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Lake Tahoe, CA: Paradise in the Sierra Nevada

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

June 26th– July 4th

After a good long night of sleep, we woke ready to head up to Lake Tahoe to see our good friends, Angie (who we met in Prague) and Mike. We started the morning with a quick visit of Mammoth Lakes, where people were out enjoying the beautiful lakes, despite the chilly weather. We made several stops along the scenic river before arriving mid-afternoon in Lake Tahoe where we were warmly welcomed by our friends with a ride in the boat and some rum punch at a lake-side bar.

We decided to take the biggest break in our trip- enticed by the good company, cozy accommodation and beautiful surroundings- one week with no camping, and relatively little driving. We took advantage of the time to catch up on errands- laundry, post office and writing on the blog, and visited the area by biking, hiking, boating and walking the dog (Cooper), but we spent most of our time hanging out, eating and cooking- Mike is an excellent cook and Fabien impressed everyone with a chocolate mousse and oeufs a la neige. Angie gave us the locals tour of the ski resorts and Truckee.

Lake Tahoe is California’s famous ski and outdoor recreation area. In fact, people were still skiing in Squaw Valley over the 4th of July weekend. Those who weren’t on the mountain were on the sparkling blue lake (like us) surrounded by snow-capped mountains.

Some of Angie and Mike’s friends came up for the 4th of July weekend, so we took advantage of the beautiful weather and spent a lot of time on the boat. We learned how to “surf” the wave behind the boat on a surfboard which was a lot of fun. The water was a refreshing 58 degrees. We watched the 4th of July fireworks over the lake from the boat- a memorable evening. It was hard to say goodbye, but we after a week we were anxious to continue our trip towards the north, to discover new places and see more friends and family.

Yosemite National Park, CA

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

June 24th-June 25th

We had tried to reserve a campsite in Yosemite but everything had been booked for months. I half expected to find camp site reservations on Ebay for astronomical prices- it’s that popular! Nevertheless, it’s not a park to miss so we left Fresno very early in the morning to arrive in the park around 8:30 AM, hoping to get a site. We were discouraged by the line of cars at the entrance station, but our efforts paid off and we were able to get a site (from a cancelled reservation) for one evening. We’d have to try again on Saturday which would be even more difficult. We began our visit with another giant Sequoia grove, this time on a ranger-guided nature walk. We saw some interesting trees including the “Telescope Tree” where you could see straight up the trunk to the blue sky overhead (the tree was still alive) and another that had two trunks fused together. After the hike, it was time to check into our campground and make lunch (hot dogs today.) That afternoon, we visited some old homes and structures that reminded us of the early habitation during the park and then we drove up to a beautiful viewpoint (still snow-covered) with views of several waterfalls and Half-Dome and before a picnic dinner watching the sunset.

On Saturday morning, I went to the Campground Reservation Office when it opened to try to get another last-minute spot, but this time we weren’t lucky. All of the extra spots were filled by people from the Yosemite Valley Campground who had to be moved due to flooding. In fact, many of the campgrounds were still closed because of snow or flooding. In addition, poor Fabien was suffering from a serious cold. We decided to take advantage of the day in the park and worry about lodging later, so we drove to Yosemite Valley to visit some of the main sites, Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite Falls, the tallest waterfalls in the United States and Mirror Lake. The waterfalls were magnificent, bursting with the waters of the melting snow but we were shocked by the traffic going into the valley and by the number of people on the waterfalls trail (only about ½ mile from the lodge.) What was even more interesting however was the lack of people on the trail between the Falls and Mirror Lake. You only need to go farther than ½ mile from the road to find true tranquility in a national park. After fighting the crowds in Yosemite Valley, we took the long road up to Tioga Meadows and Tioga Pass. There was still and abundance of snow along the roadside as we passed California’s highest mountain pass. From some of the viewpoints along the road, we saw mountain lakes, still half-frozen at the end of June. No wonder so many campgrounds and trails were still closed within the park. We finally exited the park late in the afternoon and decided to drive 20 miles south to Mammoth Lakes (a ski resort) where we ended up finding a cozy little hotel with a gas fireplace for the evening. It was the perfect place for Fabien to begin his recovery.

15 Juillet : pays des lacs, des volcans et du désert : le tout en une journée

Saturday, July 16th, 2011
Nous reprenons aujourd'hui notre chemin vers le nord. Nous décidons d'emprunter une route plus 'touristique' que la route la plus directe pour rejoindre les environs de Bend en plein milieu de l'Oregon. La route commence par traverser des immenses forêts ... [Continue reading this entry]

14 Juillet : fête nationale dans la neige

Saturday, July 16th, 2011
Ce n'est pas souvent que j'ai passé le 14 Juillet dans la neige mais aujourd'hui c'est le cas. La nuit a été très fraiche et comme cela se passe habituellement dans ce genre de cas, le réveil est matinal : ... [Continue reading this entry]

Pictures from California (1/3)

Friday, July 15th, 2011
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13 Juillet : l’Oregon : que de nature !

Friday, July 15th, 2011
Nous partons de Coos Bay très tôt ce matin (7h) pour prendre la route dans le brouillard en direction de Crater Lake (un parc national que nous visiterons demain). Nous pensions faire quelques arrêts le long du chemin qui promet ... [Continue reading this entry]

9 Juillet – 12 Juillet : Coos Bay, famille et amie

Friday, July 15th, 2011
Notre séjour à Coos Bay est vraiment sous le signe des retrouvailles entre Jenny et sa famille (une tante et un oncle habite sur place, et un cousin est passé pour le week end). La famille étant assez bavarde, il ... [Continue reading this entry]

8 Juillet : histoire de famille : arrivée à Coos Bay

Friday, July 15th, 2011
Aujourd'hui, nous avons continué notre montée vers le nord. La route longeant l'océan offre encore de superbes vues sur le Pacifique. Nous faisons un premier arrêt 'gag' : un point de vue sur l'océan qui en ce début de matinée ... [Continue reading this entry]

Pictures from Nevada

Wednesday, July 13th, 2011
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7 Juillet : encore de gros arbres

Wednesday, July 13th, 2011
Le climat de la Californie permet d'autres choses : de posséder des forêts incroyables. Nous avions déjà vu les plus gros arbres au monde (séquoia géant) il y a quelques semaines, mais nous sommes désormais en face d'un cousin des ... [Continue reading this entry]