We're at Yosemite National Park

looking forward to hearing more after your tour

My class went to Yosemite as a gift for graduating eighth grade. We did not get the full tour, but I loved being there. I imagine the roads there are wider and less tortuous now. There were some spectacular drops just a few feet away from the bus wheels. I recall one fellow was terrified. He fell on his knees in the aisle and prayed to get out of this alive. Sixty years ago.

I was there several times from the 60's through the eighties, going with friends, boyfriends, skiing with girl pals, camping with my husband - lots of times eating at the Ahwahnee. Sigh, I guess they've changed the restaurant these days, at least with a new name. The food used to be quite good - I've no idea how it is now.

My first boyfriend was one of the early climbers, before I knew him. In later years he has been a respected ecologist, nature writer on the american west, an ecocritic, with several of his books on Amazon. I still have the carving he made for me of El Capitan. He's the guy who used to write me poems in chemistry class.. long ago.

We're having lunch, and will take the free shuttle to the village and to visit the Ansel Adams gallery after a short break.

We saw Half Dome and El Capitan. The waterfall was awesome. The Ansel Adams gallery had some photos on sale. One was on hold, and sold for $85,000. My wife bought a small packet of photos for $9.50, a little larger than post cards.
We made reservations to have lunch tomorrow at Ahwahnee. We leave the park at 4pm, and get home about 11pm.
We met a couple who lives in the neighboring city from us, and they told us they come here every year.
They had over 800,000 visitors in June of this year. Our guide today was Charles. He's been doing guides here for over 20 years. He said he met Ansel Adams and traveled through the park with him while he took some of his photos.
Another grand day.

There was a big fluster a year or two or three ago about a change in name for the Ahwanhee; I'm glad it's staying with the old name.

They also call it the Majestic.

We're on the train now between Modesto and Stockton. We catch a bus to San Jose, and should be home by 11pm. It's now 7:42 pm.

A photographer friend worked with Adams; I trust him, but not me, as I may be remembering wrong on anything, just conversation.

The Trip: From Sunnyvale, we drove to Diridon Station in San Jose to catch our 6:10am bus to Stockton. We arrived in Stockton at 8:25am, and from Stockton, we took a train to Merced, arriving at 10:37am. We got on a bus at 11am for our 2.5 hours ride to Yosemite Valley Lodge our accommodations for the next two nights, and arriving at 1:26pm. We did the reverse to get home.

We were supposed to do the 2pm guided tour, but instead changed it to 10am the next morning because of the timing.

After we checked in, we walked to the Yosemite Falls just a few blocks from our lodge.

Yosemite Park has a free shuttle service that runs about every 15 minutes, so people who drive there just park their cars for the duration, and take the public transportation. I saw one license plate from New Jersey.

The Yosemite Valley Lodge has cafeteria style dining, so we ate most of our meals there. On the day we left, we had lunch at Ahwahnee Lodge (I think it was established in 1902, and the most famous at Yosemite), now called the Majestic. We enjoyed sitting in the lobby for a couple of hours to relax and watch the world go by.

Our tour the following morning after our arrival covered all the major sights in the park. We did the Half Dome, El Capitan, Yosemite Falls, Glacier Point, Mirror Lake, and the trail that was used in the mid 19th century before and during the California gold rush.

Charles, our guide has been guiding tours for 20 years, and traveled with Ansel Adams when Adams took his pictures at Yosemite.

I took lots of pictures, and will try to post some of them if I learn how.

I look forward to the photos, CI.

(I remember hiking up to Glacier Point.. oof, I never was a great hiker, slower than others (turns out there were eye reasons for that, that I didn't know at the time). Still, I liked the hiking, just at my own sturdy pace.)