Clovis

Day 46

We rose early and made for a quick breakfast at the nearby IHOP restaurant with Chris. As it's tough to go wrong with bacon, eggs, toast, and coffee, that's exactly what we had. And what a good breakfast it was.
We said our goodbyes, full and content, and hopped in the car for the short three hour drive down to Clovis. Where a whole bushel of our kin would be waiting for us, giving us a great place to stage for the week and a half we will be spending in Yosemite National Park.
Being accustomed to eating a small breakfast, snacking throughout the day, and followed by a small dinner, we were still content from breakfast when we arrived at my Grandparents house. They of course had prepared a fantastic lunch of baked potato, steak, bread, and fresh green beans from their garden. Suddenly I wasn't so full. The lunch was great, but seeing my grandparents, and seeing that my grandpa was gardening again was better!
We wrapped up lunch, and decided to get our errands out of the way before anything else. One oil change, visit to Wal-Mart, and bucket of food later, and we were back to relaxing the afternoon away with the family. More birds with one stone, we not only have grandparents in the Fresno area, but aunts, uncles, and cousins as well. Needless to say we got the full family treatment. A nice social break before the Sierra adventures ahead of us.


Day 47

One thing the Swedes can do right is breakfast, and my grandmothers Ableskivers were just the thing to wake to. They are a sort of pancake, though a ball, rather than a flat cake. Eaten with butter, and lingenberry jam, delicious. Ours were served with bacon, and a nice cup of coffee. Nothing is better. As much as I recommend Swedish breakfast, I equally shun Swedish dinner, especially Lutefisk, a disgusting jellied/pickled fish.
Today is Zach's birthday. Because of this we decided to stay an extra day with the relatives, giving them the opportunity to shower him with birthday wishes, and make his birthday something other than a long drive into the mountains.
Zach decided to spend his birthday lounging on the couch getting photos of the trip caught up on, swimming in the pool, and eventually going out to dinner. During his stint on the couch I decided to go shooting at a nearby range with my cousin Blake. He had an M1 Carbine his grandfather gave him, and a shotgun. While I was itching to shoot my pistol. We were evenly matched with the carbine at 50 yards, he beat me with the pistol at 10 yards, and I beat him with the shotgun skeet shooting. What a perfect way to spend an afternoon.
As a birthday celebration for Zach we decided to go out for real. Mexican food. Something we have not had this entire trip. Monster burritos, fajitas, tacos, and carne asada. Delicious. It's nice to be getting closer to home, as Mexican food is actually Mexican. Tomorrow we head out bright and early for the beautiful Yosemite valley, so after dinner we called it an early night.

MILEAGE:

Driving-

This trip: 179
Total: 6563

Walking-

This trip: 0
Total:218