On
Thursday, June 26th, I drove up to meet my sister, Kathy
and brother-in-law, Louie at a campground about 20 miles
east of Bishop. I left San Diego at 5AM and got into camp
around 10AM. Louie couldn't believe I made the 350 mi
trip in about 5 hrs... Uhmm, tailwind. K&L had been
camping & fishing since earlier in the week at
various lakes further north. Unfortunately, fishing was
very slow the whole week. At least for Kathy and I.
Somehow, Louie managed to limit out almost every day. I
think I caught two the whole weekend. It was so bad, on
the last day, I spotted Kathy using my "fish towel" to
wipe the top of her soda can - knowing it was the
cleanest thing around. <sigh> The only thing I did
get was a really bad sunburn. Yeah, I actually got
burned. On the second day, I forgot to put on sunscreen
until it was too late. The combination of not having a
significant pre-tan, high altitude (9000 ft+), heat
(80's) and reflection off the water made it prime burning
conditions. Luckily, it was just my forearms. So for about five
days I had blisters and swollen arms. Lovely. First time
for everything.
The
weather all weekend was perfect. Mid to high 80's, clear
skies. Down in Bishop it was in the 90's! Earlier in the
week it had actually snowed in Mammoth. While I don't
remember if it actually snowed on them, Kathy said some
of the places they went the cars and tents were covered
with snow. In JUNE almost JULY!
Friday
evening, we drove to Bishop to celebrate Kathy and
Louie's 39th wedding anniversary! Kathy and I shopped at
the local bookstore, while Louie went to the Fly fishing
store where he bought the fishing waders he's been wanting
for years. We then had a nice dinner at Whiskey Creek, originally
a lodge, now converted into a large restaurant.
Saturday
morning we drove to Convict Lake. But not before having
the best breakfast around at Tom's Place. Convict is 35
miles north of Bishop - a beautiful lake, but no hungry
fish. After lunch, we spent the rest of the afternoon at
Intake II, not catching fish. We mainly fished there
because there was shady places to fish along the
shoreline... I couldn't take anymore sun. Louie caught
his limit - but he was at the spillway, in direct heat
and sun. He tried to convince Kathy and I to move over to
where he was, but we both would rather sit in the shade,
read our books AND fish. Comfort overruled catching fish.
:-) That night we had a fresh fish dinner. Nothing
better.
Some
of the places we fished that weekend - Lake Sabrina,
South Lake, Intake II, Convict, and Bishop
Creek.
Sunday
morning, we packed up camp and went our separate ways. K & L
returned home to San Dimas and I continued on my road trip to the
coast and Monterey. I drove west through Tioga Pass and Yosemite
National Park. I HAD to stop at Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite. See
the MAP. When I was in
Jr High and HS, we would spend at least a week every
summer (sometimes twice) in Tuolumne. Nothing has
changed. I was tempted to camp there overnight, but the "weekend before the 4th crowds" was
a bit much. So instead I walked a bit along the stream and meadows
and shopped at the campground store. Louie reminded me that
I shouldn't forget to get a soft-serve ice cream cone while I was
there. It was always a special treat when we were camping. We
would eat our cones and watch the hikers come in from the
wilderness and the tourists drive through. We would pick out the
Europeans from the Americans. It wasn't hard. :-) But alas, nothing
has changed. The summer help was the same quality - they had forgot
to
turn on
the
ice cream
machine.
So,
I continued down to Yosemite Valley, a 40 mile drive. I
took me about 2-3 hrs. A leisurely mountain drive with
lots of stops to take in the scenery. When I got to the
bottom, I decided to forgo the crowds - I skipped going
into Yosemite Valley and continued on to
Monterey.
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