A View From the Heavens

Yosemite is the next to last National Park on our itinerary. Our penultimate park, if you will. So we have high expectations. We were fortunate to get a reservation at the Tenaya Lodge, just a short drive to the south entrance of the park. The lodge offers excellent tours in buses with retractable roofs to maximize visibility, has large comfortable rooms, a nice dining room, an indoor and outdoor pool, hiking paths, mountain bikes and a spa. We only had a few days so we couldn’t take advantage of most of the offerings, but we did book the tour. Yosemite is known for striking granite cliffs, sequoia groves, the high sierra and the Yosemite Valley.

The drive up to the hotel was the usual challenging climb to 5,288 ft. Back and forth as we climbed higher and higher, in many areas without much in the way of guard rails. You’d think I’d be getting used to it by now, but I’m afraid not. One difference was that we could see how large expanses of the forest here had been damaged by fires in the past – something we would learn more about on our tour. Once we arrived though, after the usual Penny car show, we were pleased to learn that our room was ready so we unpacked and explored the grounds. It really is a beautiful hotel, and since it was so warm, we lounged by the pool for a while, soaking up some rays. We had dinner in the Jackalopes Bar & Grill, where we enjoyed a Peach Porch Sipper (Peach vodka, lemon juice, orange juice and sierra mist), an olive tapenade, mountain melon berry salad, and carnitas nachos, then took our very full selves to bed.

Early up the next day for our tour. Our tour guide was Bob, who is a National Park tour guide at numerous National Parks. He went over his background as a park bus driver and his long history in safety, which was very reassuring when we started up the rise to Glacier Point later that day. Bob was also a showman, and had cued up appropriate music to play as we entered several areas of the park. The one that most struck me was as we came through the Wawona Tunnel into the Yosemite Valley. This drive is actually made to be dramatic. Bob played the theme music from Jurassic Park as we entered the valley, and he had timed it perfectly so that as the music reached its crescendo we emerged from the tunnel to that View! And that is truly an amazing view. It’s all right there. The Yosemite Valley, El Capitan and Half Dome like monolithic bookends, Bridalveil Falls, all those mountains rising behind. A 360-degree extravaganza for the senses when coupled with Bob’s thoughtful addition of music, and is breathtaking. It’s almost unbelievable that the eye can take it all in. It is a once in a lifetime visual and you really do have to experience it. After that, Bob drives us to several spots of interest. It turns out that Bob is something of a tree expert and gives us lots of information about how to identify sequoias, black oak trees, and ponderosa pines, and their significance in the ecosystem. He also shared with us how all the downed trees and fallen rocks are used by the rangers for any buildings in the park, thereby using every scrap in a conservation-like manner. He explained how the forest recovers from fires and pointed out areas where controlled fires prevented worse ones. Bob was another great example of the value of having tour guides in National Parks, and when he shared with us that he believed the parks to be places of peace and comfort, we understood perfectly. The only criticism we had of Bob was that he drove pretty fast up those treacherous roads. Now, I’m not saying it was dangerous, because he clearly knew what he was doing, but when he told us that bears would be up in the black oak trees, Bob and I chuckled that we wouldn’t have been able to spot them. He did tell us that bears are often killed or injured by tourists who take the mountain paths too fast, and that this season, there have been ten thus far.

One thing we were all amazed by was when we parked near the base of El Capitan, we could, with field glasses, spot three climbers on the rock face, moving painfully slowly up the wall. I tried to draw arrows in the picture above to help you see them. There were two on the lower end and one above. They looked like ants, even with magnification. We marveled at their courage and one of the medics watching told us that they often anchor small hammocks into the rock so they can get a few hours sleep in the climb. Yes, there are always medics stationed at the base of El Capitan, and there are always climbers. Bob also took us to a place where a famous photograph by Ansel Adams was shot. The photo shows the rock face reflected in a pool and I think we didn’t do too bad a job trying to duplicate the picture.

The final event was a trip up to the very top of the mountain to Glacier Point. This is 8,100 feet into the sky, and I was sitting on the wrong side of the bus for the trip up the mountain. The wrong side was the side of the sheer drop. I toughed it out but my nail beds are pretty ragged. The payoff was well worth it. I think I am beginning to acclimate to the height, as I was less short of breath, and we had to climb up a well-paved path for about a half mile to reach the overlook. But OMG what a view. This is probably the closest you can get to having a view from a plane without all that hardware. If you, like me, are afraid of heights, it is totally worth it to choke that down and look over the edge. Not only is the view astonishing, but the feeling of power you get from having done it and lived is totally worth it.

That evening we dined at Jackalopes again, and got packed up for the next trip. And that one we were really looking forward to, because it would be Bob’s birthday, and we were going to spend it with my niece, Michelle, and Matt. Michelle is my brother Ron’s oldest, and is a Nurse Practitioner in Fresno. Her husband, Matt, also works in healthcare to bring innovative products to market. They are smart, dedicated and adorable, and we haven’t seen them since they got married, so we plan to have a birthday bash!

One other thing brewing on the horizon: it seems that a guy who has a Zeus Bronze Metallic Corvette, same color as Penny, has also been touring the country and is always just a day or two ahead of us. Bob has been following him on social media, and is becoming ever more interested in the idea of catching up to him. We’ll see where that leads us.

Finally, Mom says hi from Watchman Overlook at Glacier Lake and from Glacier Point at Yosemite.