I bid a fond farewell to Yosemite and headed to the Napa Valley region of CA.  Along the way I came across the Jelly Belly factory and had to stop in for a tour.  Some of the below appetizing experimental flavors were offered on the tour and for sale in the gift shop.  What the hell were they thinking!?  And people actually tried them.  What I want to know is how much they have to pay someone to taste the actual offensive substances in order to duplicate the flavor in the lab.

A visit to Napa Valley requires a visit to a winery of course.  I stopped at the first place I found and even though it was closing time the nice shop keeper invited me in to sample her wares.  It turns out that I was at the Suisun Valley Wine Cooperative and Pat the sales manager happily allowed me to sample wines from several different wineries.  It also turns out that Pat has family living in OH.  Pat's friend Steve,  a real estate agent was on hand to invite me to buy property in CA.  If only I could.  Nevertheless, we all had a lovely chat.  So I'd like to give a shout out to my new friends Pat and Steve.  It was nice to meet you.

  

The drive from San Luis Obispo to Yosemite National Park began with 100+ miles of barren wasteland.  I nearly ran out of gas in the middle of no where.  Found a gas station just in time.

Finally the terrain began to change.  There was more green, bigger hills and finally pine trees.  When I arrived at the south Yosemite National Park entrance I still had 30+ miles to drive to get to the valley.  It's an hour drive up the mountain and an hour drive down the mountain into Yosemite valley.  But oh what a view!!!!!!!  You even drive through tunnels.

Miles driven since Columbus, OH:  2,940




I set up my campsite under pine trees not far from the base of Glacier Point.

The weather was perfect. Daytime temperatures in the lower 70's and evenings in the lower 50's.

I finally used my camp stove and had a fabulous breakfast of pancakes & hot chocolate.  At Yosemite you cannot leave any food or strong smelling items like soap, toothpaste, bug spray, etc. in your car or tent.  There are bears in the park that apparently will disassemble your car to get at whatever smells good to them.  I've seen the photos.  I had to unload just about everything from my car and lock it in a steel "bear box".  Fortunately, no bears visited my campsite.  Just the noisy, annoying crows.  And a few pushy squirrels.

 
I explored the park on foot and by car.  There are so many trails, some of which go straight up the side of mountains.  I didn't attempt any of those but I did drive 1 1/2 hrs up a mountain to get to Glacier Point and it was worth every sharp, scary turn.  At the top you can look across the top of Half Dome (below) and through a telescope I saw several people climbing straight up the face of Half Dome.  Totally insane!

The view across the valley is spectacular!
 

You just can't take in all the views at once.  You're completely surrounded by dramatic granite walls and lush meadows. 

My campsite neighbor was coincidentally named Marsha.  She too was camping solo and had just bought a "mica" brown RAV 4.  We had identical vehicles!  Coincidence?

Marsha is a retired school teacher and part time artist.  She visits Yosemite several times a year and creates lovely watercolor paintings of the park's most interesting features.

After 3 wonderful nights of camping in perfect weather it was time to head to my next destination. I packed up slowly and took my time leaving the valley.  I just wanted to take another long look at the incredible scenery that surrounded me the past few days.