Road Trip: Yosemite and Vegas

 

So, we’ve started Day 3 of our road trip home. It’s been beautiful and very restful considering we’re driving a lot. Here’s where we’ve been:

 

 

Thursday AM, we left Chris and Janelle’s house (Jon’s brother and sis-in-law and mine too ) in Folsom for Yosemite. After about 2 or 3 hours, we stopped in a little town named Sonora. So adorable!! We did a little search with the iWant application on our iPhone – it shows you food, coffee, gas stations, hotels, etc within a few mile radius of where you are. We read a few reviews and decided on a little French bistro on Main St. It was delicious!! After that, we walked down Main St and checked out some of the little shops. Really fun place. Here’s some pics:

 

In the French Bistro

Park Right Along Main St

 

Logging Truck!

 

 

After we left Sonora, we made it Yosemite Valley. It’s really breathtaking. All the words I’m thinking of sound so cheesy but it’s so true. It was magnificent. The redwoods were so tall and it just smelled wonderful. We went to the Ansel Adams Gallery and then walked to the Ahwahnee Hotel. The architecture was so detailed and blended in beautifully with the surrounding landscape. In the grand room, there was this HUGE fireplace. Here’s some pictures of our time in Yosemite:

 

Yosemite Park Entrance

 

Fireplace in the Ahwahnee Hotel

 

Ahwahnee Hotel

 

Meadows and Mountains

 

Yosemite

After we left the Valley, we drove east through the Park and then south to Mammoth Lakes. We stayed at the M Inn and met Dennis the innkeeper, a very nice and interesting man. It was a nice little stayover place but unfortunately we did not have time to really check Mammoth Lakes out. We headed on the road Friday morning for the 6 hour drive to Vegas. So, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right?? We kind of learned the meaning of that last night…just by people-watching. ha ha. But we enjoyed ourselves walking around and people-watching then we grabbed dinner at Fellini’s at the Stratosphere. We would’ve gone to the top but it’s $13 a person just to go up there so we passed on that. We drove over to the Bellagio and got a drink at the Fontana Bar. We were able to walk right out to the balcony and watch the infamous fountain show. It was really amazing. Then, when it was close to showtime, we went to the theater and saw O. So the O definitely stands for OMG. It was incredible!! I’ve seen a few Cirque du Soleil shows but this blew them all out of the water…literally. Jon and I could not even wrap our minds around how they did some of the things they did, technically and talent-wise. It was really great and we recommend anyone and everyone to see it if you are ever in Vegas. After that we came back to our hotel (which we would also highly recommend)- the JW Marriott. It was about 10 minutes from the strip so it’s not right where everything is but that’s what was really nice about it. We were able to drive down there, enjoy everything and then get away to relax. It was a perfect combination. After a restful night’s sleep, we are in Starbuck’s (of course) blogging and about to head out to Hoover Dam and then Flagstaff, AZ. Here’s some pics though from Vegas:

 

the Strip

 

 

 

Us on the Bellagio Balcony

 

 

We rolled down the windows when we were in Yosemite and had natural air conditioning. It was nice and cool then the next day we’re driving through the desert and didn’t want to roll our windows down for anything. It was quite a difference. And talk about contrasting days, we were in Yosemite Park one day and on the Strip in Vegas the next. But it’s been a lot of fun!! We’ll check back in later on.

 

Much love!!

J + B