A visit with our granddaughter Rio

It has been a very busy couple of weeks.  Planning a flight to Michigan for Paul's daughter's college graduation, mapping our road trip to our next workamping stop in Colorado, getting the RV and truck ready for the 1900 mile plus trip.

My granddaughter came to visit for a week.  She spent some time with my daughters and then some time with Paul and I.  We did Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, which was a rainy cold, windy day.  You could barely see the Golden Gate bridge.  The seals at Pier 39 where enjoying the weather a lot more then we were.   Off to have dinner at Bubba Gumps and then a night of making plans to visit Yosemite.

Life is like a box of chocolates!

The seals at Pier 39,
 San Francisco, California

It was a three hour drive up into the mountains that gave us some breathtaking sights!  We drove through fields of freshly planted crops, orchards of a lot of different fruit bearing trees, small towns and pastures filled with "Happy Cows".  After all, this is California, the place for happy cows as the television adverts tell us.

Making memories at Yosemite National Park

El Capitan and  Half Dome Rock

Yosemite has a natural beauty that can be found in things big and small, from the towering granite cliffs and giant sequoias to the smallest of wildflowers.  We spotted deer, squirrels and saw many different birds flying overhead. We climbed trails, roads and the rocky edges of waterfalls.  The waterfalls were at their peak as the cold winter snows have started to melt.  There were still walls of snow packed on the side of the roads, in some places it was at least 6 feet high.

Wildflowers on the road up to Yosemite

Paul served as an excellent tour guide and chauffeur, taking the time to stop every time I squealed "Oh, look at that!"  He even made it a point to make sure that the two days we spent in Yosemite took in as much as one can see for that short period of time.  We entered the park at the Big Oak Flat entrance and discovered that the entrance fee was waived as this was National Park Week.  Yea, no fees!    The next free days to visit the National Parks will be June 21, "The First Day of Summer" and September 24, which is "Public Lands Day".  Also free is November 11-13, which is "Veterans Day Weekend"   After the first day of exploring "Bridal Veil Falls", yes, we did get wet, we exited  the South Entrance past the Mariposa Groves.  We drove into the town Oakhurst to find a motel for the night.  One place that advertised vacancies looked much like the "Bates" motel from the old Alfred Hitchock movie.  We decided to pass on that one and make our way to a Comfort Inn.

On our second day, the weather warmed up and we were on our way to seek out the awesome sights of small creeks turned into massive waterfalls created by the melting snow.  We were not disappointed!    The road to the Mariposa Great Sequoias was closed to cars when we arrived, so we decided to hike it!  What would have been a 15 minute car ride turned out to be a 3 hour hike up the side of a mountain.  Worth every step.  We were about half way down when the road was fully opened to automobile traffic.  But the exquisite and stunning sights we saw would have been missed if we drove instead of hiking. My granddaughter took to climbing rocks and realized she had the freedom to venture out and discover the art of exploring.  This made me a little nervous and I watched her climb out of site, but my heart was in joy at seeing the smile on her face as she turned popped up from out of the rocks and waved to me.

Enjoying the waterfalls close up!

We left the park along the Merced River.  The river was in all it's glory, rushing over rocks and flowing freely down the mountain, fed by the numerous waterfalls and the warmed melting snow.

Precious time spent with a wonderful granddaughter

Yosemite never fails to leave me in a state of awe, it's beauty and wonder is there for all to see.  If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend a visit here.  But plan for a few days or even a week to really experience it majestic splendor.

Thanks for taking time to stop by our blog.  Hope you are enjoying our journey!

Jo

"Yosemite Valley, to me, is always a sunrise, a glitter of green and golden wonder in a vast edifice of stone and space"  - Ansel Adams