Mono Lake, California

We had the privilege of visiting Mono Lake twice during my recent visit to Yosemite National Park. The quote below is from Mono County website.
"Mono Lake is hauntingly beautiful, reflecting the snow-capped Sierra Nevada in its shimmering blue waters.  An immense inland sea, the lake fills a natural basin, 695 square miles in size.
The most distinctive feature at Mono Lake is its eerie tufa towers-mineral structures created when fresh-water springs bubble up through the alkaline waters of the lake. The lake's salty water not only makes you float like a cork, but sustains trillions of brine shrimp, attracting millions of migratory birds to feast on them." 
We stayed for the National Park ranger talk in the evening.The clouds parted revealing a night sky filled with constellations and a broad swath of the Milky Way.