Back from G Canyon - road to Phoenix..
By the time I get to, she'll be rising....
Well we're on the road to, but might not get there (may try somewhere en-route).
Anyway we're back in Williams having visited GC (60 miles north) and still trying to catch up with our backblog of posts..so..
15/10/2006 - Yosemite bound
Well we arrived at Yosemite village in the heart of the National Park soon after lunch and camped at a site which had no running water or electricity, but huge fire pits and BBQs. A group of Americans behind us had set up a gin-gan-gooley (or whatever) type of encampment. They were singing cowboy songs & eating vast quantities of beans (along with half a cow that they grilled on their king size barbie).We thought that they might be whoopin' and a hollerin' into the night - but come 9:30, all was quiet again.
16/10/2006 - Yosemite
We did a walk this morning up to a place called Glacier point. It was only 4 miles (well 8, including descent), but we climbed about a 1000ft in altitude. The highlight of the walk was Rita feeding a Steller Jay (I think that was her name), raisin yoghurts. Even the bird got sick of these after a while and started to secrete them in the ground - probably in the hope of opening a 'tweet' shop at some later date.
In the afternoon we went to a talk on trees, given by one of the National Park Rangers (far superior to Queens Park Rangers). Excellent talk - we know all about Ponderosas, Sequoias (spelling?), Redwoods, Aspens, Douglas firs and also forest management(which Gary Megson never quite grasped).
17/10/2006 - On the trail of the Lonesome Pine.
Drove down from Yosemite to a one horse town named Lone Pine, nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. This place looked like a real old western town - we half expected some drunken cowboy to come flying out of the saloon doors, past the horses tethered to the posts and into the dust.
In the evening at the RV park we tentatively called in at the clubhouse to see what was going on and ostensibly to pick up a few leaflets...
(Please note Dear Reader Leigh has abandoned you on the word of leaflets and has taken himself off to his favourite hideout 'The Restroom', so I am in the hotseat now), oh yes...a few leaflets. There were quite a few people in there sitting in big comfortable chairs around a big log fire and on the tables here and there were dishes off dips, crisps and nuts etc. (Get the picture?). Our concentration on the leaflets was seriously distracted by these really nice looking nibbles, but we tried to conceal our interest in them by stealing just the occasional glance. We must have been rumbled though because soon someone from one of the big easy chairs approached us introduced himself as Vin and invited us to 'dig in'. We summarily obliged. After a few mintues he was joined by someone called Ann and the four of us chatted. Apparently everyone is that room was part of a group called 'The Elks' who were on holiday together. They told us about their fund raising activities and we talked about our trip. We noticed an Anna-like character in the kitchen (and was that her Mum in there too?) who had completely taken over the kitchen in this clubhouse and were clearly preparing food on a grand scale. Leigh and I must have hidden our true identities pretty well, cos shortly afterwards we were invited to dine with them. Or could this have been an impromptu extention of their charitable activities as they observed that we had cleaned out the dips, crisps, nuts etc? We readily accepted this most kind invitation and with less than 10 minutes notice nipped back to our RV to 'get ready'. We hadn't spoken to a soul for over a week up until now (Leigh and I do not count each other as having a 'soul') and we realized we were so scruffy. He had not had a shave or a shower since Sunday and the last time I brushed my hair was in England (I failed to pack one). Oh, forgot to mention that our hospitable hosts had also given us glasses of tequila to go with our dips/nibbles - grateful as ever, we were! This tequila was served up with lime on a bed of ice with a little red straw.
And so, back to our RV and I made frantic efforts to do 'something' with my hair. Inspiration struck. I found my nailbrush and had some success with straightening my fringe out and donned earrings and lipstick. Meanwhile, Leigh spun around a few times (no doubt in an attempt to get some air around him in the interests of diffusion), as he had nowt to change in to. And so we arrived, smiling shyly and clutching a bottle of wine. We were instantly introduced to everyone - 14 smiling faces and invited to help ourselves to the food. Food was good...chicken, corn on the cob, salad with walnuts, sweet cherry tomatoes and garlic bread followed by ice cream with a rich fruit sauce.
(Oh, Leigh is back. He is over my shoulder, reading above. He is asking me 'how long do I think people have to read all the detail, I am giving? I have decided not to reply but to just 'keep going') So, forgive this aside. Now, where was I?
A-ha.
Barely having sat down at the table, Ann stood up and made a little speech about the presence of this evening of 'Our special guests from England' and then there was a round of applause. Leigh and I joined in (like self-congratulatory chimps) 'cos at first we thought we applauding others... the penny dropped when we realized it was us! We discreetly slowed our clapping to a stop...just in case The Elks thought we were either complete buffoons or merely conceited Brits! Super! I leapt to my feet to return compliments within speech format and raised glasses again. (Any excuse for a not too obvious gulp!). At our end of the table(s) we had Cheryl, Norman, Harvey and Jeannie - all sociable, lively and engaging. Turned out Norman was Jeannie's 'little brother'. They asked us lots of questions about our trip and gave us lots of tips and places to look out for. They all came from Santa Maria, north of Santa Barbara and are on holiday together for 2 weeks in their respective RV's. They take it in turn to cook for the group and move around from place to place. (A bit like ourselves - only we don't take in turn to cook!)
Well we're on the road to, but might not get there (may try somewhere en-route).
Anyway we're back in Williams having visited GC (60 miles north) and still trying to catch up with our backblog of posts..so..
15/10/2006 - Yosemite bound
Well we arrived at Yosemite village in the heart of the National Park soon after lunch and camped at a site which had no running water or electricity, but huge fire pits and BBQs. A group of Americans behind us had set up a gin-gan-gooley (or whatever) type of encampment. They were singing cowboy songs & eating vast quantities of beans (along with half a cow that they grilled on their king size barbie).We thought that they might be whoopin' and a hollerin' into the night - but come 9:30, all was quiet again.
16/10/2006 - Yosemite
We did a walk this morning up to a place called Glacier point. It was only 4 miles (well 8, including descent), but we climbed about a 1000ft in altitude. The highlight of the walk was Rita feeding a Steller Jay (I think that was her name), raisin yoghurts. Even the bird got sick of these after a while and started to secrete them in the ground - probably in the hope of opening a 'tweet' shop at some later date.
In the afternoon we went to a talk on trees, given by one of the National Park Rangers (far superior to Queens Park Rangers). Excellent talk - we know all about Ponderosas, Sequoias (spelling?), Redwoods, Aspens, Douglas firs and also forest management(which Gary Megson never quite grasped).
17/10/2006 - On the trail of the Lonesome Pine.
Drove down from Yosemite to a one horse town named Lone Pine, nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. This place looked like a real old western town - we half expected some drunken cowboy to come flying out of the saloon doors, past the horses tethered to the posts and into the dust.
In the evening at the RV park we tentatively called in at the clubhouse to see what was going on and ostensibly to pick up a few leaflets...
(Please note Dear Reader Leigh has abandoned you on the word of leaflets and has taken himself off to his favourite hideout 'The Restroom', so I am in the hotseat now), oh yes...a few leaflets. There were quite a few people in there sitting in big comfortable chairs around a big log fire and on the tables here and there were dishes off dips, crisps and nuts etc. (Get the picture?). Our concentration on the leaflets was seriously distracted by these really nice looking nibbles, but we tried to conceal our interest in them by stealing just the occasional glance. We must have been rumbled though because soon someone from one of the big easy chairs approached us introduced himself as Vin and invited us to 'dig in'. We summarily obliged. After a few mintues he was joined by someone called Ann and the four of us chatted. Apparently everyone is that room was part of a group called 'The Elks' who were on holiday together. They told us about their fund raising activities and we talked about our trip. We noticed an Anna-like character in the kitchen (and was that her Mum in there too?) who had completely taken over the kitchen in this clubhouse and were clearly preparing food on a grand scale. Leigh and I must have hidden our true identities pretty well, cos shortly afterwards we were invited to dine with them. Or could this have been an impromptu extention of their charitable activities as they observed that we had cleaned out the dips, crisps, nuts etc? We readily accepted this most kind invitation and with less than 10 minutes notice nipped back to our RV to 'get ready'. We hadn't spoken to a soul for over a week up until now (Leigh and I do not count each other as having a 'soul') and we realized we were so scruffy. He had not had a shave or a shower since Sunday and the last time I brushed my hair was in England (I failed to pack one). Oh, forgot to mention that our hospitable hosts had also given us glasses of tequila to go with our dips/nibbles - grateful as ever, we were! This tequila was served up with lime on a bed of ice with a little red straw.
And so, back to our RV and I made frantic efforts to do 'something' with my hair. Inspiration struck. I found my nailbrush and had some success with straightening my fringe out and donned earrings and lipstick. Meanwhile, Leigh spun around a few times (no doubt in an attempt to get some air around him in the interests of diffusion), as he had nowt to change in to. And so we arrived, smiling shyly and clutching a bottle of wine. We were instantly introduced to everyone - 14 smiling faces and invited to help ourselves to the food. Food was good...chicken, corn on the cob, salad with walnuts, sweet cherry tomatoes and garlic bread followed by ice cream with a rich fruit sauce.
(Oh, Leigh is back. He is over my shoulder, reading above. He is asking me 'how long do I think people have to read all the detail, I am giving? I have decided not to reply but to just 'keep going') So, forgive this aside. Now, where was I?
A-ha.
Barely having sat down at the table, Ann stood up and made a little speech about the presence of this evening of 'Our special guests from England' and then there was a round of applause. Leigh and I joined in (like self-congratulatory chimps) 'cos at first we thought we applauding others... the penny dropped when we realized it was us! We discreetly slowed our clapping to a stop...just in case The Elks thought we were either complete buffoons or merely conceited Brits! Super! I leapt to my feet to return compliments within speech format and raised glasses again. (Any excuse for a not too obvious gulp!). At our end of the table(s) we had Cheryl, Norman, Harvey and Jeannie - all sociable, lively and engaging. Turned out Norman was Jeannie's 'little brother'. They asked us lots of questions about our trip and gave us lots of tips and places to look out for. They all came from Santa Maria, north of Santa Barbara and are on holiday together for 2 weeks in their respective RV's. They take it in turn to cook for the group and move around from place to place. (A bit like ourselves - only we don't take in turn to cook!)
posted by Leon Trotsky | 7:43 pm
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