"Epic Adventure Day 5 ~ Yosemite National Park"

It was early in the morning, woke up, bid LeeYing and TeckSiong goodbye, and we're off again for Day 5, the last day of the Epic Adventure. Yosemite National Park is 4-5 hours drive from San Jose and according to TS, the road is pretty tricky, not many signboards and you don't know if you're going the right way!




The drive was interrupted by a *small* problem when we wanted to refuel gas. We had used up our cash resources!! Ok, that's not so small anymore :-S Stranded in the middle of nowhere, without cash or gas, and gas pumps don't accept credit card... not good! Desperately (frantically??) asked people if there were any banks around, and thank god there is one nearby! And they allow withdrawal from the credit card over the counter! Ok, wasted one hour there. Hurry, we got a plane to catch!

The road was through mountains. At times, the height was incredible and it felt like we're driving to the sky! After going through one particular tunner, we were greeted by....

The Valley Portal!

In the middle is the Merced River. Yosemite is at the far end (*gulp*)

The drive is scenic at every turn. We stopped occasionally to snap pics of the clear rivers, spectacular granite cliffs and giant trees.


El Capitan, vertical granite formation!




Waterfalls! The size of the waterfall depends on the season, when the snow on top of the cliffs melt...



A short drive away is the Visitor's Centre..

like the Grand Canyon, there is also a model of Yosemite inside. We left the Centre after a only 5 minutes because the real fun is outside!

We were asking directions for the perfect location to view the most prominent feature of Yosemite, the Half Dome. Took bus, walk around, ask around and finally....


The Half Dome and the Merced River...


Up close!



We walked around going for a short hike through the meadows. Can see a ranger activity going on...


There is a ramp boardwalk across the meadows.



Sitting in the middle of the meadows, feeling the warmth of the sun, the wind blowing....


Wallpapers :D

We spent about an hour plus here. The free shuttle bus takes you around...


And the compulsory signboard on our way out!

The road back was downhill and full of twists and turns! Gf say damn dizzy and felt like vomitting. Only the driver didn't feel it!

The long road back to LA...

Reached LAX at about 8PM, returned the Ford Escape and checked in. Met Fren2 at the Cathay Business Lounge, brought some drinks out for Gf (she took Economy Class, so have to wait outside). The flight got delayed for 1 hour. When the time to board came, went inside, wait for dinner, eat and straight away zzzzzzzz............. oh, and don't forget the champagne ;)

We had a very long stopover in Hong Kong, but was in no mood to go out and jalan2 some more. At that time, all we wanted to do was go home. Was mentally and physically drained. Reached Penang that night, had a hot shower... ahh, feels so good to be home!

That's it! The Epic Adventure finally came to a close. After weeks of reading and planning, did it go as planned? Well, the first day at LA was bad as we didn't manage to cover Downtown LA and Beverly Hills. Las Vegas was too huge to be covered in one night. We would need at least 2 days there.

And the place I liked the most?

Definitely Day 4, San Francisco! It was absolutely beautiful :)