Around Lake Tahoe in a day

So we woke up and drove back 100 km. Of course we had to see Emerald Bay which is one of the most beautiful spots on our journey. But first we had to buy some soda. Maybe I will try some bacon soda.

Also here, the bears had woken up already.

Emerald Bay is located in the southern end of the lake and the first lookout parking lot was still covered with snow so it was almost impossible to park. However, the best scenic spot is a bit further up right on top of the bay. This was a view worth driving to.

Driving further north we found some holiday villages where the cottages were still almost totally covered by snow. Apparently it wasn't the season yet. We drove up to Tahoe City and then we had to make a decision: take the small road along the lake shore to Kings Beach or drive inland route to Truckee. We chose inland route. Driving towards Truckee we noticed signs pointing to Squaw Valley, home of the 1960 olympics.

The main attractions of Truckee are the historic downtown and the Donner Party Memorial. A small but very interesting museum is built around the tragic story of the Donner_Party which was on its way to California but got stuck in snow here and resorted to cannibalism. It was really amazing what had happened here in the end of 1846. There was so much snow that it was impossible to continue and the party got stranded in what is now called the Donner Pass. The snow would have covered the base of the statue. Of the 87 members of the party, 48 survived to reach California, many of them having eaten the dead for survival.

Tunnel view, Bridalveil Fall, Half Dome and El Capitan

The night was so cold that we had to keep the air conditioner warming the room all night. And it makes exactly the same amount of noise no matter if it's used for warming or cooling. Anyway, we were about to see the most magnificent sights today. The Tunnel View lookout has a view which is world famous. It was quite a good weather in Mariposa and at the national park entrance. The picture with the sign also shows our Swedish ride for the whole trip.

Of course we headed towards the Tunnel View first as it wasn't raining yet. The clouds hang low and hid part of the view. We felt a bit disappointed. So much that we also visited the Tunnel View in the afternoon again just to find out the the morning view was actually much better. The left picture is taken in the morning and the right one in the afternoon. The clouds really made the view very dramatic.

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There is still a lot of snow in the park in April. This means that many of the popular sites like Tuolumne meadows and Glacier Point are inaccessible. It is really amazing to see the Yosemite valley in spring and still hard to imagine that there is a lot of snow further up in the park. The lack of snow in the valley meant that the bears had woken up already. No bags of chips or any other edibles were allowed to be stored inside the cars. Everything you had which might attract the bears was supposed to be stored inside sturdy metal boxes. Apparently the bears can enter locked cars.

The spring time meant also that all waterfalls were at their best:

Mariposa gives me butterflies in the stomach

We had chosen Mariposa as our base for the trip to Yosemite. Mariposa is monarch butterfly in Spanish. It's only 47 minutes away from the National park. The hotel was booked for two nights to allow full day in the park. The weather didn't look so great so most likely no hiking tomorrow. We arrived quite late and most restaurants were closed already so we chose between a burger joint and a restaurant. The 1850 Restaurant carried a craft beer called Nukin Futz. Hah.

To Los Olivos and back

We took the scenic route today and drove to the wine country (not Napa, though) through highway 154. Great views and excellent weather. Did some sipping in Los Olivos too. Los Olivos was the nicest of the towns we visited today and the two others (Lompoc and Buellton) were not worth a visit at all. 

Apparently Sideways was filmed somewhere close so we had a Pinot Noir tasting. Clearly very different grape from what we've been used to. http://site.thelosolivostastingroom.com/Menu.html There was of course plenty to choose from. The tasting cost $20 and you got at least 8 different wines. We also bought one called Wrath. It was from Monterey, so not that close but I got the Steinbeck reference.

Lonely Planet recommended a visit to La Purisima mission http://www.lapurisimamission.org/ so we did visit it. It was part of the El Camino Real and had been renovated during the depression after been abandoned for a long time. 

On the way back to Santa Barbara we sampled more of the PCH scenery.

We also visited a used car dealership.

Yesterday I noticed that the colours of my pictures really didn't portray California as well as they could have. That's why I started using filters today. This is how I always imagined California to look like. Saturated colourse from the 60's and 70's.