Yosemite Followed by a Detour

Sorry, I didn't realize the San Fran blog was so long, I'll keep this one short. So driving to Yosemite was as could be expected, gorgeous. We got a late start though, so by the time we got there it was almost dark and freezing cold. We were supposed to do an overnight, but based on the fact that we didn't really have the proper attire for this weather, I made an executive decision to scrap the overnight and we would just do a day hike. That night we all slept fine, with no bear encounters or even bear scares. Next day we hike up to Cathedral Lake which was beautiful. The thing about Yosemite is the high alpine lakes with the granite peaks towering behind them. It really is breath taking. Since we had an extra night now, we decided to visit the "Biggest Little City in the World," Reno, Nevada. Reno was something else. On the way, we hit an all time high for gas prices, $5.29. I feel bad for all the people living in that area. Luckily we only had to put a little in to get us to another station. Once in Reno we decided to go to the casino, Steve had some unfinished business with Nevada. We went to Harrah's and hit the roulette table. I was playing small chips and was down, but then won all my money back and some on my last hand. From there we went to our 4-star hotel and went to bed. In the morning, we decided to stay for one more night, since we had another night to play with. We all went to the pool and chilled there for most of the day, then walked around the town. The town wasn't bad, it has the Truckee River running through it and people were swimming in it, gave a nice feel to the area. Then we ate dinner, which was delicious, but almost killed Steve. I was actually worried that he might have eaten himself to death. But after some downtime in room he was good, old Steve ready to go gamble. We stayed in our hotel casino that night, I won some money, Joe won biggest, playing with $.50 chips, and Steve was still in a slump. Good thing that we were leaving Nevada and not looking back. Woke up the next day and headed off for Salt Lake which was going to be a looonnngg drive on one road the whole time. Mormon country here we come.