[Vacation] Yosemite!

So! After five years of me wanting to head to Yosemite National Park but never quite getting around to it (we went to other locales those years instead), we got in the car and drove the 190-some-odd miles due sort-of-east. A lot of flat highway, a lot of hilly switchbacks, and a whole lotta nothin' in between until we finally hit the Sierras. But after all that, we came up to our first vista worth pulling over for, just a mile or so past the Big Oak Flat Gate:



The Yosemite Valley beckoned us in the distance! And it occured to me that if Half Dome (that big rock sticking up in the middle) looked that big from about eight miles away, it was gonna look FREAKIN' HUGE when we got up closer. This was gonna be fun! :)

After more curvy road driving, we made it down to the Yosemite Valley floor. Mind you, it's pretty forested there so you're not always aware that you're surrounded by impossibly tall glaciated granite. It's more like driving through a really nice National Forest (albeit on a hellaciously hot day). We stopped for food at one of the touristy fast-food type places, and to walk it off we walked up to Yosemite Falls, a short quarter-mile path.

Sadly, at this time of year the Falls is pretty much nonexistent (I took to calling it "Yosemite Fell"), but the rock wall was still pretty impressive:



Mind you, this is just the bottom third. There are two more parts to Yosemite Falls that we can't see from the bottom!

And so, after that, we made our way back out of the Valley and up another twistyturny road to Wawona (about six miles south) to our hotel. Nearly an hour later and after some slight delay due to much-needed yet intrusive road construction, we pulled in:



Very neat old-timey place (originally built in the 1880s, I believe) and very relaxing.

The next morning our first objective (aside from filling up on breakfast and coffee) was to head up to Glacier Point, a lookout on the southern ridge overlooking the Valley. Yesterday's picture was a look straight down from it. But just before we got there we stopped at Washburn Point, in which you see this right in front of you:



A closer look at Half Dome and its surroundings--mind you, this is still two miles away from it. This picture hardly does it justice...you have to be there to appreciate just how ominous this area is.

A few minutes later we were at Glacer Point, with such views as:


(Looking eastward up the Valley, Half Dome to the right)


(Looking north across the valley)

...and later we headed back down to the Valley, pulling into the quieter side of the parking lot for Tunnel View:


(El Capitan on the left, Half Dome in the center, Glacier Point/Sentinel Dome in front of HD, and Cathedral Point to the right).

More driving and checking things out, including Curry Village and a driveby of the ultraswank Awahnee Hotel, and finally on the way out, a view of El Capitan from Devil's Elbow (a turn in the Merced River, which flows through the valley):


(I wanted to get a good shot of this and the river below, but it's just so golldang BIG at 3000-plus feet that I had to go as far back as I could and fit what I could in.)


So yes...it was only a short three-day vacation up there, and we didn't see quite everything, but we saw quite a bit, and it's pretty damn awe inspiring, and I highly suggest it as a destination. I did take a lot more pictures, but these turned out the best and I don't want to blow up your f-list. If anything, it's worth clicking on them for a larger view. :)