Clarks Crossing the Country

  There are some traditions that are hard for me to break.  Despite other life changes, I can't get away from Yosemite.  The nature here has my heart, and is one reason I like California.  I was disappointed to think that we wouldn't get here this year, but when I realized it didn't make that much of a timing difference coming home, and we'd be coming when dear friends would be up here, it was a no brainer.  We packed up in Lee Vining and headed up the Tioga Pass.  It was  a beautiful day, but thunder showers were predicted for the afternoon.  I've hiked this hike probably 30 times over my life, but was SHOCKED this year when they changed the trail.  After figuring out what they did, it made sense, but totally threw me off.  We first took our traditional picture, but had to use self timer so the angle was slightly different.  Then after about thirty minutes we started to hear thunder.  We were starting to pack up, when Annie and her family and extended family sho

  I am bummed that I didn't take more pictures today, but our goal was to drive.  The drive from Evanston, WY to Lee Vining, CA is about 9 hours.  We drove through some of the most desolate places in Nevada I have ever seen anywhere.  I'm talking 163 miles between towns with NOTHING in between, and by nothing, I mean NOTHING but hills, mountains, and flat lands, and some bushes, mountain goats, lightning, etc.  We stopped in Salt Lake City to visit the capitol building.  It is beautifully built on a hill overlooking the city.  The building itself is stunning.  After leaving the capital, we saw the Great Salt Lake and the Great Salt Lake Desert.  That was a sight to see.  Endless salt beds going on for ages.  I wish we would have stopped to take a picture, but we didn't.  We made it in to Lee Vining about 7:30 at night.  It felt good to be able to make dinner and get in bed at a reasonable time for a change!

We sadly said good-bye to another set of friends, the Moncadas today.  It was such a sweet time with them, and we hope to return!   And then, Today was brutal.  Absolutely brutal.  We made a slight alteration to our plans in order to stop by the Cascades in Yosemite on our way home.  The purpose was two fold, to get our annual picture, and to meet my dear friend Annie's week old baby!  But, this meant we needed to split twenty four hours of driving over two days.  We opted to do the bulk of the driving the first day, which would get us to Evanston, WY.  We've found that Holiday Inn Express and Suites are hotels that work for us, given six people in our family.  They are also very reasonable (depending on city), and include breakfast.  We had our choice between two different cities, three hours a part, and one hundred dollars difference.  We chose the half price farther one.  We left Kidder, Missouri at 8:30 in the morning and got into Evanston at 12:30 the next morning.

  Another day spent relaxing, enjoying country life.  Joey had a great time with his buddy Tobin.  Bekah loved our expeditions for shopping.  We felt so blessed by our hosts, and cherished times with our friends.  And I shot a gun for the first time!  I nailed the target twice!