Yosemite

Yosemite National Park, in my humble opinion, is quite simply the most beautiful place I have ever visited. Raw granite, gigantic trees, sweeping vistas, mountain domes, waterfalls, there's so much. And I wanted to share that with my children.

I didn't think that asking them to hike, participate, and enjoy was much to ask - yet at times, it was. Seems that when a trail wasn't to their liking, tired, grumpy, whiny, stubborn little shits appeared out of nowhere. And my first inclination was not one of accommodation. My first one was to lecture, push, cajole. My guess is that some passing hiker saw me as a bad parent, one of "those" kinds of parents. For a few hours along Mist Trail to Vernal Falls I probably was. I was letting my own expectations of pleasure cloud my judgement. That evening was only marginally better, I used the events of day as a cudgel, reminding the kids that life (and this vacation) was full of trade offs. We sometimes need to take turns deciding what to do, where to go, how to have fun.

Yep, that didn't work. And I knew I had to change.

The next day was a bit better. I could of used still more improvement to my own expectations and desires, but it was better. There was fun. A day in the high country, Tuolumne Meadows, gave us cooler air, fun water to play in, sweeping mountains vists, and rock to climb. There were some ohs-n-ahs. And there were forest fires within Yosemite, and without.

The fires within were controlled burns. Going faster than planned, but still within the designated area. It was the fire without that hit us like a tooth ache. It was the El Portal fire and it closed a short, 9 mile section of road between the park valley and the Tuolumne Meadows road. That road closure forced us to leave the park and drive a 110 mile - 3 1/2 detour through the western foothills. We made it back, we (and the park) were safe. And the kids were mostly OK with it all.

Our last full day in the park had us visiting Glacier Point and Mariposa Grove. I'd been to both just once, and I wanted a return. There is something humbling about the big massive trees, and the valley view from Glacier Point is awe inspiring.

I lack the words to properly describe giant sequoias. The forest of where they stand is full of ponderosa pine, sugar pine, white fir, black oak and incense cedar. The ponderosa's, when viewed alone, are huge. They can be 200 feet tall and 3 or 4 feet wide, yet the giant sequoias make them look small. The park literature states that one particular branch of the Grizzly Giant is larger than all the other local trees - except of course other sequoias.

The trees did not disappoint. We were walking through Mariposa's Lower Grove, when Galen asked, "Whose idea was this? I want to thank them for bringing us." I felt warm, happy, and a bit of relief swept through me. At some level, Yosemite made a connection with at least one of our children. The magic of those massive, ancient, and magnificent trees entered the mind of my child, and I hope it never leaves.

In the end, we had fun. The good memories outweigh the grumpy ones, and another summer vacation is filed away.

For those intrepid viewers, more of our Yosemite Vacation photos can be found HERE.