Yosemite National Park

I was very lucky to get to visit Yosemite on two occasions.  The first was in 1988, when my dad and I spent three glorious weeks touring Northern California, and the second in 1992 when my parents came out to visit me in San Francisco.  

Dad and I headed to Yosemite from South Lake Tahoe, by hugging the very arid eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and entering Yosemite from the east.  I kept seeing these magnificent cliffs from the highway and it turned out to be Tioga Pass, Yosemite's eastern entrance.  I didn't take any pictures of the pass itself  once we got there, because it was just too huge and couldn't be captured on film.  I even tried to find a good close up of it on Google Images and there aren't any that truly capture the jaw dropping beauty of it.  

Heading west into Yosemite's heart.  This area is called Tuolumne Meadows (pronounced:  too-AHL-um-nee).

 El Capitan

Dad and I drove to the summit of Glacier Peak.  I felt like we were on top of the world.  That's Half Dome.

Looking straight down at Yosemite Valley.  Did I mention I'm scared of heights till it comes to getting a good photo?

These next pics were taken in 1992 when we went w/ both of my parents who were visiting us in CA for a couple of weeks.   BTW, I was damn sick on this trip, with bronchitus.  The drive through the mountains & subsequent pressure changes in my ears had me weeping with pain...I had to go to the Yosemite Medical Clinic in the park, be seen by a doctor & get the antibiotics prescription filled, all on site. 

Yosemite Falls and mule deer in the meadow.  

Yosemite Valley

I sure would love a do over on this trip and take digital pics.

Giant sequoia.  Did you know that 'sequoia' is the only word that contains all the vowels?

Yosemite is in Central California, in gold country.  We stayed in the town of Mariposa, about 30 miles from the park's western entrance.  Dad & I went in August, and during the 2nd year of what was a 6 year drought, so the waterfalls were pretty non-existent.  Temps topped the high 90s every day, which was a drag.  It was also really crowded; we are in major danger of loving that park to death.  They even thought about a lottery system for the summer months.   When we went in April of 1992, the drought was breaking and the waterfalls were awesome from the snow melt.  I would recommend going in the spring.  It's also less crowded and much cooler.