US TRIP - Modesto to Yosemite

We set off from Modesto mid-morning and it was already pretty hot (in the 90s). Luckily it was a pretty easy drive and the air-con worked really well. By this day we had worked out how to use the GPS on the car, so there was no getting lost any more! We christened her 'Jenna', as she had a nice, soothing American voice.

The drive to Yosemite was interesting. The landscape was pretty consistent - dry, brown California grassland (a lot like the land around Canberra actually), until we started the climb up into the hills.

Woods Creek. Creek?!

Then it became green and lovely. Lots of trees, but completely different to the trees in our forests in Australia, which was cool.

 As we entered Yosemite Park (complete with a entrance station with rangers in proper ranger hats!), the scenery became even more amazing! 

Massive mountains and spectacular granite formations were around almost every turn, so we joined everyone else in stopping to take photos. 

We drove up to Tenaya Lake, a spectacular lake surrdounded by mountains, which at 8150 feet (2484 metres) elevation was very cold! 

But we waded in anyway. Crazy people! 

The water was beautifully clear and clean and it was so quiet. 

After that, we drove down into Yosemite Valley to our accommodation, stopping at Olmstead Point to take in the amazing vistas (there was a bit of smoke in the air from all the bushfires, so it wasn't as clear as it might have otherwise been).

It was there we came across our first American wildlife, a little ground squirrel! So cute! At first we thought he was a marmot (uneducated Aussies!), so we called him Sir Jorah Marmot, but then we workd out he was a squirrel...

The drive down to our accommodation was even more spectacular (if that's even possible!). 

We stayed at the Yosemite View Lodge, in a room overlooking the gorgeous Merced River. As we ate our dinner on the back terrace, we were visted by another squirrel, and then a raccoon. Very exciting for us foreigners!

The amazing view from the patio behind our cabin.