Wow, I can't believe this last Yosemite post has been sitting in my draft folder for 2.5 months! This is also my very last post about our honeymoon to California, which was, at this point, over 1.5 years ago. Talk about time flying by quickly! Without further ado.... On our second day in Yosemite we chose to hike a few miles farther than on our first day--about eight or nine miles. I really wish I could remember where we started the hike (I'm trying to dig back in my memory nearly 1.5 years ago now!), but the highlight of the hike was the Sentinel Dome portion. Before you get to the top you get to hike along trails that have these amazing pine trees called Jeffrey Pines...and they literally smell like vanilla! Talk about the little things, but I just thought that was so cool! Anway, the hike to Sentinel Dome is well known for having the most famous Jeffrey Pine of them all, or what's known as the Ansel Adams tree (see his photo )....
After our drive through the Soča River Valley and Vršič Pass, as seen in Part 1 , we checked in at Guest House Marco in Bled, Slovenia. Our host Marco was an absolute delight with a warm and inviting personality. He knew so much about his country and gave us great advice on what we should see and what we could probably pass on. If you're ever in Bled I definitely recommend staying at his Guest House. We were lucky and had the entire place to ourselves. Perks of traveling right before summer tourism picks up! Within walking distance from Guest House Marco is Lake Bled. As seen in this photo, Lake Bled also has a little island on which perches the Church of Assumption . It's apparently tradition for the groom to carry his bride up the 99 steps from the island's dock up to the church. You can visit the island via the pletna boats or by renting a boat (or swimming or stand up paddle boarding!). While a lovely option, w...
Mono Lake in California, which is about a half an hour drive from the entrance of Yosemite National Park, is an incredibly unique area in North America. Would you believe that it's at least 760,000 years old, possibly around one million years old, making it one of the oldest lakes in the western hemisphere? Absolutely incredible! Scientists have been able to date the lake to at least 760,000 years ago by dating an ash layer to the Long Valley eruption . However, sediments below the ash layer suggest that Mono Lake could actually be the remnant of a much older lake that also covered parts of Nevada and Utah. At its height, Mono Lake was about 900 ft deep. It sits in part of the Mono Basin, which was formed over the last five million years, and has no outlet to the ocean; this lack of an outlet causes high levels of salt to accumulate in the lake, making the water more alkaline . However, now the lake is about 158 ft deep at its deepest point an...
Love all of these. I particularly love how glittery Ruby Mine is! I don't think I own that one yet!
ReplyDeleteIt was an impulse buy at Walgreens sometime last year. Great one if I do say so myself! :)
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