Great Weekend in Central California

While I've spent quite a bit of time in the Los Angeles area and extreme northern California, my visits to the central part of the state has been sparse.  I've had a couple of brief weekends in San Francisco but never have had a chance to explore from the bay area.

With that in mind, I made plans to leave early Saturday morning in the direction of Yosemite National Park.  I've always wanted to go there since I was a barefoot kid reading about it from the pages lent from the bookmobile that would come by weekly in the summers in a very rural Louisiana.  Most people I knew had little if any knowledge of places like this and for years pronounced the name phonetically "Yose-Might" until I eventually heard it pronounced on TV.  Arggghh.......what a goober.

When I finally arrived, it was all that I thought it would be and more, although many of the areas were closed for the winter but I had a chance to see many of the sights I had seen pictures of.  Hopefully, I will be able to revisit in a warmer season when the leaves are bright and more wildlife shows itself.  Even though the bears were hibernating, I did manage to see several deer and a Red Wolf or a large Coyote.

When I arrived into the Yosemite valley, I could see the Half Dome, Yosemite Falls, Bridalveil Fall and El Capitan to name a few.

By noon, the sun had changed the lighting, eliminating much of the dramatic shadows and lured more visitors into the park.  That was my cue to head back to the Sonoma Valley.

Sunday morning, my rear was sore from a lot of riding from the day before so I stayed in to watch church online and eventually get out to turn in my car and get another....hey...it was dirty.  Well, that's not the real reason.  The rental agency gives free rentals for a certain amount of rentals and not days rented.  Anyway, after exchanging my car, I putted around Half Moon Bay and checked out the coast before heading back to the hotel.

Monday morning, I started out early in the direction of Carmel By The Sea.  I admit it was a gracious little spot on the shore and is a popular destination but it compared nothing to Hawaii and Maui in particular.

It was a great weekend but that many hours riding eats up a lot of gas.  Even though it was a company rental, the excursion fuel costs always goes on my ticket and in California, it isn't exactly cheap.  Maybe walking would be better, anyway.