Yosemite and the friendly folk of Merced

So we're back in the 'Golden State' of California for the last leg of our North America trip. We arrived in Merced last Tuesday, after 'befriending' a couple of ex-cons who had been released from prison that day and were on their way home. I say 'befriending', as we answered their questions politely, laughed at their jokes and hoped to god they didn't get off at the same stop as us. They didn't. Their tattoos looked like these were not people to be messed with!

When we got to Merced station, Clare got chatting to a nice old lady whose grandma was from Wales. In the end, they got on so well that the lady and her husband gave me and Clare a lift to our motel, which was nice. There we met Kathleen, the motel desk lady, who had spent a career in 'law enforcement' and desperately wanted to move to the UK. Anyone fancy trading their job in the UK for a life in sunny Cali? Join the queue!

On Wednesday we took the 7.10 AM (ouch) bus to Yosemite National Park. Now before I go on, Yosemite is seriously beautiful, especially in 'the fall' (sorry, autumn) with its red and yellow tinted forests, but after a few hours strolling about and a picnic, we were about ready to go back. I think we might be a bit 'National Park-ed' out from the last week or so. There's a 'lake' up there called Mirror Lake, that we hiked up to as it's supposed to reflect Half Dome (a big lump o' granite shaped like a half dome) beautifully. This is what we found:
















Yup, dry as a bone. God damn this Californian climate!

To be fair though, this place is beautiful, and there were very few people there when we visited, which made it much nicer to walk around. Check these out:














































We're now in Sacramento, the capitol (capital?) of California. Here's a picture of Governor Schwarzeneggers 'joint' here:
















Not bad eh?

We leave for San Francisco tomorrow for our last few days in the country. More from there.

-Si