Holley in room

After Holley and Kathy used the Luxor pool, we checked out and had lunch at the buffet. Holley, it turns out, left her purse at the restaurant. She had $217 in it! She remembered it after we had gone 70 miles to Pahrump, and were doing some re-supplying. Fortuneately, Jef suggested calling the hotel. Kathy called and the purse was found. She later arranged for the hotel to mail the purse back, and it did arrive safely in Borrego. 2 weeks later, after arriving home, Holley found the cash removed, but a check for $217 included!

We stopped in Death Valley and took a few pictures.

Devil's Cornfield

We arrived in Lone Pine and set up camp at Tuttle Creek before dark. We noted the smoke obscuring the sierras -- caused by the fire near Santa Barbara. We had a campfire and hot dogs for dinner that night.

Switchbacks up to Horseshoe Meadow from campground

After breaking camp at Tuttle Creek, drove to Bishop and had brunch at the Village Cafe in Bishop. Picked up a California map at the nearby casino while getting gas. Then drove straight to June Lake, where we set up camp at the Oh! Ridge campground. Our Mexican neighbors arrived later and played some loud music into the night. We had a campfire, and Holley connected with the neighbor kids, whose parents gave her some toys to play with, as well. Roasted some marshmallows.

Kathy bought some fishing gear and rented a motor boat. Although Holley was the fisherman, Kathy wound up doing some of her fishing. Although we only planned to spend a couple hours on the lake, we wound up staying 3.5 hours, and Jef got burned without a hat and no suntan lotion.

In the boat

Late that afternoon, we all walked down to the lake where Holley continued fishing from the shore and Jef and Kathy walked around the area. Holley apparently caught a big one, but it escaped. Kathy and Jef found a fisherman who had caught 3 good-sized trout, and took a picture of them. Another campfire that night, and the Mexican neighbors were fairly quiet. Holley had a good time playing with her new friends.

at the lake

A fisherman's catch

We showered in June Lake before breaking camp. We drove to Lee Vining where we had a nice lunch at Nicely's. Then we drove to Yosemite

Heading up Tioga Pass

We walked about a mile around Olmstead Point.

Sitting on the glacial polish

Lighter stone Jef and Kathy are on is due to glacial polish and the lighter color is due to glare off the smooth surface

Tenaya Lake from top of dome

Lake Tenaya from Olmstead Dome

Clouds Rest and Halfdome from Olmstead Point

Supergirl

Then we set up camp at White Wolf ($14). Kathy bought more firewood, and proceeded to check out the area with Holley. Later Jef and Holley retraced their steps.

Bear dung in our camp

Our White Wolf campsite

Funky looking tree

We obtained firewood and had a fire that night. After cooking dinner and roasting a few marshmallows, Holley retired, and Jef put the food in the food locker. As Jef and Kathy sat around the campfire for a few more minutes, they heard noises coming from the food locker. A 300 pound bear was trying to break in! Jef took a picture, but was too far away. Jef then took another photo, a bit closer, and the bear ran away. Jef then looked at the food locker and found it was half-open -- he had not properly secured it. After Jef succeeded in securing it, they retired to the tent. Throughout the night, noises could be heard throughout the campground as other campers tried to scare away the bear(s). Our neighbors were among those -- they finally scared it away after about 10 minutes.

Poor photo of bear

We broke camp at White Wolf in Yosemite and then stopped at the Tuolomne Grove of giant redwoods. We hiked about 2 miles, 400' elevation gain/loss to see some of these giants, including the tunnel tree.

Local wildflower

Tunnel Tree

Holley inside trunk of fallen tree

The classic Christmas Tree - a Noble Fir

Then we drove down into the valley, visited the visitor center for a while, and had a beer while watching rock climbers at El Capitan.

The dry wall behind Kathy is location of Yosemite Falls

El Capitan

Kathy spotted this full-grown pine tree a few hundred feet up the cliff that is El Capitan

We drove towards San Francisco, stopping at Groveland for an excellent lunch at Cocina Michoacana, and getting photos of the oldest continuing business in CA: the Iron Door Saloon.

Jef and Kathy in front of Iron Door Saloon

We then continued driving, stopping at a Quality Inn in Manteca, where we did laundry, and visited the jacuzzi that night.

We packed up and left the motel in Manteca and headed to San Francisco. We crossed the Bay Bridge and found our way to Fisherman's Wharf, where we had a fair lunch at the Franciscan -- good sourdough bread.

Lunch at Fisherman's Wharf, with Alcatraz in distance

We then stopped by and visited Jef's cousin Patti for about half an hour -- Kathy spent half that time finding a parking place!

Then we were off to wine country. After going over Golden Gate Bridge, we gassed up in Sausalito, and suffered thru some traffic before finding our way to the Napa Valley.

Golden Gate Bridge while leaving SF

Shunning all the wineries there, we made our way to Calistoga, and after finding Kathy's preferred resort had burned down, settled on an older resort: the Calistoga Village Inn & Spa, which is great! We arranged for 2 days, but had to get a suite (at 129/night) with a Roman bath to accomplish that. The resort had a warm pool, a regular pool, a large jacuzzi, and a sauna! We cooked dinner outside our room.

Leaving the hotel, we had a nice lunch at Brannan's. We then visited the Old Faithful Geyser of Calistoga, which was cool.

Then, after dropping Holley off at the hotel to play with some new-found friends, we finally started out wine tasting in the Alexander Valley. We visited and purchased wines at these wineries:

at 1:45 pm: Hanna, 1 each of:

• '06 Sauvignon Blanc @17
• '02 Two Ranch Red @20
• '01 Bismark Merlot @50
• '01 Bismark Syrah @36

Hanna

at 2:05 pm: Johnson's Alexander Valley Wines, where we bought a $40 cab after getting entertained by a monsterous 1000 pipe automated pipe organ that filled most of a barn there.

Syrah grapes at Johnson's Winery

1000-pipe organ

at 2:30 pm: Allexander Valley, 1 each of:

• '05 Wine Club Reserve @24
• '05 Sin Zin @20
• '02 Estate Merlot @22

at 3:30 pm: Stryker Sonoma, 1 each of:

• '04 Merlot County @23
• '04 Chardonnay Reserve @28

Wine tasting at Stryker Sonoma bar

at 4:10 pm: Murphy Goode - just bought by Kendall Jackson - 1 each:

• '06 Island Block Chardonnay @24
• '02 Sarah Block @24.50
• '03 Wild Card @24

We then returned to the hotel. We later sampled the jacuzzi and sauna, after cooking some dinner outside the hotel room.