I got to see dew instead of frost this morning, and the only real reason I ever saw frost before wasn't because it was early, it's because the mountains shaded the grasses.
I tried to call the garage and find it on the map in Yosemite, but google said it was in the middle of a mountain, which I figured wasn't true. Because of all the confusion in what the hell was happening to me I left my wallet and all money in my car. I was supposed to get a bus ticket and get my car yesterday, but the garage was impound was going to be closed whenever I got there so I had to barter and stay another night. My agenda for the day was to get to my car and come back and pay the hotel so I wouldn't get anyone fired. Bartering in a big city would have never flied.
I wasn't able to take any pictures during the bus ride because for a multitude of reasons I got terrible motion sickness. I hadn't eaten anything for 36 hours since I didn't have any money, so I drank a lot of tap water. I filled up my empty coke bottle and figured the water tasted and smelled funny because of that. The water smelled like orange peels, a sour citrus. I didn't think anything of it until after an hour on the bus feeling iffy what little was in my stomach came up. I have never had to swallow vomit, and three times was no pleasure. But then there was that wonderful after vomit feeling! I have never gotten motion sickness so something had to be up with that water.
I'm not sure if the bus usually stops at the garage but the driver stopped and got out to deliver a package. That made finding the place easy. I got there expecting to pay $150 to get my car out of impound. The fact that I was taken into custody against my will and still made to pay for having the car towed is beyond me.
Cold starting my car took a while, but I'm used to it. Everything in my car was moved around so I figured it had been searched for weapons, drugs, cash or whatever else. Turns out it was to take inventory, but I suppose it could have been both. I didn't think of my wallet not being there, but it wasn't. Damn it. The valley is beautiful, even from the dirty car window.
I looked around and didn't find my wallet so I had to turn back. The valley's roads are mostly one way so it took a while to get back. I though since I had asked for my wallet when I was in the medical center it may have been taken out but was somewhere else. I was back at the law enforcement office and inquired, some calls were made and it should have been in my car so I went for a second look. I caught Park Ranger Sean (correct me if I'm wrong, I'm terrible with names) on his day off and we went to look for my wallet. Thankfully I found it in my glove compartment under some papers.
Since I wasn't able to go for a long hike I checked out the touristy stuff. I could not imagine being in the park during the summer, it is packed even now. The museum, theater, and Indian Village were pretty nice. I always enjoy documentaries so the movie on Yosemite was great, and in visitors center there was a three-dimensional map of the Yosemite Valley with trails and roads marked. That was so great, unless you get an extremely detailed map of just one trail it's hard to make out how hard a trail would be, seeing that the trails in the valley were either flat or STRAIGHT UP made me think of where I'd go. Old cemeteries look so great overgrown.
I always enjoy simple architecture and the bark covered shelters were great.
Granite was everywhere.
The sheer cliffs settled as I got out of the valley and gave way to trees.
It's nice to see areas that haven't been logged, on fire, or developed.
The road out was one hell of a lot better the ride in. I saw things I remembered from the morning when I was able to open my eyes and not vomit.
On the way there are single lane bridges crossing the river. On the other side of the river I could see the very substantial amount of rock fall on the roadway. The entire side of the cliff had fell onto the road. Not sure how long ago it happened, but putting in the bridges didn't look like they went up that fast.
I'm still gassy and it still feels like the tap water is coming up. I asked a local what the hell was up with the water, but she had no idea what I meant because she got her water from a well. The valley looked great from my car so I can't wait to finally hike a bunch. Traveling is great, but being off the road is and onto the trails is wonderful.
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