Digital Nomad Summer - Part 14

Need the link to Part 13?

In the last blog post, we made it to the Coleville/Walker KOA in Coleville, CA and had a chance to spend some time with our friends Jen and Bryan Spencer!

Chris and I at Olmstead Point within the eastern side of Yosemite National Park.

That's Half Dome behind us.

When we initially made our reservations to stay in this area, we planned on being further north near Washoe Valley, Nevada; we knew the Lake Tahoe area was roughly an hour away, so we planned to visit there at some point during our week.  However, once we moved to Coleville and chatted with Bryan and Jen, we learned that while Tahoe was still about an hour away (we were now south of it), we were also within a reasonable driving distance of Yosemite.  The Tioga Pass marks the eastern entrance into the park, and it was just about an hour from our KOA; since we didn't originally think we'd make it to Yosemite on this trip, we were stoked to have it within reach!

Tuesday was a normal work day for us; we took the kids for a romp on the KOA trail, Chris ran to the nearby Walker General Store for eggs and crackers (things I'd forgotten the day before, but at least he had the chance to see all of the store's taxidermy in its full glory), and we had lunch outside in the nice weather.

Sleeping outside...

...and sleeping inside.

Finding new sticks in the onsite dog park

"Look, I'm Mom, blah blah blah, faculty reviews, blah blah blah."

Once work ended, it was time to bundle the monkeys into the truck to start our drive to the national park.  Most of the route follows the 395, and it was neat to parallel the curves of the West Walker River before heading into open, high meadows and then the mountains.  

On our way, we also passed Mono Lake, which is huge - it's one of the oldest lakes in North America (formed about 1 million years ago) and because of the intense evaporation that has occurred over its life, it's extremely alkaline, and 2.5 times saltier than the ocean.

It is also quite lovely

As we climbed closer to Tioga Pass, we came to Tioga Lake; not only was it a great selfie spot, but it allowed us all to take a short break from heading into the mountains.  Our KOA was at 5200 feet, the Mono Lake overlook up there was around 7500', and the Tioga Pass entrance to Yosemite was just under 10,000'.  It was a haul, that's for sure!

People were swimming in these lakes!  We were absolutely not - way too cold. 

We made it!

The eastern side of Yosemite is not very heavily visited, which makes sense; for most of the year, the Tioga Pass is completely closed, particularly after winters with heavy snowfall like this one.  Also, you don't get to see most of the particularly famous parts of the park from this side, with one notable exception.  However, it's still really neat - most of this area of the park is around 8,000 feet of elevation, so it's high alpine prairie, which is cool on its own.

Driving past huge granite (?) slabs

We made our way to Olmstead Point, about 15 miles past the entrance; it's named for Frederick Law Olmstead the landscape architect who designed Central Park (and was the other main character in Erik Larson's excellent book The Devil in the White City).  The Point has insane views of this part of the park, including the back of Half Dome, which most people don't get a chance to see.  It was really neat, and we're glad we had a chance to visit.

This one's a panoramic, so click it to make it bigger

Apparently, Olmstead's son had some connection to Yosemite,

and he helped in naming this spot after this father.

I know that's why you come to this blog - pictures of dogs and half-a$$ed history facts.

Close up of Half Dome

The girls had to appreciate the beauty from the truck this time

After visiting Olmstead Point, we made our way back to a picnic area we'd noticed earlier, at Tenaya Lake.  We let the girls out to go the bathroom and were immediately swarmed by the worst cloud of mosquitoes we'd encountered on any of our travels so far - at 8,000 feet and in 65 degree weather.  It was very confusing and rather bitey.

There were a few patches of snow on the ground, so we sprinted the girls over to this one.

Zoe actually likes snow - she first experienced it a few years back in Flagstaff and loved it,

but Bea wasn't so sure.

It was in Yosemite that we also found our sketchiest - but most scenic - one way traffic light.

That's about an 800 foot drop right there.  Yikes!

After eating our pasta salad dinner in the truck (killing bugs the entire time), we turned for home; after a quick stop for bathroom breaks and stickers at the Mobil station just outside the park, it was back down to 5,200 feet and into Coleville for the night once more.

We hung around the KOA on Wednesday, doing laundry between meetings/projects, and enjoying a swim in their pool after work was done for the day.  On Thursday, we had our normal day and after work, it was back in the truck for an hour, this time to the Lake Tahoe area.  Lake Tahoe stretches into both Nevada and California, and the two sides of the area couldn't really be more different:

Nevada - nothing but casinos as far as the eye can see

California - tons of trees and lodges

These two shots were taken about 5 minutes apart on the same road

After running to the local CVS for more migraine meds (I'd had one all day), a local pet store for dog ear wipes and treats, and a nearby bookstore/coffee shop/co-working space for a new bag of joe for Chris, we made our way to Regan Beach.  Regan is a great local spot, and it had the only leash-free dog beach in the area.  We parked the truck, got the girls on their leads, and followed the signs to the dog beach.  Having trouble finding it, we asked some local folks for their help; as it turned out, we were in the right spot, but the lake was so high from all the winter melt that the "beach" was completely underwater.  

This nutter says the lack of beach won't stop her, thank you very much.

She really would have jumped in here, if Chris hadn't been holding her back.

Posing with the girls and the lake:

We strolled the girls up and down the lakefront promenade for a bit, and then made our way back to the truck to head to dinner.  The spot we'd tentatively chosen ahead of time, MacDuff's Pub, was packed to the gills, so we drove around a bit and happened on Sidellis Brewery and Restaurant, a little spot with a great back patio that was dog friendly.  Chris enjoyed a pulled pork sandwich with a key lime sour, while I had a chicken caprese sandwich (still trying to shake that migraine, I abstained, but I did take a small sip of his sour, which was great).

This one was super freaked out most of the time and was being a royal turd.

I ended up leaving with her while Chris enjoyed a second beer with Bea,

and heading to Safeway to buy groceries

(it was nice and cool in Tahoe, so she was fine in the truck).

"Can I have some of your sandwiches, guys?"

Dinner and grocery shopping done (Tahoe had a real Safeway, which was a nice change after the Walker General Store, even though there was far less taxidermy to enjoy), it was time to head back over the mountain and to the KOA.

Back into Tiny Vegas

Not too shabby scenery on the way back

Since the Safeway adventure took awhile, we didn't make it back to the KOA until 9pm; while we were tired, arriving late had one advantage: this was the first time I'd seen the stars on our entire trip!  The extremely long days combined with my natural predilection for an early bedtime had me missing the constellations most nights, and Chris grabbed some night photos of our location near the cliffs:

The cliffs, all lit up at night

Bob after dark

We finished out our week at the KOA once again chilling around camp; we did another load of laundry, ate lunch (turkey melts on the flattop) and dinner (burgers and fried delights from nearby Walker Burger) outside, and tried to soak up as much of the lovely weather as we could - the next weeks would find us in Las Vegas and then home, so anything under 90 degrees was most appreciated.

The girls also took in as much as they could:

We were just about 10 miles away from the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center -

while we didn't see or hear too much of them during our time in Coleville,

three Apaches flew over on Friday afternoon

Time for beer and bull terriers!

On the next blog, it's into the desert and the heat!  Vegas, baby, Vegas!

Later!

Amy