Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Majestic Yosemite

I’ve been to Yosemite many many times—it was a 6 hour drive from my childhood home in Southern California. But I have to say that as a child I sure didn’t appreciate the majesty and beauty of those granite monoliths and waterfalls. But I get it now.  I took this picture from Tunnel View. Isn’t it amazing? You exit a tunnel and right there is this gorgeous view.

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I grew up camping—it’s the only vacation we ever took actually. Here I am with my siblings—I’m the second from the left. We were camping in the San Bernardino mountains for this shot.  I actually don’t even like camping—I love the outdoors and hiking, but don’t love dirt.

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This is our campsite at the Upper Pines campground. Shady all day long due to those gorgeous tall pine trees.

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Yup, the girls wore their Laker t-shirts. I know, Laker fans in Utah. Crazy huh? Blame Paul for that—you can take the boy out of L.A. but you can’t take L.A. out of the boy. I happily sported by alma mater t-shirt.

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The only part I didn’t like was that you had to lock up all your food and toiletries in these metal boxes—even chapstick and deodorant lest you be eaten by a bear in your sleep. Hmm, our tent was made of canvas, the bear box out of metal…

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My kids had a great time with their cousins and hopefully made lots of memories in the dirt.

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We hiked for hours every day—even the kids. Who could get tired hiking in this setting?

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Ilene has been given clearance to hike (and lightly swim and ride a stationary bike) by her doctor—and hike we did! She did great—her back never hurt her once. A miracle. We’re so grateful she is healing well.

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Here’s Hallie cooling off in a meadow with her cousins.

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Here I am with my adorable nephew on the left and my sweet son on the right. Stopping for a break of water and trail mix on the Vernal Falls hike. Sadly, I didn’t make it to the very tippy top as it was getting dangerous for the little kids. I didn’t feel like making headline news due a child falling off the cliff. But Nathan and Paul made it with my nephew Michael. I wish I had a picture of those steep granite stairs so you would believe me. It was scary with kids.

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Paul wanted to hike Half Dome but they didn’t make the lottery for it so instead we settled for a drive to Glacier Point where we could lazily get a bird’s eye view of Half Dome. Looking through binoculars you could actually see crazy folk standing on that rock. No thanks.

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I wish we could go back every year, but that drive across the pure desert of Nevada is brutal. Not a person or town to be found. One-lane highways the entire way—we even took a wrong turn in the middle of nowhere and lost an hour. Idiots.

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Like myself as a child, I doubt my kids comprehended the grandeur of this place, but they definitely had fun. We all did.

What a treasure is this national park. God bless America.

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