Mono Lake is roughly 75 miles away from Yosemite Valley. According to Google Maps, the trip takes roughly two hours. Normally, we beat the travel time estimate by several minutes, but we stopped so many times along Highway 120 (a.k.a. Tioga Pass Road), we reached Lee Vining and Mono Lake an hour after Google said we would.

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We were on the road by 7 AM and were at Olmsted Point by 8 AM, where we spent an inordinate amount of time and energy searching for marmots without luck. I've seen plenty of marmots, but M has yet to spot one in person. If she doesn't see one soon, I fear the whole thing could grow from a simple desire to an obsession on par with the quest for the Holy Grail. While M was searching, I snapped this photo of Tenaya Lake.

Before leaving the park, we stopped by one of the most magnificent meadows I had ever seen. The sight of it filled me with such awe and joy, I felt the urge to sprint across it, fall on the ground, and stare at the trees, mountains, clouds, but something stopped me (likely the stodgy old man in my head known as Mr. Sanity) and I simply photographed it.

Beyond the park gates were two impressive lakes: Tioga Lake...

and Ellery Lake, which was smack dab in the middle of a wind tunnel. I got out of the car and could barely stand long enough to take a picture.

Past Ellery Lake was Tioga Pass, the highest automobile pass in California, roughly 9,945 feet above sea level.

From there, it was downhill to the tiny town of Lee Vining, which has a population of roughly 500 people. After getting our bearings at the Mono Lake Committee Information Center (Marker A), we made a quick detour to Panum Crater (Marker B), which is part of the youngest mountain range in North America (or so claims its parking lot sign).

The crater has two trails: the Plug and Rim. Because it looked like it would give us a better view at the top, as well as an idea of what was at the center of the crater, we took the Plug Trail.

After spending an hour wandering around the crater and getting blown around by the unrelenting wind, we finally reached Mono Lake, the day's main attraction. We visited the South Tufa area (Marker C). Normally, the entrance fee is $3 per person, but we had an America the Beautiful pass, so we didn't have to pay (or, we already paid, depending on your point of view).

According to the state's website, Mono Lake covers 65 square miles and is one of the oldest lakes in North America. It has no outlet and is nearly 2.5 times saltier than the ocean. It's the salt that creates the lake's signature tufa towers.

While the woman at the visitor center said I should drink some of the lake water to taste how salty it was, I decided to play it safe and take a few steps into the lake instead. After my feet had a few minutes to dry, they (and my sandals) turned completely white.

From there, we grabbed a quick bite to eat at the Whoa Nellie Deli. I had the Ragin' Cajun Jambalaya, which was delicious. All of the dishes were rather expensive, but the portions were generous. I also filled the tank while I was there. Gas was $4.79 a gallon -- a dollar more than the average.

After lunch, we made a quick stop at the state's Mono Lake visitor center and then the county park on the lake's northwest corner (Marker D).

If you want a nice place to picnic, the county park is ideal, but if you want the best views of the tufa towers, then South Tufa is the place to go.

It was nearing 3 PM and we wanted to get back to the valley in time for dinner, so we hopped in the car and made the return journey in a little over two hours (there might have been a short nap by Tenaya Lake along the way).

We dined at the Mountain Room Restaurant to celebrate my birthday (the not-so-big 3-4) and then called it an early night because the next day we planned to hike to Little Yosemite Valley.