our weekend getaway

My first attempt at downloading pictures, so pardon the random out of order from what I intended. We left home on Friday mid morning and in short order we were in an area on hwy 91 & 15 that was having 60 mph gusts and tossed our little car around pretty much. We drove about 5 hours to Bishop, CA for the night, small western town where hunters and fishing is a tourism draw and Mule days on Memorial wknd. Saturday we drove into Mammoth Mountain to see the new construction they were working on for a new area and to have a look see at the main lodge for snow, lots of skiers hitting the slopes already. It was great weather for those of us (me) who'd like fair weather skiing & no wind as inviting! We than continued on hwy 395 north driving through some varying landscapes of mountains, openness, lakes, old ghost towns we've been to previously, and stopped in Bridgeport for lunch. We were the only ones in the restuarant and struck up a conversation with the owner who was soon buying us our bowls of soup to go with our great sandwiches. We struck out again, traversing some real back country, or so we thought until the highway patrolman who passed us was suddenly turning around. Could it be that he was just heading home for lunch..... nope, apparently we had just passed the change of speed limit sign down to 55 and we (well HE) was going 69.... so as we're going through the process and he walks back to the side of the car for the signing his X on the line, mr patrolman asks us "how long have you had your front windows tinted" uh... since we bought the car, "well it's illegal blah blah blah blah" but fortunately for Greg who is already doing the insurance rate increase of $$ math in his head for the next three years is excited that he just offered him a warning for the speed in exchange for the fix it ticket on the windows... YES thank you........ where do I sign and nice meeting you.. and away we go. Thankfully Greg was still in a good and thankful mood. Had to laugh as Gregs comment was "nice place to be stopped for a ticket with the colors and the sound of the creek" ha ha ha ha - if you know Greg, that is a very optimistic view of the situation. Onward we go, catching hwy 89 to 4 which was the first pass open to cross the Sierra's to the west. It was quite a drive of winding, narrow at times with some beautiful colors in foilage and some snow. We stayed in historic Jamestown, a small town built on tourism but they rolled up the sidewalk fairly early for a Saturday we're now somewhat wishing we had stayed one town back in Angels Camp which was much bigger. But we headed to a town close by Sonora for dinner and than a good night sleep. Sunday we suddenly wake at 10 am, realizing Yosemite was still quite a drive and we had to get hustling. We arrived in Yosemite about 2ish and drove through as much as we could, as the shuttles had to be taken for some areas. We parked in day parking and walked the trails taking in the wildlife, fall colors, and the waterfalls. Beautiful and you could easy spend a week there. We left just after dark for what seemed like another long winding drive and stayed in Oakhurst in another hotel on our travels just glad to have customers and who slashed prices in the competive war to our benefit. Monday we headed home about 5 hours to have basically made a complete circle around the Sierra Mountain range. And a side note; Greg kept his promise to not take phone calls (only 2 short ones) and I laid low on mine. Great weekend and hmmmm where to next? as we walked towards the stables looking for bathrooms, noticed our little friend to greet us

the infamous half dome as the sun was setting

lower Yosemite Falls after a short hike


Bridal Veil Falls


North of Yosemite on hwy 4 - a relaxing scenic drive

same highway, higher elevation we came across snow

this is hwy 395 heading into Mammoth Lakes, CA