Tuolumne Day 1

As I sit here waiting to talk to my health insurance to see if I can extend my COBRA and listen to the verbal pollution from the neighbor, I'll start my description finally. Pardon the hold music/video. It's better than what Blue Cross has, let me tell you. [after a short break] But the lady was nice and wished me a happy birthday. awww...

OK, day 1, Thursday. I drove up. The end.
Kidding.

I started down the road to Tuolumne Meadows after driving for hours and was overwhelmed by the greenness and lushness of the area. Although I was hesitant to stop because I was NOT stuck behind an RV, I did. The first picture I took was this:


Not sure what else to say except show the photos.
I believe you can see half dome in the distance:

This, little did I know, was my ultimate destination:

A sign for those with low vision:

The actual meadow, which is right across from the campground:

I was meeting up with people I did not know at all. My friend J in Seattle had climbed with two of the guys, and they had invited her, but when she couldn't go, referred me to them, extolling my virtues and saying how strong/safe/good I was and that I could be a rope gun. [A rope gun is someone who can lead well and thus bring also weaker climbers up routes.] Really funny guys via email (calling themselves the Masters of Mediocrity), and turned out to be so in person also. I found their campsite, and met and hung out with them/ate dinner. Two Brits, one of whom lives in CA (R) and the other who was visiting for 2 weeks (G), and two Americans - brothers, one of whom works with the CA Brit (N) and the other is (J).

G was considered to be the rope gun. They had been climbing in Lake Tahoe, and G or R mentioned that G tried to get on the Line but backed off. Remember that I did that first pitch last summer? I just looked and him and said "Why???" Everyone laughed at that, and after the fact I could see why it would sound funny (I didn't say, oh that's too bad, or what was the problem, or whatever). But I was just confused since he was considered to be the rope gun and that climb is definitely doable for what I thought he could climb. Ah well, they didn't hold it against me...

And then we slept.