It is July 17 and we are starting into the third week of our journey. We had a very pleasant wake-up call. The birds in a nearby bird sanctuary serenaded us this morning. We left camp at 9:30 a.m. and stopped at Solvang (Little Denmark), a pretty little Danish village complete with a windmill. After touring and treating ourselves to pastries and purchasing souvenirs, we continued on and had lunch on Grover Beach, where Cindy and Keith had another swim in the ocean before lunch. On our way again, we followed Ocean Drive on California Route 1. This scenic route took us along the Pacific past places with common names like Morro Bay and San Simeon. We were awed by the impressive scenery along the coast, highlighted by the waves beating against the rocks and sheer rock cliffs. The night was spent in the Big Sur area in a private campground. The kids went swimming in a river while Curt fished. We will have trout for dinner tomorrow evening (200 miles). We were up early this morning and continued north on the scenic coastal Route 1 and turned on to the famous 17-mile drive around the Monterey Peninsula. Passing Pebble Beach, we continued on the beautiful drive along the rugged coast where we saw hoards of seals sunning themselves on huge rocks, pelicans diving for fish and many more varieties of sea birds. At Cypress Point, we took photographs of the famous stunted misshaped trees that are relics of ages past. They look like giant Bonsai trees. Leaving the ocean behind, we headed inland with Yosemite National Park as our destination. This route took us through rich farmland past acres of vegetables, orchards and many roadside farm stands. The whole area depends on a massive irrigation system. Our 5 p.m. arrival at Yosemite National Park was poor planning. The parking lots were jammed, and we couldn’t even find a place to park for the Visitor Center much less a camping spot. Whatever we saw of Yosemite Valley was from the car. We were very disappointed. Our daylight hours were slipping away, so we left the valley and located a campsite at one of Yosemite’s high-country campgrounds, Smoky Jacks. We were enjoying some campfire popcorn and talking about the day’s activities when we heard garbage cans rattling. Having been warned about bears, Mariel jumped up and headed for the camper, leaving the rest of us at the picnic table and a trail of popcorn in her wake. I was soon left all alone with the popcorn as Cindy and Keith also abandoned me. It was a beautiful night, and I was enjoying the night air and scoffing at their quick exit. Soon a car entered the campground and its headlights revealed a large black bear. Now it was time to go inside. I bounded into the camper with eyes like saucers, saying, “It was a bear” (297 miles). This morning there were two travelers sleeping on the ground (no tent), in their sleeping bags, in the campsite next to ours. I guess they weren’t too concerned about the bears. We saw evidence of the bear activity of the previous night, with the garbage can lids on the ground and garbage scattered about. Continuing through the high country, we drove though the beautiful Tuolumne Meadows and over Tioga Pass at 9,941 feet. We passed by some more huge pines and couldn’t resist picking up more large cones. Our route took us to the famous and beautiful blue Lake Tahoe, where we had time for a swim in the very cold water. The next stops were in the famous Wild West mining towns of Carson City and Virginia City, Nev. We camped just outside of Reno. Keith had a request in for Chinese food for his birthday in June and we convinced him to wait. This was payoff time, so we took him to a Chinese restaurant that we were told about by folks back home. It was a rousing success. Reno was not nearly as elaborate as Vegas and seemed more open with slot machines more visible (285 miles). We had an interesting start to the day. As we slowly made our way through Reno, I heard an unusual sound. I pulled over to the curb and discovered that the camper was not properly hitched to the car. This was quickly remedied and we were on our way again. While waiting for me to secure the camper to the car, Mariel and the kids were people watching. They noticed that the gambling activity in Reno starts early, or maybe it never ends. We observed people, of all ages, some with shopping carts, doing their morning shopping and at the same time feeding the slot machines outside the stores. This was a very intriguing way to spend (or maybe earn) grocery money. Heading north towards Utah, we had another delay when we had a blowout on a camper tire. Someone stopped and offered help but we had it under control. We were back on the road after a 45-minute delay. Our route took us through some very desolate country. The Salt Lake Desert was depressing and very unkempt. We finally arrived very late in the day at a campground in Grantsville, Utah. Campgrounds were few and far between in this area (500 miles). We broke camp about 8:15 a.m. and drove to Great Salt Lake. We read about this lake being seven times saltier than the ocean, so when we arrived and saw people in the water Keith asked, “Why aren’t they walking on the water?” We tried it out. We couldn’t walk on it, but we sure could float. The water was not very clean, and we saw tiny “sea monsters” swimming around, so we didn’t stay in very long. After quick showers, we went to Temple Square in Salt Lake City. It was a beautiful sunny day, and we had a tour of the Square and visitor center and surrounding area by one of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons). The visitor center is beautiful. We saw where the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings. The guide gave a demonstration of the acoustics in the auditorium. We were all very quiet, and we could hear the sound of a pin being dropped on the stage. We also had a history lesson regarding the Latter Day Saints. After lunch, we started north on a beautiful mountainous drive to Bear Lake, Idaho. Our campground was just outside of Montpelier. Mariel thought this was one of the most scenic areas we had seen. We stopped early enough so that we could do some laundry and enjoy the surroundings. Tomorrow will be another “big adventure day” (205 miles). It was an early start this morning. We left the campground at 7 a.m. and were soon in Wyoming. Everyone was alert this morning and the early start provided us with some great animal sightings. We spotted several mule deer in the meadows along the road and three antlered elk in a shallow creek. We arrived at Grand Teton National Park at 11:30 a.m. after a drive through some more beautiful countryside. Our campsite had a gorgeous view of the majestic Teton Range. There are no foothills to the Tetons. The mountains just suddenly rise out of the valley floor. The day we were there, the blue water of Jenny Lake reflected the white puffy clouds of the sky above and the snow-capped peaks of the mountains. Cindy and Curt went swimming (well it was really a slow stroll) in the ice-cold Jenny Lake. By the time we got up to our knees, we were turning blue. A quick retreat was in order. We took a nature walk on an island and then drove to Jackson Hole, Wyo., where we witnessed a stagecoach robbery and shoot-out. After dinner, we attended a real western rodeo, complete with riding, roping and bull dogging. There was no problem finding our way back to the campground after dark (244 miles). To be continued. The Richardsons reside on Pumpkin Hook in Van Hornesville.
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