CCCC: Days 53-59 Monterey, Gilroy, Yosemite

Day 53 – Vacaville to Moss Landing

Our drive was nice and uneventful! What a nice break from what we’ve been doing.

Our campground is nice, but even in the early afternoon, it was foggy. We found a great place for a late lunch. The outside had the most beautiful cacti. He had fish and chips, and I had scallops and garlic fries that should be named garlic-garlic-garlic-garlic-garlic fries Yum!

After we relaxed for a bit, we heard sea lions barking, so we got the scooters out and headed toward the sounds. OMG there were soooo many. We even saw a couple of otters in the wild.

Day 54 – Otters! (and more)

In 2007, I shot a wedding in northern California. We tacked on a few days of sight seeing. We didn’t want to rent a car, but a couple of bus tours took us to some fun places like the Monterey Aquarium, Pebble Beach, Carmel, and Gilroy.

It was great except for one thing. The Monterey tour guide forgot to tell us to make sure to see the otters first for their feeding time. So, that was first on our agenda. We drove down, parked, got in, found the exhibit, and staked out our spots. We were half an hour early. I was heartbroken when they asked everyone to take a full step back to let the kids in front. (No one ever did that for me, dammit.) Two of the kids in front of me where great. They watched attentively and stayed still and quiet, so everyone could see and hear. Their little brother however, was only a year or two old and he was very wild and grabby; that’s not a good mix for a camera.

I took about a million photos to get a few. Otters are not an easy subject (they are fast and usually swim on their backs), especially behind wet glass and with no room to move. My back was killing me by the end of it all. We checked out the rest of the aquarium and had a whole new love for the jellies, which was my biggest memory of the place last time we were there.

Next up for us was a late lunch, so we grabbed a free trolley to take us to the “downtown” area. They are useful, but poorly labeled, have a terrible map, and hire drivers who seem insane. First, it’s crowded and there is a lot of traffic, so drivers need to chill more. Second, driving “with both feet” isn’t safe for anyone in or out of the trolley. And while they weren’t really driving with both feet, all three of our drivers had two speeds: “floor it” and “slam on the brakes” which made it difficult to stay in our seats. Third, the people with kids were quite rude, per usual. 

After the Aquarium, we found lunch at a Crépes place…and had the best tuna melts we’ve either one ever had. We walked around a little and found more sea lions. We even got to see them topple a dock and all go crashing into the water–for which everyone cheered!–except for one very-balanced lion who probably does a lot of Pilates.

Day 55 – Garlic!

Gilroy was mostly a bust, but we got to go to Garlic Shoppe and return to Garlic World (which was much smaller than I remembered).

Garlic Shoppe had a lot of garlic and hot sauce products, but also had a great collection of cookbooks and kitchen gadgets. And, they were at normal prices! I kinda stocked up.

Garlic World was great, and this time, I really got to shop. We bought a couple of gifts and some stuff for us. And I had chocolate garlic ice cream, of course. YUM! 

On the way back, we took the scenic road. The drive was very pretty, but we ended up caught in traffic, too.

Day 56 – Moss Landing to Groveland

What a terrible drive. It was a long day for us. Most of it was just heavy traffic and two-lane farm roads with no shoulder.

But as we got closer to Yosemite, this insanity was part of our drive. And it was all uphill too; I think we climbed 2000 feet. At least the other drivers were kind. We do pull over when we can do so safely.

After we got settled, we headed to the local bar–the oldest on in all of California–for burgers. After we ate, we moved to the bar both to see the Olympics and also to free up a table for the servers. We were having a great time chatting with the daytime bartender, his partner, and the working evening bartender. We also watched a couple of people try to stick dollars to the ceiling like they do at The Owl on Colfax.

Just as I was settling in for the night, we were attacked in the senses by some strong perfume. She sat next to him. His eyes were watering from it. I could taste it over my beer. We needed some groceries, anyway, so we paid for my last drink and left.

Day 57 – Yosemite National Park

Yosemite has a loop with good overlooks to the big stuff.

Half Dome looked like a dolphin to me. And El Capitan was completely different than the views they show in The Dawn Wall. It was all great. I’m glad we did it, but it was probably the second worst NP we’ve been to. We have odd tastes, for sure.

Day 58 – more Yosemite

We drove up to Hetch Hetchy Resivoir. It was a great “Jeepin’ Around” drive and a really pretty resivoir. It was a hot day, so we didn’t walk the dam.

We also drove around the rainbow pool, which was a GREAT swimming area with multiple pools and falls and a cliff for jumping. I was kinda bummed we didn’t bring our suits for that one. Finally, we took a loop of roads that was perfect for the Jeep without being a trail.

Day 59 – Yosemite to Bridgeport overnighter

It was another not-fun drive with a lot of construction taking the roads down to one lane and a 30-minute wait for “this side” to get to go (which is super annoying when you drive past no work being done in a large area).

Our campground was nice, though. Parking in our spot was a little wonky, but the spot was quite big. Our neighbors had “twin” smoky siamese kitties that were delightful to camp next to.

The place also has a campfire at 8pm every night, complete with s’mores and wine. There was another family there from Colorado and a couple from Paris (the real one).