USA Roadtrip 2019 – Episode 4:
Yosemite
On the day before we headed off to Yosemite (18th January), the guys forgot a shopping bag at the supermarket. After a phone call, where they were offered to get reimbursed (which I found really customer friendly) we decided that we’d pick it up that day, because we had to drive past anyway.
After our successful grocery pickup, we excitedly drove to Yosemite National Park, following our GPS as usual. Once we arrived there we were told that we shouldn’t trust the GPS and because of weather conditions this entrance was closed and we had to go back a long way to then take another highway. That detour cost us around 1-1.5 hours. Just like with the previous national parks, we didn’t have to pay for entrance because of the ongoing government shutdown. The guy who handed us a map of Yosemite Park – he worked on a voluntary basis – looked exactly how one would imagine a ranger: He had a long beard and long hair, just like out of a movie. We wanted to give him some tip, because we felt bad that we didn’t pay for the parks anywhere and that people didn’t get paid for their work, but we didn’t have any cash, because we paid via credit card everywhere. That was quite disappointing.
Upon arrival, we went straight to the famous tunnel view:
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Here are some more photos of driving around Yosemite National Park:
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At some point we wanted to go for a walk, but still had to eat. As always, we microwaved our food, this time in a little shop. Because of the earlier delay it was already 15:00 and so we didn’t have time for any longer walks than the 2 mile return walk to the Mirror Lake. It was a walk on only flat ground and to my disappointment we didn’t really adopt a sporty speed which would have compensated the sitting in the car all day long. However, we did climb some rocks and got some amazing pictures of the lake that got famous because it mirrors the beautiful landscape.
Walking along the Mirror Lake Trail
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It was already sunset when we returned and so we had to leave for San Francisco which was supposed to still be a 3.5 hour drive. The GPS suddenly told us not to take the road we came from, but instead one that would take 4.5 hours. We were a bit scared of more time-consuming detours, but we decided not to trust the GPS this time and thankfully that turned out to be indeed shorter. At a gas station I was super excited about eating my first real American hot dog.
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We arrived in San Francisco at 21:00. I was incredibly tired again, so I went straight to sleep. A friend had already warned me that housing in San Francisco was crappy as the landlords could rent out places for high prices without having to renovate them. Indeed, even though our Airbnb was outside San Francisco, in Redwood City, the walls were comparable to cardboard. We could hear every step of the others and everything from outside. This night the majority of the group didn’t sleep very well. Additionally, it was the first time we only had one bathroom (with one toilet) for our whole group. We were a bit sad that we were going to stay for 2 more nights in a house like this instead of the one the night before.
Click here to read the next episode of this USA Roadtrip 2019 or navigate through the Table of Contents:
Table of Contents
- Prologue & Epilogue
- Arrival & 1st Day
- Bryce, Zion and The Grand Canyon
- Cabin in the Woods
- Yosemite
- The Golden Gate Bridge
- Huge trees & Hollywood
- Universal Studios Hollywood
- The LA experience
- A paradise of stones
- Finally, Las Vegas!
Written by Julia Heuritsch | Last edited: 27th June 2022