California Vacation 2013 - Day 12

Today we sadly said goodbye to Yosemite Valley. We drove north across the park to see half dome from the other side, and found some snow in the high passes! The Sierra Nevadas then made an impassable wall on our right for hours as we travelled south toward Los Angeles. We had lunch in a little town called Bishop. We stopped at the ---- Eric Bakery and bought some bread for the plane ride tomorrow. By the time we got to our hotel in Ventura, we were worn out. Tomorrow we say goodbye to California!

We said a sad goodbye to our little camp site

Farewell to the Yosemite Valley!



We saw lots of these little fellows

Travelling East on the Tioga Road through the Yosemite wilderness

Mama loved Tenaya Lake

We finally saw the north side of Half Dome!

We ran into snow around 8000 feet elevation

The icy Tioga Lake

And yes, snowballs began to fly immediately after this photo was taken!

The road down from the Sierras was a testimony to great engineering

We finally reached the valley!

Eric Schat's Bakery in Bishop was huge and wonderful!

We saw these sheep on the way out of Bishop

The Sierras made an impenetrable, 150 mile wall to our west as we traveled down Highway 395.

We finally reached the end of the Sierra range! This is Mt. Whitney. the highest mountain in the lower 48 states at 14,505 feet.

Goodbye Sierras!

And hello, civilization! We ate dinner at Tony's Mexican Grill in Sherman Oaks, then went to our hotel to pack for tomorrow's flight.