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| Buck Meadows Diner |
Our last full day here. At 08.00 I met Greg next door. He's from Florida with his wife and thinks Amanda and I have had the most perfect holiday.
This morning we go to Tuolumne [pronounced Toolomeen] Grove to see the Giant Redwood trees. The Dead Giant is the biggest example with a tunnel cut through the base in 1878 for stage coaches and horses to pass through, a good photo opportunity. Many living Giants here are more than 2,500 years old. The hike from the car park to the Grove is an easy two mile descent into a valley. The return hike was tough. Amanda stops frequently to take photos and take on water. We're constantly forgetting that even the valley floor is still 5,000 feet above sea level.
Puffing noisily we settle from our hike into the air conditioned Swede motor and glide speedily to Lake Tenaya for our picnic lunch. We stare out at the sapphire blue 150 acres of water eating ham sandwiches and fruit; it is very relaxing until a large group of Chinese people spill out of their bus chattering noisily in that sing song way they have and furiously photographing everything they see. Five minutes later they are gone.
Returning to Blackberry Inn we rehearse tomorrow's route and agree Amanda should drive the first few hours. It is a 7-8 hour drive I reckon. Tonight we take our last meal at the local diner and hope they have Anchor Steam beer.
Amanda will need a drink. Her happiness about being finally reunited with her lost hair irons [4 June] yesterday is replaced with a new profound disappointment: she has lost one sapphire ear stud that I'd bought her. It is somewhere in a hotel bathroom in the Sierra Nevada but still we cannot find it! This might affect the dinner plans!!
We sat in a booth for our last meal at the diner so far from the waiting staff that Joe the manager served us drinks himself. Amanda had meat balls and spaghetti and said it was alright but not brilliant. She is still thinking about the lost sapphire. My steak and mushroom sauce was fabulous. Amanda drove back. During the night my breathing stopped and I woke struggling to breathe. It doesn't often happen but with a long drive to Big Sur tomorrow this interrupted sleep isn't the best preparation!
Amanda:
Rather than drive 3 hours to the more famous Mariposa glade, we hike a mere 1.5 miles down to a closer glade of redwoods today. What with the trail around the glade, it will only be a 4 hour walk. I think of other things to do. And then we do the trail. I keep forgetting how high up it is - it's a bit like having asthma I suspect, the constant struggle to catch my breath. The trail is all down hill on the way and so...... I stop twice for a glug of water on the way back but otherwise determinedly keep going. I find as long as I don't panic about not being able to fill my lungs, it's okay and I make it in good time and with some energy left. We drive to a lake which is about 8,000 feet above sea level for our sandwich lunch and I admire the hopeful and beautiful Jay which comes to watch. It has a black crested head, fading to steel grey and then it's sapphire blue from the wings and tail. We have been told not to feed the animals, sigh. The lake is also beautiful - more of a topaz colour than a sapphire and we watch three Americans get in to swim, scream and beat a hasty retreat. It IS an alpine lake - did they really think it would be anything other than freezing? I think it's beauty lies in looking only - although at over 8,000 feet, it's always nice and cool when it's so hot elsewhere in the valley.
I lose an earring in the bathroom. Crawling over every mm with a torch I am baffled - where has it gone? It wouldn't be so bad but Paul bought them for me. I try to not let it affect the evening. We go back to our diner and I have pretty awful spaghetti and meatballs. The owner comes out to offer me a port - as I'm English I must like it apparently - and I re-direct it to Paul. The owner enthuses about the fruity upfront character and long nose - it's Sandemans bog standard! Paul makes the right noises of appreciation but I think he enjoys his schooners of local beer more.
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