I must say this was one of my most memorable road trips we had together. With just some minor planning (finding a reasonable priced place to crash would be on top of my list) and a suitcase we were already out the door for this adventure. It probably took us about 11 hours to reach the city of Merced with all the pit stops we made along the road.
One memorable pit stop I will for some oddly reason remember is a Carl's Jr. somewhere along I-5 past L.A. We both had a delicious, mouth-watering breakfast burrito... (at the time I'm writing this post, I still haven't had dinner yet... would that be the probable cause of such a vivid image?)
Despite the existing desolation surrounding Merced above and below, this city seems to be of a pretty good size. I was surprised to find such a large city in the middle of nowhere... where even the devil wouldn't go.
With a single tank of gas, all the way from San Diego, we managed to get to Mariposa for supper, right after we checked in our hotel at Merced.
We dined in a cozy place called The Butterfly Cafe. The main theme was butterflies... as its name obviously suggests.
I don't think we had much time to explore Mariposa that day since it was already late. Mariposa is just one of those Gold Country strip towns of about a square-mile in size. For sure we went up the next day to explore it before we headed towards our main destination: the majestic Yosemite.
The very next day we had a complimentary and ridiculous breakfast at the hotel (well, I know... you get what you pay for...) and then headed towards Mariposa.
We had a brunch over there since the breakfast was more of a fasting than a break. Again we went to The Butterfly Cafe, only this time we sat at the patio in the back.
Rather than butterflies, we had hummingbirds. There were 2 hummingbird feeders set at both corners of the patio. We could see the little fellows fly back and forth between them. Pots of succulent red strawberries attracted hummingbirds and patrons, as well.
I really can't remember what I had for brunch, but we had to pick up the pace in order to enjoy Yosemite since our timming and schedule were tight.
Fortunately we were able to see much of Yosemite, we drove all the way to Glacier Point which at some point I thought I was lost. Miles and miles of trails and roads and not too assuring signage around there.
We got to most of the main view points, including the visitors center. We greatly enjoyed the drive, which in itself was already amazing.
The majesty of nature, the fresh air, rocky mountains, tall trees... and even more trees, water streams, water cascades... there is a lot to appreciate and certainly enjoy.
We went back to Mariposa for dinner. This time we went to a country style restaurant, which served home-made style dishes.
The drive back home was very enjoyable, specially mingling in the fun with the LA's rush hour traffic, breathing the freshly-made smog and the concrete forest surrounding LA and San Diego.
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