Yosemite Rocks (May 18)

The weather forecast consistently has indicated a 100% chance of rain on Wednesday. Imagine our surprise when we woke up to blue sky, but snow low on the hills we can see from our hotel balcony.

We started and ended the day at Tunnel View. You could probably stay there for an infinite amount of time and never see the same thing twice. The light changes; the clouds come and go; the fog sits low or high; you wait for one or another of the features to reveal itself. This morning there was a lot of fog, but the snow overnight provided added interest on the rocks and trees.

[Momentary interruption while I watched the recap of the Canucks 7-2 win over San Jose.]

When we parked at the Sentinel Beach picnic area, the snow falling out of the trees made it seem like it was raining, but next to the river, it was sunny and warm. There are good views of El Capitan from here, and Jerry noticed some climbers about halfway up the face. That meant getting the binoculars in addition to the high power camera lens. The green bivouac tent stood out clearly against the granite, and as we watched he/they started to ascend further. Turning our gaze in the opposite direction, we could see Sentinel Creek cascading down from snow-covered heights to the valley below.

The Cathedral Picnic Area provided some great views of Bridalveil Falls and the Cathedral Peaks.

Our next stop was Swinging Bridge. It doesn't really swing, but it does move when people walk by as you are trying to focus the camera. The views of Upper Yosemite Falls from the north side of the bridge are lovely.

We parked the car at Curry Village and took the free shuttle bus to stop 17, the head of the trail to Mirror Lake. The “trail” (paved 2 way road) follows alongside the tumbling, roaring, rushing, Tenaya Creek to the “Lake” which is actually just a wider, quieter portion of the creek. It was a great picnic spot, and we chatted with a variety of people up and down. Mirror Lake is at the base of Half Dome, and you can also see Mt. Watkins.

We continued past Mirror Lake into Tenaya Canyon, heading for the 2009 rockfall that has closed the loop option...you can hike to it from either side,, but not cross it. A couple on the way down said you couldn't actually see the rockfall from the end of the trail, and we were getting tired, so we turned around.

Rather than going directly back to the car, we rode the shuttle to The Ahwanee Hotel, a national historic landmark built in 1927. This is where the rich and famous stay and eat. I would bet that my parents stayed there when they visited Yosemite not because they are either rich or famous, but because that's the kind of place my dad loved to stay. We wandered around to the Great Lounge, various other sitting areas, and the dining room before taking the shuttle back to the car.

A young couple from Switzerland parked next to us in a little rental car asked if we could assist them as they had left the lights on and now had a dead battery. We had our jumper cables in the back and got them back on the road again. As we headed “home,” it started to rain. I guess that 100% chance was correct, but we were fortunate it came late in the afternoon and didn't last long.

On the way out of the park, we stopped to look at one of the huge boulders that has been split in two. In the “Spirit of Yosemite” movie we watched yesterday, it impressed me that Yosemite is really one giant slab of granite, and the features such as El Capitan and Half Dome are exposed through millions of years of natural forces. The smaller boulders (you know, the ones that are only 30 feet high and thousands of tons in weight) were deposited by glaciers which also formed the valleys.

After dinner back in our hotel room, we returned to Tunnel View for sunset. Our timing was excellent as the granite faces were bathed in orange light. Half Dome was teasing us with persistent clouds hiding it from view, but, as I said at the start, if you have patience, in spite of the fact that the rocks, domes, waterfalls, and trees aren't going anywhere, the view changes constantly.

There is a story that is retold in everything I have read about Yosemite. A ranger is asked, “What would you do if you only had one day to visit the park.” He responds, “If I only had one day, I would sit on a rock and cry.” It is wonderful to be here with plenty of time to visit, and in some cases, revisit, places in the park. Over the next two days we will venture to Wawona and Hetch Hetchy, then spend our last day back in Yosemite Valley. But first, tomorrow morning I'll bite the $9 bullet and connect to the Internet in the hotel lobby, check email, send blog posts, and try to figure out how to record a voicemail greeting on that darned cell phone. Hope no one has tried to reach us as I think the service is fairly sketchy at best.

I apologize for the weird placement of the photos. I am still learning how to wrangle this whole blog thing.

A Whole Lot of Wow May 17)

Our day started at Tunnel View, the classic vista of Yosemite Valley. The clouds came and went around El Capitan, but Half Dome remained shrouded and hidden from view. Bridalveil Falls provided a delicate white ribbon, but later in the day we would find out first hand the fury behind the veil.

It was chilly and breezy, and I was glad to have my gloves. Even the die hard young guy with the sophisticated camera equipment said he was going to give up waiting for Half Dome to appear.

We strolled on the boardwalk and paths in Sentinel Meadow/Cook's Meadow, then headed to Yosemite Village. The visitor center has the expected information on the geologic, natural, and cultural history of the area. Also in the Village are a post office, museum, the Ansel Adams Gallery, a theater, and a restaurant. The walk to Lower Yosemite Falls was easy and the approach provided views of both the Upper and Lower Falls. At 2425 feet, this is the highest waterfall in North America.

We agreed that this is a great time to visit Yosemite. In the summer, people must literally fight for parking space as well as elbow room on the trails and viewpoints. Another bonus: no bugs! Now if only it was warmer and drier (keeping our fingers crossed the forecast is correct; however tomorrow is supposed to be event rainier than today).

After wandering around on some of the trails in the Village area, we headed back to the car and drove to the Bridalveil Falls parking area. By this time, it was raining, so we ate our picnic in the car before starting up the short walk to the viewpoint at the bottom of the falls. This is one of the few falls in the park that doesn't dry to a trickle in the summer. It thunders down at this time of year, reminding me of hearing the rocks tumble in the spring runoff in the big creeks in Hills. Jerry opted not to accompany me through the heavy spray all the way to the viewpoint, but I had donned my new rain pants and felt bold . At the viewpoint, I didn't take the camera out...it was like standing in the shower, but far colder. The creek along the walkway provided plenty of great photo ops on the way back to the car, but it was a constant battle to keep the raindrops off the lens.

The Sentinel Beach picnic area was our next stop. There was only one other vehicle there...guess no one else thought it was picnic weather, but actually, neither did we. We were there for the view of El Capitan with the Merced River meandering at its base. Again, clouds and drizzle frustrated our photography, but we expect the weather to improve on Thursday and will have time to return.

We returned to the Village and had a look in the Ansel Adams Gallery, then watched a short movie in the visitor center theater before heading back to the hotel for hot showers and spaghetti and salad for dinner.

As we drove along the road in the park, it was interesting to see cars pulled over in places that seemed off the main attraction route. Then I would crane my neck to look back out the car window to see why they might have stopped and exclaim, “Wow!” at yet another incredible scene. There is no doubt that spring is late in Yosemite this year, but we have seen a few flowers, and the dogwoods are blooming at the lower elevations. Deer roam through the Village, and we chatted with a young Dutch couple who were very excited to see them. They told us they had spent a very cold night camping, but aren't staying until the weather gets better. They are headed to Death Valley next...no doubt it will be warmer and drier there!

So our first full day here was full of incredible moments. We feel we have our bearings in terms of how to get around and find where we want to be. I am so glad we will be here 4 more days as there is so much we have yet to see, and we know we will want to re-visit some of today's spots in better weather.

OR -> CA -> NV -> CA (May 16)

We were up early as we expected a long day on the road from Lakeview, OR, to Yosemite. There was a skiff of snow on the tops of the cars in the parking lot, and the woman in the office said 2 inches fell overnight in Burns, a town we passed through yesterday. The towns along 395 are mostly quite small, and some don't even warrant a mention on the map, but they served as progress markers as we continued our way south.

The navigator consulted with the pilot, and we changed our route to continue on 395 as far as Reno rather than going through Susanville. The sunshine felt deliciously warm as we approached the Nevada state line. It was very strange to drive into a big city with freeways necessitating vigilant lane changes after 2 days of meandering, but we had no trouble finding our way onto I80...the interstate heading west toward Sacramento. As we climbed higher, the temperature returned to the chilly barely-above-zero level we started with a few hours earlier. We weren't hungry enough for a picnic at Donner Pass (you have to know some California history to understand the humor in that statement), but did stop for some photos of the snow-covered mountains against the blue sky and puffy clouds. There are lots of ski areas along the route, but it looked like they were closed for the season (or at least on weekdays) even though there is still plenty of snow.

In Aurora, we confirmed with the info center that driving south on state route 49 would be slower, but infinitely nicer than continuing on I80 to Sacramento and hitting another super highway. I am not a big fan of multi-lanes of aggressive drivers with not much for scenery other than housing developments and big box stores.

Route 49 proved to be a lovely road winding through pretty farming areas and small towns. We stopped for lunch at Mel's Drive In in Placerville. Mel's is part of a chain whose claim to fame is that the San Francisco restaurant was used for the film “American Graffiti” which happens to be one of our favorites. All I can say is that we both left over full … I probably could have had just the burger, or just the fries, or just the chocolate shake (served in an old fashioned ice cream soda glass with the extra still in the metal canister), but I did eat almost all of it and subsequently did not feel the need to eat dinner.

This is gold rush country. In fact, along the way we passed near Sutter's Mill where gold was first discovered in 1848. Sonora (pop. 4423) has a story that will be familiar to those from New Denver. It was one of the largest and wealthiest towns when settled by miners over 150 years ago, but now relies on tourism, lumber and agriculture. We definitely noticed the tourist part...kitschy stores and restaurants and lots of traffic on the narrow main street having to stop for jaywalking pedestrians. New Denver can only dream!

Not far from Sonora we turned onto Route 140 to head toward Yosemite. We stopped at the “Rim of the World” vista point where we could see the Tuolomne River far, far below in the steep valley. We saw the huge pipelines that carry water all the way to San Francisco, but I'll leave that story for the day we spend in the Hetch Hetchy area.

The temperature was back to barely above zero again as we entered the park, and light rain was falling. There is still plenty of snow, and when we passed the trail head for the Merced Grove of sequoias, it looked like snowshoes or skis might be more appropriate than hiking boots! I am really glad we'll be here for several days as we expect rain tomorrow and Wednesday, then some sun at the end of the week.

We made many stops to take photos even though it was cloudy, rainy, foggy. That first view of the valley with Bridalveil Falls in the distance was the “we are here” moment. Cascade Creek was spectacular. We stopped once to photograph it from a bridge, then again at its final drop as we neared the park exit.

We are staying at Yosemite View Lodge which is literally just outside the park boundaries beside the Merced River in El Portal. It is a huge complex with different buildings, a couple of restaurants, and an overpriced convenience and souvenir shop. Our room is great...complete with kitchen and balcony. I cannot believe I was able to book this through Otel for almost 50% of the actual price. The booking says “standard room,” but this is far beyond standard. Maybe they figure since we're here for 6 nights that we'll appreciate having the kitchen (which is true). Alas, no Internet, but understandable as communications are expensive here. I think I read somewhere that there is wireless in the lobby, so I'll check that out tomorrow.

After getting settled in, we walked over to check out the store, then had a quick drink in the bar. Now it's time to figure out what we'll do tomorrow. I thought I was well-prepared with all of the research I did beforehand, but now it's time to sort through it and figure out a plan of attack. We know we won't get into the high country as the Tioga Pass and Glacier Point roads are still closed. It is not abnormal at this time of year for these roads to be closed, but the snowpack was 199% of normal on May 1, so it will take awhile to get them plowed out and passable. There is still plenty to see and do, and we're looking forward to it all especially after our little taste this afternoon.

Follow the Red Line (May 14, 15)

I like to be the navigator. I follow (or direct) our route using a map as well as reading the printed directions from Google Maps. I like to read about the towns in the tour book from the auto club, commenting on what we might expect to find as we cruise through. So far we have followed US 395, a lovely red line bringing us ever farther south. We did detour from it yesterday, but I'll get to that.

After a quick stop at Northtown in Spokane to buy a cell phone (for emergencies of which we hope there aren't any), we went to the Elk Public House in the Browns Addition area of Spokane. There are some lovely old homes in this area, but what brought us to the Elk was Guy Fieri of Food Network fame. He lauded this place on his show "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives." Of course, Jerry had the Reuben that Guy showcased. Excellent food, and the place was packed mid-afternoon, including the outdoor patio where people were enjoying the 26 C temperatures (yes it was that warm)!

Our detour away from 395 was to visit Palouse Falls State Park. I had read about it on a photo blog and decided I wanted to see it. It is an impressive 200 ft high. In hind site, spending the extra time to find it probably wasn't a great idea, but it is quite amazing. We did have some adventures trying to find it, but in the end, the Google maps directions were right, and I was reading them wrong. As we left the park, it began to rain...and then it was a downpour...and then it was a deluge.

We passed through more small towns, including Starbuck, WA (which couldn't even claim to have a Starbuck's), Dayton (with the loveliest courthouse I have ever seen), and Waitsburg where we visited the Laht Neppur Ale House. We were there 5 years ago when they first opened. It isn't much different except now they serve pizza. We got to Walla Walla, stopped a couple of places to find a room and discovered every room in town was booked solid for a balloon festival. So we continued to Pendleton, OR, in the dark and rain.

Today we followed the red line from Pendleton to Lakeview, OR. I had hoped we would get into California to shorten the day tomorrow, but after more rain, hail, heavy winds, and even swirling snow, it was time to stop. In John Day (yes, for those of you who don't know, that is the name of a town, a river, a dam, and I don't know what else), most of the town was involved in sandbagging the river which was flooding parts of the town. The discussion in line at the grocery store centered around whether or not the high school would be in session tomorrow. When we drove past the school, we could see why...the entire front lawn? or parking lot? was under water. All the creeks and rivers we have seen are high, fast, and muddy.

We are enjoying seeing the varying terrain...everything from high desert to pine forest, valley to mountain, and the Abert Escarpment which an interpretive sign described as the highest basalt escarpment in the US and is next to Abert Lake (do Oregonians lack creativity in feature naming?).



Tomorrow we will continue to follow the red lines for a long day between here and El Portal...Yosemite!

A note about the photos: these are straight out of the camera. I brought my baby netbook and not sure yet if I want to do any editing before I get home.

Why Leave Home?

Jerry and I will leave on Saturday for three and a half weeks of adventure. Sometimes I wonder why we ever leave home. We are fortunate to live in a beautiful place with many opportunities to enjoy all the things we do when we travel, but all too often don't take advantage of what is here right on our doortstep. Many of our trips away from home are tied to family visits; this is the case with this upcoming journey. It started with a need to visit Jerry's mother in San Luis Obispo, California. We could have flown or taken the train, but there is so much to see between here and there that we decided to drive. I have never been to Yosemite (Jerry was there before we met), so we added that to the itinerary. On the return trip, we'll stop in Seattle to see my mother and sister and her family. We haven't seen Becky, Roy, Leighton and Riley since the end of October, so we will leave our car in Spokane and fly to New York before heading home on June 8.

I like to keep a travel journal. Up until now they have been handwritten in a variety of notebooks. Sometimes I transcribe them when I get home. I will have a laptop with me (unfortunately, I have to stay connected), so I thought, "Gee, I can just type my notes at the end of each day." And that led me here to my first baby steps in the blogosphere. Thanks to Hannah for creating 50 Shades of Grey and helping me get started.

Thanks for joining us on the journey...we hope to hear from you along the way.