In Yosemite
Yosemite may as well be Disneyland but it’s still beautiful and awe inspiring. Wendy and I just went for the first time, a couple of weeks before the park’s busy season which starts on Memorial Day.
It was also a good time to go because the record-breaking snowfall is melting and feeding the waterfalls. Above: Yosemite Falls, one of the ten largest in the world. Below: Bridalveil Falls, which is famously wispy but was totally raging. While we were walking up the trail, a dude on his way out gave me his garbage bag to stay dry. In turn, I passed it to someone else when we exited.
Hardcore naturalists and outdoorspeople will scoff at these photos, recognizing that we only went on the easiest of hikes, but we weren’t there to grow beards or bury our poop. The hike to Mirror Lake, below, is one of the paved shorties that we took.
Just off Mirror Lake was a clearing where hikers started to make piles of rocks. I think the spot entertained and inspired Eloise a lot more than the taxidermy or kid-focused exhibits at the Nature Center.
We ended each day at the Ahwahnee Hotel lounge areas, where Eloise napped and we sipped coffee to-go cups from the bar. We barely got AT&T coverage there (no T-Mobile anywhere) and were otherwise cut off from cell phone and Internet access for the duration of our trip.
Away from the valley and just on the other side of the South Entrance is the Mariposa Grove of the Big Trees, which is totally worth seeing. The fallen tree with its exposed roots was especially cool–not unlike the reclining Buddha.
On our final day, it snowed. Seems crazy for mid-May but I guess that happens in the mountains. Below is the famous vista from the Tunnel View. See Yosemite Falls? Although I thought the landscape would look cool with snow, the fog was a bit oppressive…
Lots more that I didn’t post (come on over and I’ll inundate you with vacation and Eloise pics) and even more to see next time. Maybe in the fall…