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Left Brian and Suzies promptly at 10am this morning (well as promptly as they moved!) and followed them out of Modesto via the scenic road through orchards and vineyards and stopped at one of the last closed bridges in California... we were not able to drive over the bridge but took a walk out to the middle and took some snaps.
We then headed to Groveland where i was greeted like a king and praised on high! well, ok no, but we did visit the Iron Door which is the oldest saloon bar in California... a great old place with a huge moose head at the bar (not drinking) and loads of dollar bills stuck on the roof... We met Suzies best friend Jennifer and her son Nathan who were to be our hosts for the next couple of days. Once lunch was over we headed to Jennifers cabin which was exactly like you see in the movies... out in the middle of nowhere, rock-faced, by a babbling brook and lots of buzzing things wanting to investigate the inside of my head.
Our evening was spent playing games and eating proper home made food prepared by Suzie in the only way an italian knows how... HUGE QUANTITIES!
Brian loaded us up with food and beers and sent us on our way early next morning. After entering the park and thinking it was all a bit over-rated we turned a corner and were slapped around the face by El Capitain towering above us... unbelievable! The morning mist was still present and we got some amazing photos. After driving through the valley we decided to head up to Glacier Point. This viewpoint put us at almost eye level with Half Dome plus we could see all the snow-capped mountains that surrounded Yosemite... We can truely say it was the first time that a view has taken our breath away... almost literally in my case because of the altitude and probably in Jacq's case because we spotted Matt Le Blanc (Joey from Friends) admiring the scenery as well...
We played wedding photographers for a couple getting married at the viewpoint which made up for the fact we had crashed their wedding and sat there eating cookies and drinking beer.
Feeling brave we decided to embark on a short hike which got us away from the crowds and gave us a good 10 mins of peace and quiet to take in the views properly... i even spotted a steaming log which i was very proud of!
Heading back into the valley and feeling like a couple of Harry Hikers we decided to embark on another more strenuous hike to a waterfall. It would have been great if the guide book had told us we needed cramp-ons, ropes and a sherpa... it was a tad steep to say the least but we perservered and the view was worth it in the end.
OK, knackered now, so decided to head for home except... traffic at a stand still... what could this be... stupid tourists?... but NO... SHOCK HORROR... a BEAR!!! and not a remote control one either... a real life black bear grazing in the meadow next to us about 20 metres away! really put the full stop on our yosemite experience!
Once we got back to the cabin Suzie and Brian had already lit the camp fire. After a brief sulking episode from Brian after he learnt that we had seen a bear and he never had, we topped off the perfect day sitting around the fire, chatting and drinking beers.
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