Daily Archives: May 19, 2011
Yosemite Redux . . .
First off, I want to wish a Big Happy Birthday to our son, Chris. Enjoy your dinner at Ichibon’s.
Today was our day to visit Yosemite National Park. It was a second visit for us, since we were here last year, but the first time for Nick and Terry. So we had a great time showing them some of the fantastic views we had seen last year.
We left the park about 9, heading first into Oakhurst to pick up some things, like gas, breakfast, and lunch,
Gas, because there are no gas stations in the park proper, breakfast because everyone was hungry, so we stopped off at Jack in the Box, and lunch sandwiches from Subway, because we found out last year how bad the food is at the dining hall at Yosemite Lodge.
So we decided that with chips and drinks from home, sandwiches from Subway, and some of Jan’s delicious lemon bars for dessert, we were all set.
On our way into Oakhurst our daughter Brandi called with the latest Landon update. He had his 9 months checkup today, and Brandi wanted to let us know that he’s doing fine with no problems.
Finally, about 10 we left Oakhurst to make the 16 mile trip into the park itself. But the 16 mile trip takes almost an hour because the road is very curvy and we were climbing from about 2300 ft. to over 6000 ft. before dropping back down to about 2000 ft. on the valley floor.
After you enter the park, it’s about 35 more miles to the Lodge area. At about 4500 ft. we started encountering more and more snow as we climbed, But not near as much as last year. But then we were three weeks earlier last year.
Last Year.
This Year.
One of the most spectacular views in the Park comes as you exit the Wawona Tunnel and get your first view of the Yosemite Valley.
That’s the 3000 ft. El Capitan on the left and the 4700 ft. Half Dome in the middle of the shot. Half Dome just looks shorter because it’s a lot further away.
And this shot shows El Capitan, Half Dome, and BridalVeil Fall (Yes, Fall, not Falls. Don’t know why). Just a fantastic view.
Here’s a little closer shot of BridalVeil. Note all the mist at the bottom. We’ll see more of this later.
And here’s my Sweetie outshining it all.
This is Yosemite Falls, as seen from Yosemite Lodge. At about 2400 ft. it’s the highest waterfall in North America. BridalVeil is only a little over 600 ft.
That is a lot of water going over that cliff.
Last week, one of two people killed in the park was killed near these Falls.
After getting our National Park Passport stamped at the Visitor’s Center, we started on the loop that would take us back out of the park.
About 1:30 we stopped for lunch at a beautiful spot along the road.
We even had a helpful raven to clean up any crumbs we dropped. And of course Jan made sure we dropped a lot. At one point she even tore off a large chunk of my sandwich to give him.
Leaving the picnic area, we spotted two does right along the roadside, just walking around grazing.
Nearing BridalVeil Fall I found this Swallowtail Butterfly, although I’m not exactly sure which one it is.
This is a shot of BridalVeil Fall taken from the path leading up to Vista Point near the base of the Fall.
And this photo was taken from Vista Point. You can only get about one shot before the mist obscures your lens.
All that water coming down translates into some really strong rapids at the base.
Leaving BridalVeil and heading on, we notice the fog starting to move in along the mountain ridges, and it started to get colder quick.
Getting back to the Park entrance area we decided to make the 2 mile trip out to Mariposa Grove, home of Yosemite’s largest Sequoias, some of them over 300 ft. high. We didn’t get to do this last year as the road was snowed in.
Although there are over 500 giant Sequoias here, they really don’t measure up to the ones in Sequoia National Park where we plan to go next week.
We finally got back to Oakhurst a little after 5, and deciding no one was really hungry for supper after our late lunch, we just stopped off and got cappuccinos.
Later, around 8 Jan fixed us a light supper of Cheese Toast made with Miss Terry’s delicious homemade bread. Really good.
That’s about it for today.
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Thought for the Day:
The mystery of government is not how Washington works, but how to make it stop.
dfas
