Because today is Sunday and a day of rest, after church we followed our itinerary to take a drive just under 2 hours long to the Tuolomne Meadows northwest of the Yosemite Village. You can only imagine the winding narrow road Jim had to drive that got us to 8,600 feet above sea level. I have to admit, I am not a good passenger on these narrow roads with no guard rails or shoulders that drop 5,000 feet or more into a ravine. I don’t mind dying when God says it’s my time, but I would rather it not be careening down a mountain in a car. With all the hours of driving Jim did during these three days, he has done an extremely good job keeping us both safe.
Think about this 2 mile long meadow at 8,600+ feet on a mountain. In the Summer and Spring I can only imagine how lush and beautiful it must be.
When we left our hotel, it was supposed to be 90 degrees today, but we didn’t count on being so high in the mountains where the high temperature for the day turned out to be somewhere around 65 degrees. Despite it all, we managed to find a short trail to hike to Soda Springs which is multiple springs bubbling up from the ground. On the same property is the Parsons Lodge establish about the same time as the Sierra Club back in the early 1930’s. At this elevation, the owner and even the indigenous people of the area found somewhere else to go during the winter.
Soda Springs bubbling out of the ground 
Area around the springs. Springs is behind the wood structure 
Picture below the springs, of the meadow with mountains in background
Deer family in the meadows
After our little hike, we drove back about 7 miles to Tenaya Lake to eat our picnic lunch. What a beautiful spot watching kayakers and paddleboarders on the crystal-clear water of the Lake. We were even treated to some people climbing the mountain in front of us.
Tenaya Lake
From the Lake, it was a short drive to Olmstead Point for more majestic views and even different rock formations.
View of Tenaya Lake from Olmstead poin
This was the end of our pre-arranged itinerary so back we drove to the Yosemite Village in search of coffee and a cookie to finish off the afternoon. Unfortunately most of the pictures show the smokey haze that is lingering at Yosemite and it’s supposed to clear out tomorrow after we leave.
Tomorrow morning we leave for an overnight stay on our way to Moab to visit Arches National Park and Canyonland. Hopefully, we will have internet there so we can actually post these entries into our Blog.
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