We are staying in the Blue Butterfly Inn, which is situated within eyesight of the Yosemite park gates. The Blue Butterfly (is this starting to sound like a bar in Soho?) is a B&B run by the lovely Liz and Ron. I should point out at this juncture that a B&B in the US is not quite the same as it is at home - both the Adobe and the Blue Butterfly are far nicer than most hotels I have stayed in and our room in the Blue Butterfly is in fact a mini apartment and about 2/3 of the size of our flat at home (okay, okay is blatantly bigger than our flat at home). The first thing that strikes you about Liz is that she bakes cookies (seriously the smell on arrival; awesome) the second thing that you notice about Liz is that she has a sparkle to her eye and some stories to tell, I am quite sure that were we here longer she could keep us more than entertained with the one-woman crusades she has been on and not least with tales from their life in San Francisco Bay. Liz and Ron have created this amazing atmosphere at the Blue Butterfly, it is part hippie commune (with communal breakfasts where everyone staying here appears to be lovely) and part luxury hotel with its super-size rooms all complete with wrap around balconies.
Our first day in Yosemite was, of course, spent hiking. What started out as a 3 hour hike turned into a 5 hour death defying trek up the side of two waterfalls, climbing a total of 2,000 feet via some very precarious, slippy, uneven steps (Jonathan's version of this trek would be that it 'wasn't too bad'). I should point out here and now that the steps in the picture below are the easy, this would be a breeze if they were all like this steps. The precarious ones (treacherous I recall Liz described them as) meant that there was no way on this Earth that I was going to stop for a photo-op when trying to scramble up them. However, having survived all that we had a great time running around the park. It is safe to say that Yosemite is like an adult's playground (no, not in that sense) as you literally just jump around rocks and rivers and see some of the most breathtaking scenery imaginable. It also justifies coming home and eating chips (because I am American now and don't use the word 'crisps') and guacamole and drink beer - yep, who knew I am now a beer drinker! Well until we get to Napa that is when I will pretend that I once more have a modicum of decorum and know all about noses, bouquets and the like.
Day two in Yosemite saw us head to Glacier Point which has the best views of the valley, including the half dome rock you can see in the pictures below. We then headed to the Mariposa Valley where we saw giant Sequoias (sp??) that were 1800 years old. Seriously, it is quite hard to get your head around that, especially when it decides to have a big thunderstorm when you are half way through a 4 mile hike. At the end of the day we went to one of the picnic areas (now deserted) where a mule deer (i.e. with antlers) turned up to feed on any scraps from the BBQs. He stayed around for about 15 minutes and it was such a wonderful way to end our time here just watching him wandering around in his own little world.
We head off today for Napa, which should be about a 4-5 hour drive and to say that I am more than a little excited is an understatement. Apparently the food is amazing and I suspect there may be a soupçon of wine or two when we are there as well...
Until Napa, AD xxx
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