Majestic Yosemite

I’ve been to Yosemite many many times—it was a 6 hour drive from my childhood home in Southern California. But I have to say that as a child I sure didn’t appreciate the majesty and beauty of those granite monoliths and waterfalls. But I get it now.  I took this picture from Tunnel View. Isn’t it amazing? You exit a tunnel and right there is this gorgeous view.

I grew up camping—it’s the only vacation we ever took actually. Here I am with my siblings—I’m the second from the left. We were camping in the San Bernardino mountains for this shot.  I actually don’t even like camping—I love the outdoors and hiking, but don’t love dirt.

This is our campsite at the Upper Pines campground. Shady all day long due to those gorgeous tall pine trees.

Yup, the girls wore their Laker t-shirts. I know, Laker fans in Utah. Crazy huh? Blame Paul for that—you can take the boy out of L.A. but you can’t take L.A. out of the boy. I happily sported by alma mater t-shirt.

The only part I didn’t like was that you had to lock up all your food and toiletries in these metal boxes—even chapstick and deodorant lest you be eaten by a bear in your sleep. Hmm, our tent was made of canvas, the bear box out of metal…

My kids had a great time with their cousins and hopefully made lots of memories in the dirt.

We hiked for hours every day—even the kids. Who could get tired hiking in this setting?

Ilene has been given clearance to hike (and lightly swim and ride a stationary bike) by her doctor—and hike we did! She did great—her back never hurt her once. A miracle. We’re so grateful she is healing well.

Here’s Hallie cooling off in a meadow with her cousins.

Here I am with my adorable nephew on the left and my sweet son on the right. Stopping for a break of water and trail mix on the Vernal Falls hike. Sadly, I didn’t make it to the very tippy top as it was getting dangerous for the little kids. I didn’t feel like making headline news due a child falling off the cliff. But Nathan and Paul made it with my nephew Michael. I wish I had a picture of those steep granite stairs so you would believe me. It was scary with kids.

Paul wanted to hike Half Dome but they didn’t make the lottery for it so instead we settled for a drive to Glacier Point where we could lazily get a bird’s eye view of Half Dome. Looking through binoculars you could actually see crazy folk standing on that rock. No thanks.

I wish we could go back every year, but that drive across the pure desert of Nevada is brutal. Not a person or town to be found. One-lane highways the entire way—we even took a wrong turn in the middle of nowhere and lost an hour. Idiots.

Like myself as a child, I doubt my kids comprehended the grandeur of this place, but they definitely had fun. We all did.

What a treasure is this national park. God bless America.