Finishing Yosemite

This morning we left Yosemite Valley to drive to Sparks, Nevada, thinking that our Park visit was finished.  Not so.  We were taking the Tioga Pass Highway, a route that I had never taken all the way out the east side of the park to Mono Lake.  This road is closed a good part of the year due to snow, and there were still visible patches of snow today.

We traveled up toward Tuolomee Meadows, about nine thousand feet and high above the valley flor below.  Suddenly we could see the back of Half Dome, including (with binoculars) people climbing the cables on the back side up to the top of the dome itself.  If was a beautiful sight on a beautiful day.

The Back Side of Half Dome.

Just past there is Tanaya Lake, blue and clear and snow-melt cold.  The Tioga Pass Highway ends at Lee Vining, California, right on the edge of Mono Lake.

Tanaya Lake nested in the High Granite Domes.

Then we headed north to our campground outside Sparks, but, there was to be one more stop.  I could not resist wanting to visit the National Automobile Museum in Reno.  Trish agreed.  We went there and had a great time with the large collection, including many one-of-a-kind historic vehicles, that came from the estate collection of the late Bill Harrah (yes, the casino Harrah).  Our favorites were the cars we remember from our own childhoods.

Trish with a beautiful pre-war Packard.

Tomorrow we leave Nevada and drive up into Idaho on our way toward Yellowstone.