Luxy and Voyager walk ahead to get a hitch, and Rafiki and I are right behind them. We stood outside for two hours trying to get a car. It’s cold and I’ve put on all my rain gear.
We heard it was easy to get from here to Yosemite!
Apparently not.
We have a guy waiting for us in a big truck.
«Are you going to Yosemite?» we asked.
«I’m going to Crane Flats,» he says.
Perfect! That’s where we have to go.
The three girls are talking to him. Rafiki comes to our side.
“Can we hitchhike with you?” we asked.
The driver looks back into his empty car. “I’m completely full here,” he says.
«Why did he stop? His truck was empty!» They say Luxy and Voyager.
«Maybe he was just checking to see if we’re okay?» I suggest. «I don’t know. That was really strange. Maybe he saw Rafiki and just wanted the girls.»
Strange. No luck hitchhiking for us.
Our backup plan is the bus, so we drank coffee and waited at the bus stop. They tell us that sometimes they pick it up at the store, sometimes at the bus stop.
Well, I’m anxious and the girls and I are trying to hitchhike for a few minutes.
Rafiki is not bothered by the bus delay and chats with the couple at the bus stop.
Finally the bus arrives. I skate on the gravel as I run to my backpack, throw it over my shoulder, and then run towards the bus stop. We left our backpacks in the storage under the bus and climbed on.
It’s a beautiful trip to Yosemite. Although the bus arrived half an hour late, we looked at the gigantic rock structures. We stop at some construction site and stay here for a while.
Yosemite will be a short trip.
When we arrive, it is full of people. Food options are a deli or a burger joint. I opt for the hamburger restaurant. We eat park standard burgers and then restock. I prefer a lot of macaroni and cheese.
Luxy separates from the group to take a shower. Rafiki, Voyager and I take a walk to the lower falls. The waterfall is high in the sky as we approach.
Right in front of us is another smaller waterfall. There are a lot of people, so we head to the lake. We take a quick dip and then continue walking.
I really wanted a pizza, but it requires transportation and we can’t walk there.
I try to call Luxy to bring us a pizza. The service is bad. It’s too late to get on the ferry, but maybe she can get us one.
If she answers my message.
We are walking when she calls. The connection is bad. She asked me what I wanted but I get a text message that says:
Too late.
No! Can’t I pack the pizza? Oh man! This is horrible!
As we continue walking down the path, I receive another text from Luxy.
I bought you and Rafiki a pepperoni pizza to share. If you don’t want it, I’ll pack it.
Thanks Luxy! She saves the day!
He asks us to get some ziplock bags because they didn’t have boxes.
Rafiki and I entered an art gallery. Rafiki is very good at photography, so he really enjoys taking pictures. I prefer them to paintings, surprisingly. I think I’m becoming more exposed to photography as art.
The photos are of incredible sunrises and sunsets, waterfalls, beautiful trees, bears. Some are in black and white and others in color.
We meet at the bus station. Rafiki was accused of getting ziplocks, but he didn’t want to spend twelve dollars on a box of ziplocks, so he got some free paper bags instead.
Luxy is a little nervous as I explain this to her. He had to travel by bus here with two bagged pizzas! Restaurants ran out of boxes! And he had to throw away his Nutella because he didn’t have room to carry it all.
On the benches outside, we managed to use my big old, good zip locks to store the pizza and hide it in the paper bags Rafiki got.
We get on the bus and eat the pizza. It’s delicious! Oh man, it’s so good! Cheesy, salty and pepperoni! Amazing! It has sauce and bread and I wish I had another one!
I look at the half dome and the elephant structure as we return to Toulumne. I fall asleep a couple of times as I go.
When we arrive, I eat some delicious potato wedges. We spent some time here before walking towards the hiker camp. We only have to pay a few dollars to camp.
When we get there, Bumper will be here! Hello bumper!
We put our food in the bear box and prepared for the night.
That was a short trip to Yosemite!
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