This park couldn’t be more different from Yosemite – the ranger at the gate was very friendly and just asked me if I wanted a map and newspaper (since I now have the annual pass on the car, they assume I might be a regular). He informed me of all of the road construction and when the best times to avoid delays were.

The road construction I encountered was very professionally managed, with one lane of paved road alternating directions every hour.

I feel sorry for the ranger that has to walk to all of the waiting cars and tell them when the road is re-opening. She had to walk a couple miles down the road (with the accompanying 1000+ feet of elevation change) and then back up. I told her they should get her a Segway. She has to do this 4 times a day.

I’m in the woods with a slow Internet connection – I may post some pictures later if it speeds up.

Update: Pictures, as promised…

A very lazy deer – it was walking along the paved path until I came along – then it went over the fence back into the woods:

The obligatory picture of the General Grant Tree:

My Atom overlooking Kings Canyon:

I’m in Yosemite again today. Despite the stupidity with the roads (see the previous post), I managed to get some good driving done.

First, in Yosemite Valley:

Upper Yosemite Falls:

El Capitan:

I then drove up to Glacier Point and hiked to the Point from the parking lot:

Half Dome and Falls:

The Ahwahnee:

This picture shows the hotel I’m staying at in Yosemite Valley. In the first one of yesterday’s 3 pictures from the hotel balcony you can see the view from the hotel looking up to this point.

Although the hotel and Glacier Point are only about a mile apart, the road snakes through the hills for 32 miles because of the elevation changes. Glacier Point is not the highest point on the road – that’s somewhere around Mono Meadow (I wonder if there’s a Stereo Meadow or a Surround Meadow). At the highest elevations there are still patches of snow in the shady areas along the side of the road.

Tomorrow I’m on to Sequoia / Kings Canyon which should be a lot less crowded.

I didn’t think it was possible for the park staff to top yesterday’s bountiful supply of stupidity, but they exceeded my expectations by a wide margin…

The park newspaper noted that there were 30- to 60-minute delays on Wawona Road (the road south through the park). I’ve dealt with national park road construction before, and it is generally performed in a reasonably intelligent manner. Apparently the Yosemite folks are learning (or not) as they go along.

The main thing that is going on seems to be the installation of 6″ curbs at the side of the road in some points, for some unknown reason. However, to accomplish this, they have actually removed parts of the road, ranging from 10 yards to about 500 yards, and replaced it with a rutted dirt road.

They have one lane closed in a number of places, with flaggers at both ends to control traffic flow. This works so poorly that the trucks that are delivering the concrete for the curbs have to stop, put out a tarp on the side of the road, and dump the whole load of concrete because it is hardening before they get to where they’re supposed to deliver it. So there are large piles of concrete in a lot of the pull-over spots.

Once I got past the intermittent construction, I came to a place where they had removed about 10 miles of the road (again, for no apparent reason) and replaced it with a dirt road. In many spots it appeared that they actually placed the dirt on top of the paved road.

Why they’re doing this work at the peak of the tourist season escapes me…

Someone really needs to start hitting everyone involved hard with a clue-by-four.

Once I got past the cretins at the gate (see my previous post), I drove into the park and took a couple pictures along the way:

Half Dome:

Bridalveil Fall:

I checked into my suite at The Ahwahnee and went downstairs for dinner. When I came back to my room, I took these pictures from my private balcony, one from each direction:

The people manning the entry point and ranger station at the highway 120 entry point to Yosemite have to be some of the dumbest specimens of humanity I’ve ever encountered.

I pre-purchased an annual National Parks Pass specifically to avoid some of these hassles. It took me about 20 minutes to make it to the head of the line, which I initially thought was because of the visitors, not the staff. Boy, was I wrong…

When I made it to the head of the line, I handed in my pass and said “I need a window decal because this is an open car” (the literature I got with the pass said that window decals are available for convertibles, motorcycles, etc. because the standard procedure is to hang the annual pass from the rear-view mirror, where anyone could just take it).

They acted like they’d never seen an annual pass before, and then proceeded to have a 10-minute debate, involving 2 additional employees and a phone conversation. They then asked to see my car’s registration, which I handed over. Despite having a huge “05/2011” expiration date on it, they proceeded to tell me it was expired. After another 5 minutes, additional employee, and another phone call, I got my registration and annual pass back and was handed the window decal and park newspaper / map.

Rather than blocking the entry gate, I pulled into the ranger station / visitor center so I could put all my paperwork away.

By this time I was incredibly hot and thirsty. There was a water vending machine there (while I had water in the car, it was hot and I wanted a cold one). It was sold out of all water. There was also a soda machine which had a dollar bill slot that wouldn’t take any of the 6 bills I tried.

I went into the information center / ranger station and explained (after waiting on line, again) that both vending machines were broken, and asked if I could swap 2 $1 bills for 8 quarters from their tip jar. They refused. They then told me that the next water was 6 miles down the road at Crane Flat, and that I could complain about the broken vending machines there.

As I slowly made my way out of the information center and back to the Atom, I discovered that there was a working drinking fountain around the side of the building.

Idiots.

I reserve a special spot in hell for fools like these.

I made a scheduled (but un-announced, so as to not cause a pandemonium) stop at M5 Industries (home of Mythbusters) in San Francisco:

I’m back at the Beach House in Half Moon Bay – one of my favorite places to stay. When I walk in, the staff says “Good to see you again, Mr. Kennedy” (which reminds me of “Good to see you again, Mr. Bond”). I have a dinner reservation at the Half Moon Bay Brewing Co. Take a look at this earlier post for some pictures from my previous Atom visit here.

Here’s the view from my penthouse room:

Tomorrow I’m heading to Yosemite, then to Sequoia and then to Death Valley, so I may not have Internet access to update the blog for some time.

Here’s a picture to give you an idea what this was like. I’ll fill in more info later.

Rollbar camera video:

Nose camera video:

(The above videos are the full 480i versions. Click the icon on the top right to go fullscreen.)

You can also watch these videos on YouTube via these links:

Rollbar camera

Nose camera

Today I drove the Atom up to Salinas. I’d arranged to have a new set of tires shipped to a shop there so I’d have fresh tires for the coastal drive, track, and trip back home.

When that was done, I drove over to the track. Believe it or not, with all of the trials and tribulations I had getting here, I was the first one to the track. After a few hours people started arriving.

Tomorrow is our redwood / coastal cruise, up past San Francisco via the inland forests, and back down via the coast.

Well, I made it to Seaside (where I’m staying until the 11th). The weather cooperated as well, with sunshine and not too hot for most of the way. Once I got near the Monterey peninsula it got chilly and damp.

I checked into the hotel. On first appearance, it is very nice. Then you discover that despite the high rates, they nickel-and-dime you to death – this is the first Hilton-affiliated hotel I’ve ever seen that charges for Internet. And the vending machines serve off-brand soda at $2 / bottle, where the other places I’ve stayed (even including the hellhole from last night) have had Pepsi or Coke for $1.25 or $1.50.