After having a little taste of SUP at Gull Lake the previous afternoon, the Missus was up and ready to go at sunrise the next morning. After getting organized, I thought that heading to Silver Lake early in the day might work out well. So, we headed out. We had no problem finding parking near the Silver Lake boat ramp and the Missus was off and ready to go in no time at all!
Like the day before, I took a walk, taking in the beauty of Silver Lake. I loved the light and reflections at this time of the morning.
It was breathtakingly beautiful.
And all you have to do is turn around……
Silver Lake is home to the oldest "resort" in the Eastern Sierra's; formerly known as Carson's Camp which was established in 1916, it is now the Silverlake Resort which has cabins, an RV Park, and most importantly (to me) a store and cafe, which opens at 7am.
There were folks waiting in when the place opened at 7. I decided to take a walk along the lake and returned about 20 minutes later.
I walked into the shop and over to the entrance of the cafe. I was going to write my name down on the waiting list, but I was waved on in. There were some seats at the bar, so I lucked out.
I loved the very "old school" look of the place!
The guy expediting behind the counter was super efficient and quite nice. Of course, I had to start with a cup 'o Joe, right?
Be it Folgers, Maxwell House, Kirkland, or whatever, I enjoyed this!
There were lot's of choices on the menu, I started looking over the specials.
Since I sat right across the window, I could see the breakfasts coming out. Some looked pretty hefty and I really wasn't in a position to head back to the motel for a nap. I did want to have a couple of items and I knew what to order when I saw the special.
So, I got the "Fisherman's Breakfast", nicely priced at $9.99.
With not too much of anything, I could try the biscuits and gravy. The gravy wasn't too salty or greasy, the texture was on the lighter side of things, but it wasn't bad. The egg was perfectly easy over, the yolk having no off flavors. The breakfast potatoes nice and crisp on the exterior, the breakfast sausage routine. This was good enough to bring back memories of old school – diner breakfasts I'd had in my younger days.
It wasn't too much and actually was better than I had thought it would be. No wonder the place is so popular! There were about 8 people waiting in line as I left.
Silver Lake Resort Cafe
6957 Hwy 158
June Lake, CA 93529
As I walked back to the boat ramp I could hear the whistling of air being released…..as I figured, it was the Missus deflating Her paddle board. I had perfect timing! Once squared away, the Missus told me "it's too early, we need to do something else before lunch, and you need to burn off your breakfast!" Luckily, I had something in mind. We headed north on the 158 loop, then turned north on the 395 to Lee Vining. From there we headed west on Tioga Road, which was somewhat familiar to us as we had driven here when we visited Yosemite in 2021. Tioga Road heads to the Tioga Pass entrance to the park. We wouldn't be driving quite that far. We took a right onto Saddleback Lake Road and eventually after driving a bit on a dirt road found some parking and the trailhead to Gardisky Lake.
I believe I mentioned before how the Missus enjoys Her non-switchback straight up and down trails. Well, according to Alltrails, this was but a 1.8 mile out and back, but with a 750 foot elevation gain.
At the beginning it was rather easy.
Yes, it was a climb, but the views were quite nice.
Walking alongside the river flowing downhill; it was apparent that the winter snow and ice was still melting. And this was in July!
The portions with all the rocks and boulders were the hardest. You had to be aware not to twist an ankle or fall here.
At the top it really looked like an Alpine Meadow. I guess this is why folks call the area the "Switzerland of California".
The Lake itself is not very large.
But with no one in sight, we did not see anyone else on the trail, it was quite peaceful. Check out the snow still hanging around the lake!
We didn't run into anyone else hiking on the way down either.
All in all, a steep, but very nice short hike.
Now the big question was; where we were going for lunch?
Thanks for stopping by!
I was pleasantly surprised to see that Marbled Rye was used, which added an interesting yeasty-tangy-sourness to the sandwich. As a whole, a routine sandwich, basic mass produced sliced turkey; we enjoyed the cucumber and sprouts the most. It was enough for our lunch and we walked thru this western theme town to our car and headed off.
The fish looked not bad. As I looked at the seaweed salad and surimi salad, then had a taste of the poke, I got full on 
It might have been a bit much, but was really not bad at all. What was bad was the brown rice which was severely undercooked and hard. Not good eats.
My first thought when I opened things up was "what's up with the mac nuts?" The half nuts were just too big for this. The shoyu wasn't overly sweet, but was used quite sparingly. The quality of the fish, while not bad, wasn't to my liking. Too much "sugi" – rubbery connective tissue. The rice was cooked nicely….I forgot to ask about brown rice. I might have been traumatized after my visit to PB Poke House.
The portion size seemed on the smallish side, but still isn't bad compared to the "manini" 2 ounce portions I've seen at the chi-poke places.
Good lord, this looked totally like "saku", Carbon Monoxide treated fish. So much sugi, so dry looking, I was kinda not wanting to eat this. I tried a piece and it was mushy, yet chewy, with a metallic tinge. Yikes. 
The consomme was aromatic and slightly rich without having that greasy "tongue feel" that I don't like. It was just slightly gamey, but not bland, and you knew there was some "chivo" swimming around here. It wasn't very salty and really needed the lime to help things out. I prefer my consomme having a bit more goatiness, but this was decent.
I preferred the Barbacoa, which was moist and more tender than the Birria, which was on the chewier side of things. The birria did well with a dip into the consomme, some salsa, and a squeeze of lime. While it was a level above 
Man, when the tripe is right it is so buttery as is the tendon. The other cuts of cow are so beefy. This has some decent spice. The key is to eat it at the restaurant and let it sit over the heating element for a while before giving it a good mix. It'll sizzle away and the onions at the bottom will get soft and creamy and absorb all the beefy-spicey goodness.
According to Diego, there are 700 of these in the city, which mark historic structures in the city. Whoa, 700!
Instead of heading straight down Avenida Juarez, the main drag, we strolled down Calle José MarÃa Morelos and of course we passed a couple of churches. This one caught our attention because it was open for visitors, so we decided to take a look.
Looking at my Google Maps, I identified this as the 
Guadalajara, at least what we saw of it seemed like a nice family friendly city. This is the 
What to say about this? The meat was on the toothsome side, but the goat was oh so gamy; flavor of the pasture indeed. There was a nice goaty-smokiness to the broth which had a lightly rich tongue feel without being greasy at all. For some reason, those pickled onions were just amazing with this. The freshly made tortillas were hardy and up to the task. By far the best birria de chivo we've ever had.
As I figured it was typical "LA Kalbi" – flanken/cross cut ribs. First thing I hit up was the mac salad. It was quite plain , with a few strands of carrots. It needed some salt and pepper and was kind of "watery" as the mayo hadn't really coated the macaroni well.
At most places, the chicken would be tenderized to an even thickness, but this was not, thus some bites were pretty thick and tough.
On this visit, it seemed like the gentleman who I believe is the owner was working the kitchen, so I was interested to see how my food would turn out. The first good sign was the mac salad, which while still in need of more salt and pepper was evenly coated and the mayo not runny like on my last visit.
Man, these were a lot more hefty than I recalled. The venison, which was done medium-well, we weren't asked for a preference. had a mild gamey flavor, the Havarti was kind of wiped out by the bacon and onion jam, which added a nice sweet-pungent touch to this. I enjoyed this, but it was a bit much for the Missus.
Overall, this was quite disappointing. I was looking forward to Izola reopening. I'm thinking I'll try the place in a couple of months and am hoping that this was just an off day. And at seven bucks a croissant….man, how would Parisians react to a six Euro croissant? I can only imagine!
Wayfarer tends to over bake their croissants; but this wasn't bad, quite flaky and crisp, the interior a bit on the dry side, but light and fluffy with a decent butter-salt ratio.