Aug 23rd to 25th - Oakhurst CA

Aug 23rd - Sun - to Oakhurst CA
Freeway part of the way today and then into 2 lane roads in hills as we headed south & east. We are at the High Sierra RV park in Oakhurst which is south of Yosemite National Park. After a late lunch we explored the town a bit, filled up with diesel (California prices have been a bit of a shock - down to $2.87 here) and picked us some groceries. We put away the groceries and went to check out Chukchansi Casino about 12 miles south.
We drove on a narrow, windy road (Hwy 41) through treed hills with a couple of small communities hugging the road. So we were very surprised when we turned off the highway, went up and around a hill and saw a huge casino with a 7 story hotel (400 rooms) and 7 restaurants.
We did so-so on the slots until I finally won a small bonus when I was down to 5 cents on a machine. I tucked some away so Mr. Gambler wouldn’t want to play (lose!) it all and we ended up earning enough points on our cards to each get a “free” T-shirt.
Back to the rig for a BBQ dinner. Hot weather but cooling in the evening. Not many other campers in the park, mostly longer term residents up on a hill.

Aug 24th - Mon - Oakhurst (Yosemite)
Oakhurst is 22 windy miles from the southern entrance to Yosemite NP. Just inside the park is the road to Mariposa Grove with huge sequoias. The parking lot at the grove was full so we had to take a shuttle bus for the 2 mile trip. We took a walk of nearly a mile to the Grizzly Giant (tree) and the Tunnel Tree which had a tunnel cut through it in 1895 and is still alive.
Then a 35 mile drive - more narrow and windy - to Yosemite Valley. We stopped at Tunnel View for pictures of two of Yosemite’s best known peaks - El Capitan and Half Dome. In the valley we stopped at a picnic area for lunch. We were almost finished eating when a small bear wandered into the section where we were sitting. It was heading towards a couple who didn’t see it so we got their attention and they immediately grabbed their stuff and left the table. The bear was smart enough to head right to their table to see if anything was left behind.
Yosemite is known for scenery, hiking and climbing. Since we are not big on the last two, we made the loop around the valley and headed back south a bit before taking the Glacier Point road. Less than a mile down the road there was road construction with possible ½ hour delays. I think we waited 20 minutes and then only moved down the road a bit because the line was back to the main road. Shortly afterwards we started through several miles of one lane traffic - about 30 miles total to Glacier Point. Another walk to incredible views of Yosemite Valley and the surrounding mountains. A young man beside me told his friend that he thought it was more impressive than the Grand Canyon. As amazing as the view was one viewpoint that was hacked out of solid rock right on the edge of the canyon.
Luckily it was late enough when we headed back that the road crews were done for the day. We decided to get fried chicken for dinner and had the greatest lady at the deli counter. She did not have any chicken breasts so was trying to convince us to get something else. She gave us each a sample of the chicken strips - they were old but she could make fresh ones in 7 minutes! - then gave Terry a sample of a thigh which were on special - 4 thighs & 4 drumsticks. Terry said he would take the special if he could get all thighs. So she ended up giving us 6 thighs & 2 drumsticks. We can have fun even in a grocery store!

Aug 25th - Tues - Oakhurst
We enjoy watching the HGTV channel on TV and indulged ourselves this morning with a few episodes. Nice late breakfast, a walk around the park, clean the truck a bit and then off for a drive which took us to Table Mountain Casino (!) south of here. Another large complex in the middle of nowhere except there were some very nice homes around a golf course right across the road. I had some luck again and covered our initial outlay with some additional to keep playing. When my luck ran out, Terry started doing OK. We finally left about 5 and it cost us $5!
Before I finished making dinner, Terry invited new neighbors to have a drink so we sat and chatted with Dennis & Ginger until it was time for them to start dinner. A few minutes later, Ginger came back to tell us to have a look at a new rig that had set up in the park. It was a huge bus with 3 rows of little windows in the back half. There were a lot of people sitting at tables near it so we figured each little window was a sleeping alcove. Terry & Ginger took cameras and went to investigate. It was a tour group of 23 people from Germany. Terry invited some of them to come see our living quarters after dinner and come they did. I expected just a few but most of them have not seen the inside of a 5th wheel so they got their first view in ours. We really enjoyed talking with some of them for quite a while and found out that they are 3 days into a 2 week trip which starts & ends in Los Angeles.