Vegas to June Lake

Sunday 13th September 2009...

Got up and finished packing to, sadly, leave Las Vegas and travel onwards and westwards...today was all about driving...driving across the Nevada Desert to be precise..it's very long, dry and flat with lots of small bushes and cactus...it has a special beauty of it's own but as a good friend of Carol's said, just a LOT of it!..anyway, apart from a quick stop for lunch in Maccy D's we continued on through Nevada (passing a couple of "ladies ranches and seeing some old guy dressed in full cowboy gear, including loaded gun and spurs!) until we reached Mono Lake in California around 5 p.m.
Mono Lake is fascinating, with it's "Tufa" that looks like ancient salt pillars/white coral growing up out of the sand (see pic above)..the scenery around the area was magnificent and we needed a place to stop overnight which was also pretty close to the entrance to Tioga Pass and Yosemite National Park...we hadn't booked anything and the small village of Lee Vinings looked a little tatty (and had NO VACANCY signs up in all motels) so the trusty Sat Nav. showed us a group of accommodations 11 miles away up near June Lake...

What a find!..a wonderful little town in the mountains with some very pretty motels, one of which, The June Lake View Motel, had a vacancy (and the most beautiful Newfoundland dog called "Chaos")...Sherry the owner of the motel was lovely and gave us a room with 2 beds (Queen & Double), a bathroom/shower, kitchenette with fridge, microwave and, wait for it - a KETTLE!!!!....Carol rushed straight out to buy some milk and finally a proper cup of tea was had - the first once since Grand Canyon and the Doubletree Suites....
Then we walked a couple of hundred yards to the Tiger Bar to eat more chicken fried steak, chicken noodle soup and a drink before heading back to bed for an early night...it was a long day and although the TV channels were clear and plentiful and the internet was free and fast, we all ended up in the land of dreams before 10 pm...