9th September

Today started with seeing a family of deer in the area behind out cabin. Typically, I only managed a few “bum” shots!

Having entered our destination in Bitching Betty, the satnav (name borrowed from Claire!) it told us we had 6 hours 40 minutes to go to get to Mono Lake, whereas Google had it as 40 minutes! Both were wrong….. It took about 3 hours but we had to stop for road works as there were rockfalls, and to take pictures along the Tioga Pass, which is very steep, very windy, with sheer drops on the side of the road. Liz took a spare pair of knickers, and decided not to drive today….. The scenery was quite amazing.

Mono Lake is quite an amazing place. It’s very salty, has brine shrimp and alkali flies in it, and is a great place to see migrating birds between June and August. Sadly as this is September, they had all buggered off, but we did see an osprey! The photos of the osprey are too blurred to put on here but maybe with a little photoshopping we can do better. But the landscape is unbelievable.

Liz has reminded me that I need to let you all know about our lunch. After leaving Mono Lake, we headed off South to Mammoth Lakes, which is very busy in winter as a skiing centre, so pretty quiet now. Anyway, being hungry, we stopped at a wayside diner just south of Mono Lake. Handwritten scribbles of sandwiches on the blackboard which were virtually illegible, but I managed to decipher a BLT so ordered that, and LIz ordered a tuna sandwich …. Which leaked dubious fluids while she was trying to eat. And it was between bits of toast. Not the best choice, but it took the edge off.

The hotel in Mammoth Lakes is good. According to the notice on the back of the door, it costs $900 a night! We have a king sized bed between us (we were too tired to argue the toss) a good bathroom, sitting room and full kitchen. So we trotted off to the supermarket for supplies and decided to eat in tonight. We got some fresh corn on the cob, and Jamie Oliver is going to whip up some pasta with butter, spinach, chorizo and Parmesan. We have already had a Budweiser and a couple of cheeky vodka and tomato juices, before attacking the red wine later. I feel an early night coming on!

Tomorrow, we are heading off for a walk around some hot springs and volcanic lakes.