes you are reading correctly our 2007 model bike has one) anyway connects it to my iphone so we can play our music through the audio system.  We test it out and it works really well happy days!! and even better my coms unit turns on woohoooo.

There is a Subway there too so we have some lunch before heading over to Universal Studios.  While we are there a family comes in, an older couple, a young woman with a little boy and a young man with Downs Syndrome (Trisomy 21).  We watch as the young man with T21 helps the little boy with his drink and gets him a straw and a napkin and generally looks after him.  And the little boy who is as cute as a button is such a chatterbox.  After we finish our lunch David says "We need to talk to this family" it turns out that it's Mia, her son Nico (3) her parents and her younger brother Joe (25).  Nico is full of questions about our pins and patches and when he finds out that the motorcycle outside is ours he gets soo excited.  So David asks Mia if it would be OK for him to sit on the bike.  When we go outsider Nico is a little frightened to sit on the bike so David sits on it and puts him on his lap and lets Nico rev the engine he just loved it.  Mia takes a photo and gets our email address so she can send it to us.  What a gorgeous little encounter.

On the way to Universal Studios we spot Griffith Park and turn off to check out the observatory there are cars parked all along the side of the road up the hill and a sign states the carpark is full but we decide to ride up the hill and find that there is motorcycle parking right near the entrance to the observatory huzzah!!  From the lookout we can see the HOLLYWOOD sign.  We then go inside to check out the observatory.

We arrive at Universal Studios fairly late we change clothes in the parking lot ha ha (we are at the back against some shrubbery) as soon as we are through the gate we hot foot it down to the Studio tour bus.  There is a big line of people waiting but it goes fairly quickly.  The tour itself is really good with some special treats I'm not going to spoil on here for anyone and a good look at some facades, vehicles and outdoor sets.  After the tour we went on The Mummy ride after going on the best coaster ever last night this was a bit ho hum.  Then we went on the Transformers ride as single riders (which means we get split up but we get through really fast! should have done this all along!) it's a 3D experience ride and REALLY good.  To get to the lower level there is 4 really long escalators with flights of stairs beside them.  On the way down we took the escalator most of the way and on the way back up we ran up the stairs!!! gahh

we ran up 4 sets of this ok ok by the 3rd set I was walking

Then we go on the Shrek 'ride' which is a 4D experience which is pretty funny.  By the time we come out the park is closing and we make our way to the bike it has cooled down a lot! and neither of us has our jacket with us ha ha.  By the time we get back to Anaheim we are both really cold!!  We change into warmer clothes and go to Dennys for dinner they have run out of beer!!! unaustralian!!!! and they have run out of spaghetti and meatballs so I order fish n chips and David has some chicken it was really delicious.  Then we go back to our room for a beer mmmmm beer.  I am having lots of trouble getting onto skype it's driving me mad I just want to talk to my Mum and my kids!!!!

set of the Grinch

set of War of the Worlds

"Thankyou! come again"

Meet & Greet

Saturday 3rd May
Today we rode down to Wildomar to meet John & Fritzi  friends of the Padmos family who have helped us out.  It was lovely to meet them and put faces to names.
We had a lovely time chattiong and then John & Fritzi took us to Applebees for lunch it was really delicious.  Funny how you can jusyt meet someone and feel really comfortable in their company.

On the way home we took a diversion through the Ortega Hwy and called into Hells Kitchen, sure was something to see.  While we were there we caught up with Bill from Alaska who gave us a few tips about Alaska which was helpful.

We got back to the hotel and went for a swim, very refreshing and then headed over to California Adventure Park.  Stand outs there were Hollywood Tower (of terror) I wanted to go on again and California Screamin which was by far the best rollercoaster I have ever been on.  While we waioted in the line we chatted to Candy and Roland a couple from Long Beach who have a season pass and come regularly (chatting helps the 45min wait go fast!).  While we are in the line the ride gets closed for tonight's Colours of the world performance and Candy tells us that this means they make the coaster go faster because they want to get everyone through.
Because we had such a huge lunch we decide on just a hot dog (me)  and a corn cob (Dave).  We ahve a couple more small rides and then get an ice cream to wait for the performance to start we are standing in an area where the sides of the 'lake' are roped off and you need a ticket to get in.  While we are standing there waiting a young lady who works at the park comes over and asks "are you waiting to watch the show?" we say yes and she opens the rope and let's us in (angel) when not 1 metre away a young man is turning people away that don't have a ticket :))
The show is spectacular with water spouts, lights and fire.  Images are projected onto the water and a musical and narrative is overplayed with it.  All the Disney songs it's very good and goes past closing time for the park.  The walk home is pleasant and we are really tired.

Tower of Terror mwahahahahaha