...that's right another state checked off the list.

This week I finally got to visit Joel in Sacramento, where he has been working since June.  He has been traveling home just about every weekend, so this week it was my turn.  I flew out of Milwaukee (so, the dogs could hang out with Joel's sister and family for the week) and arrived in Sacramento, CA before noon (Pacific).  Joel took off early and picked me up at the airport.  We enjoyed an easy going afternoon and evening while I tried to stay awake after being picked up by the airport shuttle at 3:15 am to make a 6:35 am flight.

Thursday morning we got up at a reasonable hour for our drive to Yosemite National Park, only 3 hours away from Joel's apartment in Sacramento.  The drive went well.  Joel and I decided that the California cows we saw did not look any happier then the Wisconsin cows we have seen.  We also decided the California cows commercials are a bit misleading--we didn't see any green grass or nice hills.  It actually looked nothing like the beautiful meadow on TV.  Also along the drive, Joel and I made a disturbing realization... we know very little about where some of our food comes from. There were many food producing trees and plants along the highway to Yosemite, much of them we could not identify and the fields weren't labeled for those non-Californians who have no idea what they are looking at.  We do believe we passed some almond trees which led to our discussion of where peanuts come from... on trees? in the ground?  Joel was right, they grow below ground (knowledge I gained after a quick Internet search). We arrived at Yosemite around lunchtime.  After the important needs were met: food and bathroom; we decided it was time to find where we would be staying the next four nights.

My time is running short at the wifi hotspot this evening, I will finish my vacation naration soon.  Part 2 coming soon...