NW Trip '12 - Day 14

6/15/12 - Day 14: I can't speak for Cari, but I struggled a lot the next two days with my emotions. I desperately wanted to be done traveling. Almost two weeks staying at a different place each night takes a toll on the body (physically, emotionally, mentally). I wanted to be home with familiar sounds, smells, roads, friends. However, we literally spent about a year planning this trip. It's good realizing that all the planning, all of the excitement, and all of the effort put into the trip paid off, but tough knowing that the trip was coming to an end. Either way, I set my mind to ensure that we made the most of the next couple days, starting with Day 14!! 

We woke up early in San Francisco after a great birthday evening and walked through the ghetto to get to Dottie's True Blue Cafe for breakfast. We were at a disadvantage with not really knowing the city. As a result, we found out quickly which areas were good to stay away from, but unfortunately, we found out the hard way. Regardless, we made it safely to the cafe and met up with our good friends Nate and Susan from Raleigh, NC! Nate was in town for a work convention, and Susan had flown out the night before to join him. They were kind enough to sacrifice sleep to see us. We had a great breakfast (lots of good home-cooked food) and fun conversation before walking back to the hotel the safe way. :) 

We packed up, checked out, and hit the road by about 10 a.m. The drive out of the city wasn't too bad, and we were on the interstate for a while. Unfortunately, the flat/straight road didn't last long, and we hit yet another incredibly windy road with big hills. We battled the road for a little while and stopped at a quaint little cafe on the top of one of the hills about an hour outside of Yosemite. The food was average (hamburger for me, ceasar for Cari) and the service was poor, but it was the best place...no, the only place to stop. 

Back on the road towards the park, the drive was incredibly scenic and rewarding. The road into Yosemite was along high cliffs (which we had actually gotten somewhat used to) and offered some amazing views of the forests and valley floor. Of course, we stopped along the way to take pictures of El Capitan (large exposed granite rock face) and Yosemite Falls (pictured above). The park was very commercialized and felt a little more developed than we prefer, but it was so large and beautiful that, given the amount of tourists each year, it probably couldn't function well any other way. We parked at the visitor lot and walked the almost one mile to the visitor center where we watched the "Spirit of Yosemite" video. After the short film, we took the shuttle to the hotel because it was pouring. Check-in went smoothly, and I got Cari settled in our rustic, but convenient hotel room before I made my way back to the car to pick it up and park it at the hotel. See what I mean? Lots of roads and shuttles and bus schedules -- not exactly what I think of when I think "national park." 

When Cari woke up, we went across the street to the "food court"-type dining hall for dinner. I had a cheese steak and fruit and Cari had spaghetti/meatballs. Neither dish was exactly superb, but it was a cheap meal and again, convenient. After dinner, we went for a fantastic walk to the base of Yosemite Falls (Cari let me climb on the rocks a little bit) where we took some pictures, walked along the nature trail, and let our food digest. We also come out of the woods in enough time to see the sunset red on the face of Half Dome. It was a beautiful sight and the great conversation rounded off a perfect evening. We even had a TV in our room (which was actually pretty rare for most of the national park lodges/hotels), so we watched a little bit of that before turning in!