A Whirlwind Tour of Yosemite

By the time they've reached the ripe old age of fifty-three, most people in the state of California have visited Yosemite National Park. Note that I said "most." Sadly, I didn't fall into the "most" group—until this past weekend, anyway. Just a couple of days ago, I never would have guessed that a trip to the beautiful national park that calls California home and proudly graces California's quarter in the America the Beautiful series would be a part of my plans for the weekend.

Part of the reason that I haven't been to Yosemite is that just about everyone goes there to camp. I'm not a camper. Sleeping on the ground is not exactly my cup of tea, and my other half prefers to do it this way. I do like and appreciate the Great Outdoors, but I need someplace comfortable to sleep that I can afford. Cabins are nice, but expensive.

Speaking of the Mrs., a few of you know about the difficulties that I've been dealing with for awhile now. We haven't done things together like most couples do—but should. Lori came into the room late Saturday evening and announced that on Sunday she was going to take a run to Yosemite for the day to see it in the winter and take pictures. What came as a shock to me was that she concluded her announcement with, "You can go with me if you want to." I had no plans for Sunday anyway, and Diana was going to Disneyland with some friends from work. It would be just the two of us. Sure, I could have turned her down, but having never been to Yosemite, I figured that this would be a good chance to check it out.

We got all of our stuff together and hit the road just after 3:30am. Not surprisingly, traffic was light and we were up over the Grapevine by sunrise. After stopping at a McDonald's drive-thru for a quick, nutritious breakfast, we continued north on Highway 99 till we got to Fresno. California State Route 41 is a direct road right into Yosemite from Fresno. It starts as a big eight-lane freeway, then slowly loses lanes until it becomes a scrawny two-lane road meandering through the foothills and passes, as well as down the center of that bustling metropolis known as Oakhurst.

At long last, we reached the south entrance to the park. It wasn't even 9am yet, but since we had not gone to bed, it felt much later. The road was clear, thanks to the plows, but snow was all over the sides of the road and the trees looked like Christmas trees flocked with real snow.

Because we only had the day, we couldn't possibly take in everything that Yosemite had to offer. Both of us were really tired, but the beauty of the scenery around every turn kept us wide awake and ready for what we would see next. Even though Lori has been to Yosemite many times, you'd think that she would have had a "been here, done that" attitude toward it, but the sight of familiar surroundings with a completely different take was like a brand new place for her.

Several times, we stopped to get out and take pictures, but didn't do much running around in the snow in order to keep ourselves dry. There is no camera that can record images like our own eyes, and no storage device like our brains, but for the sake of sharing with friends and writing blogs, our cameras were able to capture this winter wonderland just fine, thank you.

One of our first stops was just past the east end of the half-mile long Yosemite Tunnel. This spot is known as Tunnel View. After parking, we walked around taking pictures. From here, you can get not only the majestic El Capitan, but also Half Dome—even in the same shot.

El Capitan is on the left, and Half Dome is in the center. This looking toward the east.

Ever the ham, I even had Lori take the one and only known picture of me actually at Yosemite. Here it is, but a word of warning: What has been seen cannot be unseen.

That is really me at Yosemite with those renowned landmarks in the background.

Being wintertime, even the tunnel itself was something of an attraction. Water had run down its face and frozen, creating icicles.

Moving on down the road, we stopped to take more pictures of the scenery because there was so much to see and so little time to capture it. There are no captions on the next few pictures. Just enjoy...

Lori was walking back to the car so we could continue our adventure.

Down the road is Yosemite Valley Chapel, a small church on the Valley floor. Services are held regularly, though nothing was going on today. (And, strangely, on a Sunday.) Lori knew about this chapel and had wanted to get pictures of it. We parked and took advantage of the fact that there was absolutely nobody around.

If you're going to build a church, you can't pick a more scenic location than right here.

Front door of the chapel, looking southeast.

Looking south toward the mountain.

During one stop, these two numbskulls tried to crowjack the car. Thankfully, they were unsuccessful. Next time, they should pick on something their own size, like a Smart for Two!

Another view down one of Yosemite's roads in the wintertime:

The beauty of Yosemite just keeps on going, everywhere you look.

Low clouds, or tall mountains? You decide...

On our way out of the park, we happened to stop behind a minvan, whose occupants were trying to get the attention of these two deer.

Obviously the deer are used to people coming through their home, so at no time were they aggressive. We chose not to try and pet them, being that doing so isn't a good idea when you're dealing with wild animals. But the people in the minivan were doing just that. We didn't see them feed the deer (another bad idea), but we went around them and proceeded to leave the park for the journey home.

The trip home was as uneventful as the trip up there. We stopped at McDonald's in Oakhurst for a late lunch, then took the 41 back to Fresno, watching it grow from a scrawny two-lane road to a big eight-lane freeway where it crosses the 99. Heading down 99, we stopped at a wide spot in the road called Traver, where we picked up some goodies at the Bravo Farms store. Throughout the trip, I had offered to drive, but Lori was awake enough to do so. But as we got to the car to leave Bravo Farms, she handed me the keys and I drove the rest of the way home.

So, now I've been to Yosemite. I suppose the next stop on my agenda should be someplace like the Grand Canyon, since I've never been there, either.