Mariposa, Ca to Chowchilla, Ca

Last night, we had a pizza at the original Pizza Factory. The founder, Dan Wheeler and his wife Carol started the national chain from the lovely towns of Mariposa and Oakhurst - there are many pictures on the wall of local high school graduates and their sporting successes. Each week, they make a giant tub of spaghetti for the high school football team. Such local pride made us feel at home! A great coffee at the Mariposa Pony Expresso Coffee House and Trading Post (natch), where they roast their own beans - then off to Yosemite National Park (say it "Yo-sem-it-e"), but not before renting a pair of snow chains! This is photo of a giant boulder in the middle of the Merced River.

The Merced River again, looking up Yosemite valley.

The amazing three-step Yosemite Falls: Upper Yosemite Fall (1,430 feet), the middle cascades (675 feet), and Lower Yosemite Fall (320 feet). We were told usually at this time of year it's just a trickle. Honeymoon luck sets us right again!

The giant Sequoias here are almost as high as the ones at Sequoia National Park we saw yesterday.

This is El Capitan - at 3000ft high (above the ground), it is the largest single block of granite in the world, and it's also the one Captain Kirk is climbing at the beginning of Star Trek V: the Final Frontier. Its mammoth size is deceptive - look carefully at the black spot near the center of the picture. It's a climbing tent (most climbers take 2-3 days to ascend) - and just to the right of that is a climber, wearing a red top. The peak is hidden in the mists, but is about another fifth taller.

The Cathedral Spires, named for Westminster Cathedral (or so our tour guide told us).

The powdered sugar (there I go again, I mean icing sugar) chocolate-box scenery is astounding, especially when you are standing in the hot sun and looking up three or four thousand feet. It reminded us of our risky endeavours yesterday - but at least this time we had the security of snow chains!

The last stop on the last bus tour of the day, and the clouds which had covered most of the mountains parted for us (although El Capitan still remained elusive) at Wawona Tunnel View (also called Old Inspiration Point, better known as Artist View). Ahhh, doesn't the happy couple look in love?

A quick closeup of Yosemite Falls, tunnel view. Then it was a race out back to Mariposa, to try and beat the snow chain rental store closing, so we could return them and continue our journey. Missed it by 7 minutes, would you believe! So, out to dinner in the nearby town of Chinchilla we go (10% off from the hotel), and the waitress finds out we're on our honeymoon and gives us a free Kamikaze cocktail! Then, a rather large Mexican guy likes what I'm playing on the jukebox so much, he joins our table and wants to party in our room! I'm a little intimidated by what was (quite probably) an innocent invitation, so we turn down his offer - we have to remember that in the USA, we are the exotic foreigners!