Gas Station Dinner for $100?

As crazy as it sounds it’s true and was worth every penny.  This took place over the summer during our Yosemite trip, but the irony of this experience still comes to mind so I thought it might be worth blogging about.  We had been shooting in the Tioga area for a few hours and were ready for some food.  We were told ahead of time that we’d be eating at the Tioga Gas Mart and that we’d surprised how good the food was.

Within the Tioga Gas Mart is the Whoa Nellie Deli.  The owner and chef is Toomey.  It seems funny to use the word ‘chef’ in reference to a gas station restaurant, but trust me, whatever you’re comfortable calling him you’d be amazed at his creations.  Take a look at the menu:

Not your typical gas station food selection

I had the Wild Buffalo Meatloaf.....best meatloaf I've ever had.

The four of us ordered and filled up our paper cups from the self-serve soda fountain and had a seat.  Something about ordering the Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin for $20 and then going to the self-server soda fountain seems funny.

When the food arrived, in very healthy sized portions, the truth was about to be discovered.  No matter how many times someone said, “You’ll be surprised” you’d never really believe it until you took your first bite.

Wild Buffalo Meatloaf prepared with port wine au jus, spaghetti squash and garlic mashed potatoes

Kansas City Steak Salad

Time for some dessert.

Dense, New York style cheese cake

Rich, double chocolate cake

Yosemite Part II

Besides seeking out some of the more remote parts of the park there are some iconic photos that need to be taken, even if that means being elbow to with 35 other photographers with their tripods and bags of equipment spread everywhere.

El Capitan (left), Half Dome (center, distant background) and Bridalveil Falls (right)

After staying in this spot for several hours, all the others had cleared out and now there were just the four of us for for some night photography.  We (my dad and I) made our first attempts at star trails with relative success.  It takes a lot of patience and considerable Photoshop skills to get great images, that’s why you’ll only see a couple mediocre images here…

A starry night above the Yosemite Valley. The small streak, top center, is the skip of a shooting star on the atmosphere.

With a 10 minute exposure you’ll start to get some star trails in the sky, streaks from satellites, airplanes and the occasional shooting star.

This is basically the same view as the first photo in this post, only about 4 hours later.

Half Dome sitting among the clouds around sunset

The last bit of color around Half Dome before the sun disappears

Yosemite Part I

My dad and I shooting in Yosemite (Thanks for the photo Phil)

When Laura and I arrived in San Francisco we spent that day and night at some of our favorite spots.  The next morning Laura’s friends and my dad arrived from Seattle.  Our vacation become two separate trips.  Laura and her girls would spend the next few days shopping the streets and San Francisco while my dad and I would hike and photograph Yosemite.

Rapidly changing weather around Mono Lake

We signed up for a 3-day photography workshop that would take us to some of the most beautiful parts of the park.  Early mornings, late nights, high altitude hikes, rain, snow, lightning and thunder were all on the menu.  The weather was a perfect backdrop for some of the photography.  Blue skies are great, but thunderous clouds add a lot more drama to a photograph.

Ready to shoot in any weather

Rainshowers moving across the plains

Snow moving across Tioga Pass