June 2010 Vacation Cont'd: Yosemite-Day Two, Part Two: Mostly Waterfalls

After we left the Mariposa Grove, we headed back toward Yosemite Valley so that we could take the same pictures that at least 800,000 other people probably took that day!  But, hey, it's worth taking, especially when you have a beautiful clear day like we did.  This is the Tunnel View...view.

That's El Capitan on the left, Bridalveil Fall on the right, and Half Dome tucked away in the back.

Driving from Tunnel View back into Yosemite Valley, we saw a bear.

Hello, Mr. Bear!

And a bunch of other stunning sights...most of them waterfalls, apparently.  

Ribbon Fall from Southside Dr.

Bridalveil Fall from Southside Dr.

Yosemite Falls (Upper and Lower) (and lots of mosquitos) from Southside Dr.

Yosemite Falls from Lower Yosemite Fall Trail

Lower Yosemite Fall

Yosemite Creek

My "This is beautiful, but I'm about ready to go." face.

I don't think we got any pictures of Horsetail Fall, but if it had looked this this, we definitely would have! Wow.

And that concludes the Yosemite portion of our summer vacation.  From here we spent the night back in Mariposa, then got on the road to Sacremento to catch our return flight to HNL.  For a trip that was largely unlplanned, this turned out to be a great vacation. 

   

(If you're like me, you'll go crazy combing through this post, trying to figure out what point D corresponds to.  It doesn't correspond to anything.  I just had to put that in there as a waypoint to get my route to come out correctly.  I apologize for any distress this might have caused!)

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June 2010 Vacation Cont'd: Yosemite-Day Two: Big Trees!

Okay, back to our tour of Yosemite!  We had talked about visiting the Sequoia National Forest and/or  Sequoia and King's Canyon National Park on this trip, but that proved to be just a little too far out of the way for us, so we were psyched when we found out that there are sequoias in Yosemite!  Who knew?  Well, probably lots of people, but still.  It was a happy surprise for us!  So, after a nice rest in Mariposa (point C on the map below), it was back into the park and down to Mariposa Grove (point E) (Don't worry about point D--it doesn't correspond to anything.)  Parking was full, so we were looking at having to park and walk a fair distance.  Luckily, a shuttle bus came by just about then, and we were able to jump on.  Yay!

Once we got up to the grove, we did what we never do, and jumped on one of the trolley tours.

This way we knew we would get to see the whole grove, make it back in time to catch the shuttle bus back down to our car, and still have time to check out the park some more.  Although we would have liked more time to meander among the trees, this was still a nice tour.  We did get to stop and walk around at a couple different locations.

We even saw a deer!  I would have gotten a cool shot of him (her?  I can't tell) framed up in the burned out portion of the tree, but when the other people with cameras started running toward him to get a picture, he took off.  Go figure.  See what I mean about people ruining my wilderness?   

Anyway...we saw a deer!  And the Grizzly Giant. 

See that giant limb on the left?  It is 6+ feet in diameter!  I feel so insignificant!  (By the way, this shot of me would have been centered better on the tree, but someone started running after me with a camera and a got spooked and started shuffling off to the side.)

From here we left to head back into the valley to see what else there is to see.  Join me tomorrow for the wrap-up.

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June 2010 Vacation Cont'd: Jacksonville to Yosemite

Now that I have finally updated you on the rest of last year's mainland summer vacation, it's time to start wrapping it up with our trip to Yosemite.  Like me, I'm sure you've seen pictures or video of Yosemite on TV, online, in your friends' vacation photos, etc., but I'm telling you right now, unless you've been there, you have no idea how spectacular it is!

We drove from Jacksonville, OR back to Sacramento, CA, and on the way, we decided to stop through Yosemite--might as well, right? It was a little bit out of the way, but not nearly as out of way as it would be once we got back to Hawaii!  We had a nice view along the way.  Nothing special, nothing special, then, ooh!  Something pretty is coming into view!

Well, hello, Pretty! 

After our scenic drive past Mt. Shasta, we continued on the eastern route, which would take us through Carson City, NV.  Along the way, we went through Lassen Volcanic National Park. I'm sure if we'd had time to stay there and explore it a little bit, we would have loved it, but it was sort of a half-assed decision to go there, and we ended up just staying there the night, camping with 53 of our closest friends, you know, exactly the type of camping I don't like, and by the time we got back on the road the next day, we were both just...grumbly.  We were wondering if maybe we'd made a mistake, tacking on this extra portion of the trip.

At some point, something shifted, and by the time we came around to Honey Lake, we were in a better mood.  This is a dry lake, something I'd never seen before, and it was surprisingly pretty.  It's hard to describe, and it's one of those things that doesn't show up all that well in pictures, but the whole thing had a soft, pretty feel to it that was completely different from everything else we'd been seeing.

A little ways past the lake, dust devils started kicking up like crazy in front of the mountains. 

A little further on, and we were starting to see some interesting cloud action and hints of more mountains on the horizon.  

And, we didn't realize it at the time, but we were getting our first glimpses of Yosemite

A little further on, we'd passed through Stanislaus National Forest (OMG, longest URL ever!), and after a few more bends in the road, the mountains were getting closer and now we had a beautiful view of Mono (rhymes with "oh no") Lake as well.  Mono Lake is a saline lake (roughly three times as salty as the ocean), and, among other things, it is home to about eight hundred bazillion alkali flies.  When I first heard about this, it sounded disgusting, but now that I've read a little bit about them, I have to admit, I'm kind of intrigued.   

For some much more stunning photography that probably was not shot out of a rental car window, please check out the two short promotional films that have been put together to promote this beautiful area. 

We knew that Yosemite would probably be amazing, but we had no idea that our drive there would be so spectacular.  Every place that we drove through had a beauty all its own.  If you're thinking about a road trip, you could do worse than this. 

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Tomorrow:  Yosemite!

Happiness A-Z: L

If you don't know what's going on, go here, or just keep reading. It's fairly self-explanatory. :)

Leaves-We don't have much of a fall to speak of here in Hawai'i, so when I do get so see autumn leaves in all their glorious colors, I think they are absolutely beautiful. Check out this gorgeous photo at Dolce Belleza and tell me if that doesn't make you want to go out and buy a bike. That's not to say that I don't like regular green leaves either though, oh no. I love green plant-y things, and I can't help but touch plants that I encounter as I'm walking down a street or on a trail. I just want to feel them and see how they move and pet them. Usually this works out OK for me, but I know some day it's going to backfire. I told you about my experience in the cactus garden, right? Yeeeeaaah.

Libraries-A place where you can have all the free books you want? What's not to love??

Literacy-I can't imagine not being able to read. If you can read, you can learn how to do pretty much anything else; if you can't, you are dependent on other people for everything, and the world becomes so much more limited and difficult. I am so grateful that I know how to read and that I enjoy reading. I think my life has been much richer as a result.

Image by kpauli via Flickr

Luna moths-They're just so pretty!

Lady bugs-They're just so cute! And they eat all kinds of bugs that would otherwise destroy your yards. And their babies look like little alligators...sort of. Grrrr!

Love-Really, do I need to explain this one?

Larry and Liz-My dad and stepmom.

Laughter-It's always fun to laugh, but sometimes it's even better to listen to other people laugh. Baby's have the best laughter-it's the sound of pure, unbridled joy, and it's awesome. My sister also has a great laugh, in fact she laughs a lot like a baby now that I think about it! Hers is a contagious, full-on belly laugh, and I love it.

Lava-I like fire, so you can imagine how cool I think lava is, right? Lava has been flowing continuously on The Big Island (Hawai'i) for about 26 years now, and if you ever get the chance to go over there to check it out, take it! My husband and I have been to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park a few times, and depending on where the lava is flowing you can just walk right up to it.

During the day it's cool, but when night starts to fall and you realize that you can look down through the cracks that you are walking over and see the lava glowing, well, to be honest, that's a little scary! But also really cool! It's so primal and mesmerizing and beautiful. Also, there are no lights out there, and if you lie on the lava field at night and stare up at the sky, you will see the sky like you have never seen it before. The Milky Way is bright across the sky, and if you happen to be there during a meteor shower, it's even better! You do have to have some common sense-take a flashlight, lots of water, layer your clothing, wear sturdy shoes that aren't likely to melt (seriously) and heed any park warnings. You're mostly on your own out there, so be smart, but do check it out!