Yosemite!

Another glorious day, the air as delicious to the lungs as nectar to the tongue.

-- John Muir

What a way to spend your birthday!

My wonderful husband decided that the perfect way to celebrate my birthday would be a long weekend in Yosemite. (Arch rocks!) Ever since we first looked at the map of San Jose and its surroundings Yosemite has been on "the list" of must visit locations. Needless to say we were giddy with anticipation.

We set off on Saturday morning. It is a 3+ hr trip to the park entrance through some amazing landscapes. One highlight were the wind farms we passed, quite surreal! We drove through the flat central valley and up and up and up in to the "hills" and then into the pine forests. Nothing about the winding mountain roads through pine forest and occasional glimpses of bits of the range quite prepared me for that first glimpse of Half Dome!

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in,
where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.
-- John Muir

It is really quite impossible for me to put into words the impact of the Yosemite valley. I can say that for all that you may read or hear about it nothing compares with experiencing that most magnificent of places. I can say please come in the spring or the fall, away from the touristic crush, stay for long enough to make the drive worthwhile and we will happily take you to Yosemite to be drenched by the mist from the falls, awed by the majesty of the mountains and renewed by the many sublime moment the valley affords.

One highlight of our adventure in the park was the chance to take hikes. Our longest hike was up to Vernal Falls and then a loop to Clark's point and back again. We covered about 4 miles and several hundred feet! The Mist Trail was charged with energy from the raging spring melt water which makes the river fairly roar. Huge building size hunks of granite completely engulfed in foam by the frigid flow. (There are plenty of reminders posted that you'd be pretty much dead if you fell in by accident.) The real point of the Mist Trail is to take you along side the falls themselves. At this time of the year the trail could be better named something like "Take a long cold shower in ice water blowing off the torrential falls" trail. Which of course doesn't sound much fun so it should also include "it is the thrill of a lifetime seeing double rainbows over the falls plumitting water" trial. Ah well, I'm not up to the task of describing the combination of thrill, wonder, majesty, etc. We had a blast!

The water in music the oar forsakes." The air in music the wing forsakes.
All things in move in music and write it. The mouse, lizard, and grasshopper sing
ogether on the Turlock sands, sing with the morning stars.
-- John of the Mountains Muir

Our highlights were digging in the sand of the sandbar, spotting ground squirrels and scrub jays or revaling in the colors of the flowers and the brilliant expanses of granite. I know we'll be back again in the fall. With luck we'll have the company of family.

Love to all!

Sara, Nye and Archil