Yosemite: remembering Muir

Yosemite represents a confusing contrast between human intervention and spectacular beauty. After a long, stressful drive from San Francisco, the Park was quiet with rain.  But the very old and rustic Wawona Hotel was overflowing with people and cars.

Tucker and I found some quiet time in the lobby at 6:30 AM. Kenedy and Kris were still happily sleeping.  We tiptoed out of the very old room and tackled one of three puzzles being collectively assembled by guests.  At 7:30 AM, other guests started wandering into the lobby and the lady at the front desk warned us to get going.  We joined the long train of cars heading toward Yosemite Valley.  We fought for a parking place to take a glorious picture of Bridal Veil Falls, Half Dome and El Capitan.  

We navigated the crowds of cars and people along the Valley road and took one of the last trailhead parking spots.  We waited in line to use the restroom.  Finally, we entered the single file line of people walking up the paved Mist Trail to Nevada Falls.  At this point we decided to step out of the line and off the paved path and head in the opposite direction of others.  We ended up on the trail to Mirror Lake.  The lake was OK but just past the lake we found a deserted opening in the valley.

We had lunch and spent an hour bouldering around the huge rock slide.

   
And then we hugged one giant tree in a grove of giant trees, walked across the very rapid Tenaya Creek and ended up back at the Ahwahnee Hotel, now called the Majestic Yosemite Hotel.

At the Majestic Hotel we passed a wedding below a glowing waterfall. 

The ideal end to this 8-mile day would have been a beer on the lawn or maybe just a lazy nap in the sun.  But, unfortunately, our trip had come to an end and instead of staying for a beer, we loaded back up and sat in traffic on our way out.

On the bright side, I was able to jump out of the car to capture these clouds lurking at the top of Half Dome.  Kids slept happily through the rest of the drive.

We agreed as a family that the mobs, roads, buildings, campgrounds and parking lots are distracting from the beautify of the Yosemite Valley. So we made a pact to come back and set out into the backcountry. The backcountry must be closer to what Muir knew.  Now... to win the backcountry permit lottery (or have a plan 168 days ahead of our trip)!

Yosemite: a million waterfalls

The trek from San Francisco to Yosemite was not relaxing. The clouds opened up and turned Bay Area highways into parking lot lakes.  Outside of the city we sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic for miles and miles.  Snow in the Park made us wish for all-wheel drive all the way to Wawona.

But the rain sent everyone else into hiding and we had much of the Park, a million waterfalls and steamy, foggy, granite faces all to ourselves.

 Bridal Veil falls was deserted except for those few soaked souls that braved the pouring rain.  

Tunnel view was misty, grey and breathtaking. No half dome in sight.

tools

Deep snow on fields meant no soccer for a whole week. 

Tucker and Joseph used the extra time to test out a new hybrid snowball throwing game.  This involved using badminton rackets to pick up and fling snow at each other.  It was all fun until Tucker got snow in his eye. 

Kenedy devoured books instead of flinging snow.

the buffs

This was the picture of the Colorado state bison herd walking through deep, heavy snow. Yesterday the snow came up to their shoulders, belly dragging.

  

The great snowy continental divide is engulfed in clouds beyond.  Snow pack ready for summer!

43 inches later

It dumped.

It dumped on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  All day and night...many, big, fluffy flakes. 

We caught a taste of what the winter day-to-day must be like in Alaska.

And it was FUN!

Because we had nowhere to go (but down the sled course).

The sun peaked out and the rest of the kids from the 'hood joined in.

An epic day of sledding, fort-building and snow ball throwing.  

Final run!

Saturday snow



Friday night to Saturday morning brought us about two feet.



And the snow just kept on falling.

 Shoveling #1 of multiple.  As soon as we finished, it was time to start again.

what spring?

The blooms on our bush almost never survive and this year is not the exception.  Forecast for the weekend: 4 feet!

The snow started at around 9 AM on Friday.

And continued through the evening...

beautiful piles

Strawberries sweet, crisp and bright red.  Juicy, tender oranges with thick, meaty pulp.  A beautiful pile of rinds and stems or a bright bouquet of flowers?

 

 I went for a walk.  It was a cloudy day.  I like the cold.  

 

community

More snow and ambulance lights were not a welcome sight yesterday morning. Our neighbors are good, caring, active people.  They do things like shovel our driveway when it snows two feet during spring break and close our garage door when we forget after packing for a two week adventure. We see them daily so it is alarming and concerning to see flashing lights across the street.  To our great relief, all is good and both are home and ready to get back to their daily bike rides. 

responsibility

Kenedy took full responsibility for identifying and preparing a gift for her good friend.  Interesting that she decided to wrap the gift in the middle of the entry floor. 

 



 

 



all soccer all the time

Before we could even put our skis away, the snow stopped and soccer took over the world!  Alright, maybe that's an exaggeration, we still have soccer-free Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

Working hard near the goal.

Coach Kevin, Coach Chris and watermelon!

cooking with K

Kenedy now has three cookbooks and we have tried many recipes.  Sometimes she digs in and finishes the process all the way to table service.  Sometimes she abandons mid-ingredient.  Sometimes she has "help" from Tucker who also enjoys to singing, playing with cars, building Lego guns, playing computer games, shooting baskets, watching cartoons....

 

 

And laying on the ground in the middle of the kitchen!

 

 

Wait a second, what were we talking about again???

 



 

Oh yes, cooking!  Take a look at this beautiful homemade mac-n-cheese sauce.

And heart-shaped scones!

This is a different day of baking despite the same PJs.  These must be here cooking PJs.

And, finally, the highly coveted cookie pizza.  Kenedy waited many months before we allowed her to make this one.  You can guess who ate more than half.

At least cookie pizza goes well with beer.  I really like the Williams-Sonoma Kids in the Kitchen cookbook.  The mouthwatering pictures make us hungry and produce delicious recipes, too.