Woke up early so we could catch the YARTS bus back into Yosemite. Went and got breakfast at the Breakfast Club since the hotel breakfast stunk. Place had good baked goods. Spent some time here before we wandered over to the bus stop to wait. Rich got McDonald’s. The bus ride was pretty uneventful and consisted mostly of reading.
Once back at Yosemite, we grabbed some lunch and looked around the shop. We then went and visited the exhibits that we did not check out when we were first here. Started with the Ansel Adams gallery. It was less impressive than I expected and was mostly there to sell prints of his work and of some modern photographers. The next thing we went to was the Yosemite museum. It had some interesting displays on various aspects of the park. Ranging from the geology, to the effort to establish it, to how peoples’ visits over the years have change. Also watched a movie on the ‘Spirit of Yosemite’. Honestly wouldn’t have gone to see it if we didn’t have 3 hours to sit around. Turned out to be good.
Grabbed another YARTS bus, this time headed to Merced. Even leaving the park the views were impressive. The bus ride once again was filled with reading. At one point during the ride, Rich and I started talking a bit. Some grumpy old man complained that we were talking and that he wanted to rest. Last time I checked you were allowed to talk in public places like buses. From Merced we took the Amtrak train back to San Francisco. The train was packed and the car we ended up in didn’t have properly working air conditioning.
We got back to San Francisco late, and just barely ended up getting into an Indian resturant before they closed to get dinner. Decided to stay at a different hostel because the first one wasnt that great. Ended up just down the street at the Hosteling International San Francisco Downtown Hostel. The place was much nicer than the previous hostel, this one was actually maintained.