our trip to yosemite
this is so late for an update, but i've been lovin vacation so much that i haven't had a moment to spare to write this. the couch, internet, and cable keep me all hectic.
and oh yeah...mahalaya took ten steps on tuesday! my baby niece tayondee learned how to walk before she went back home during mem day weekend! she was running within days!
time flies. life is so short. you realize this when parents die and when babies learn to walk. amazing. it makes you look at your life and cry and smile and give thanks.
so j and i planned this trip to yosemite way, way back, back before tatay had his accident, back before i even thought i would need something like this at the end of the semester. we were virgo-crazy about all of our arrangements for our rental car and curry village cabin rentals at yosemite. i have to say that going to yosemite was life altering. ansel adams calendars don't count, but now i get what he was really trying to capture. as beautiful as his photos are, they can't capture all of what it feels like to stand next to these spectacular granite cliffs, to taste waterfalls, to see deer next to you, to be silent next to a still lake, to witness this dramatic meeting of river, tree, rock, sky.
so here's how it went.
we split town on sunday, may 29, after weeks of chaos. chaos, for me, at least, beginning with the passing of my tatay, chased by end of the semester, tayondee's baptism and first bday celebration (without her lolo, and that was painful), the unexpected auntie's visit (who made fat comments at will to all of us; i happily pushed her ass off to the equally fat relatives back home, and dread this auntie's return), and grading hell.
we packed up our rental ford explorer with bags and bags and cooler full of baon, and headed east for the Gold Country.
j had this idea that we should visit historic gold rush country, since it was on the way to yosemite, and we couldn't get in on sunday night cabin because it was booked solid a year in advance (yosemite is booked like this. for real. always). we stopped first in jamestown, this tiny, blink and you'll miss it town off the 49 that is home to the movie railroad, a historic train used in movies from High Noon to Petticoat Junction to Back to the Future III. the train station is a replica of the one in 1897, built to bring people and resources from the surrounding mining towns back to Jamestown and to Stockton and SF. j planned for us to ride the historic train. it was an interesting experience; everyone should ride a real train at least once. a bit slow. and j was disappointed that it didn't go further and faster. fun, though. timyas would love it.
we blew this joint and headed to our hotel in sonora, a sleepy historic town that's the major junction in these parts. the town is cute, though i was getting irritating by taking pictures of everything that had a historic marker on it, especially this one victorian built by a freed slave in 1851 that housed four generations of his family. everything closed by 7pm, no joke. we were back in our historic hotel room in historic sonora inn after dinner by 8:30, watching the three channels of cable.
we were off at 6am to yosemite. the drive is scary for anyone not used to mountain driving. i drove it because j gets sick from twisty driving. the scary thing is that the drive and yosemite are so beautiful that you want to turn and gaze and stop, which i kept doing until j was yelling at me to concentrate. take your eyes off for one minute and you're a headline in the SF chronicle:
Two Yosemite Tourists Found Crashed at Bottom of Sierra Nevada Ravine with Cooler Full of 200 frozen Capri Suns and Adobo and Rice in a Tupperware
arriving at yosemite, we were astounded (ok, me, since this was j's second trip) by the rushing merced river and the sheer enormity of el capitan. i mean, it's big. really big. i mean, there isn't really a word for how big and breathtaking this mountain is. and it rises right above you, with waterfalls splashing over it. to your right is the bridalveil fall, or what the native peoples called pohono, because they believe it is haunted. and yosemite is a really spiritual place. if i died, i'd probably kick it here a lot. especially since you can't get into the cabins when you're alive, they're booked up so far in advance. we took crazy pics there, and at Tunnel View, the point where you can see the entire glacier-carved valley and falls and half-dome.
our first short hike was to lower yosemite falls. the rain and snowfall were at record levels, so the waterfall was even more spectacular than usual, according to experts. it was incredible -- the hugeness of this waterfall and the rushing river below. tons of pics here.
our next hike was the vernal falls/mist trail. i had mistakenly thought this an easy hike, and about 2 miles into the uhill battle, j and i were no longer speaking and taking rest stops every 200 feet. we weren't fighting; just exhausted and unprepared. the dozens of older folks and kids coming down the trail shamed us into continuing. after about 2 miles upill, there's a footbridge under the falls, and most people went back at this point. we took snaps and decided to continue on the precarious Mist Trail, in which you climb steps next to the waterfall that cling to the side of the granite mountain. the mist from the waterfall pushes you back, yet you have to keep climbing. uber prepared, we had ponchos. i've never done anything more physically draining than climbing that mountain; at some parts, they put railing so that you don't slip down and get bashed against the rocks. nice.
at the top there was a rainbow and i thought of my dad, whom i believed made that climb with us as he'd never been to yosemite when he was alive. i got teary. we amazed ourselves at this.
the climb downhill was hard -- slippery, wet granite is easier on the climb up. the whole trip began at 2, and it was now almost 6. we got to the curry village buffet and KILLED it in contemplative, endorphin- and exhaustion- induced gluttony. checked into our rustic cabin at the foot of glacier point (you look up and there is the mountain, right there behind the cabins). collapsed. at this point, everything was beginning to hurt.
bright and early the next day (tuesday) i greeted the sun coming over half dome, right next to our cabins. after our breakfast buffet, we rented bikes and biked 12 miles of the entire valley, stopping at Mirror Lake, rushing downhill next to the merced river, riding through forests, past waterfalls, in front of half dome. incredible. at the end of the day we collapsed on adirondack chairs at the curry village lounge, ordered a small pizza, and snoozed. dinner that night was at the posh mountain room, where we had to remember our manners though we were starved by all the sun and air and exercise. something about yosemite makes you want to bike one more mile, climb one more mile.
nothing much to do at night at yosemite, as the park goes completely dark with the exception of small lights around parking lots. and i was terrified to meet a bear, and mosquitoes were eating us alive despite the liberal amounts of repellent i had poured on. so it was lights out again, early.
wednesday was a chill day. we walked around the gift shops at yosemite village, ate a sumptuous lunch at the arts-and-crafts lodge Ahwahnee, and then drove down to see the giant redwoods at Mariposa Grove. snapped a few in the parking lot and jumped back on the road to glacier point, the huge granite mountain next to half dome. an hour up the snow-covered (yes, there is still snow!) mountain and we were at the most astounding, almost 360 degree view of yosemite. our cabins looked like teeny toys. mirror lake looked like a droplet of water. the ahwahnee looked like a barbie house, seen from a plane. took tons of pictures there, along with tourists from every imaginable country who were also captivated by the view.
by then it was 7pm, and time for the winding, freaky, four hour ride home.
i'll post pics here if i can figure out how to make them smaller. even on tinypic they end up taking up half the screen!
next?
we're taking a short road trip down Highway 1 next week. Monday: Big Sur and a cabin and more hiking, this time, beach and cliffs and redwood forests. Tuesday: San Simeon, Morro Bay, and Solvang. Wednesday: Solvang pastries and breakfast, walking around downtown, and the drive back on 101.
and oh yeah...mahalaya took ten steps on tuesday! my baby niece tayondee learned how to walk before she went back home during mem day weekend! she was running within days!
time flies. life is so short. you realize this when parents die and when babies learn to walk. amazing. it makes you look at your life and cry and smile and give thanks.
so j and i planned this trip to yosemite way, way back, back before tatay had his accident, back before i even thought i would need something like this at the end of the semester. we were virgo-crazy about all of our arrangements for our rental car and curry village cabin rentals at yosemite. i have to say that going to yosemite was life altering. ansel adams calendars don't count, but now i get what he was really trying to capture. as beautiful as his photos are, they can't capture all of what it feels like to stand next to these spectacular granite cliffs, to taste waterfalls, to see deer next to you, to be silent next to a still lake, to witness this dramatic meeting of river, tree, rock, sky.
so here's how it went.
we split town on sunday, may 29, after weeks of chaos. chaos, for me, at least, beginning with the passing of my tatay, chased by end of the semester, tayondee's baptism and first bday celebration (without her lolo, and that was painful), the unexpected auntie's visit (who made fat comments at will to all of us; i happily pushed her ass off to the equally fat relatives back home, and dread this auntie's return), and grading hell.
we packed up our rental ford explorer with bags and bags and cooler full of baon, and headed east for the Gold Country.
j had this idea that we should visit historic gold rush country, since it was on the way to yosemite, and we couldn't get in on sunday night cabin because it was booked solid a year in advance (yosemite is booked like this. for real. always). we stopped first in jamestown, this tiny, blink and you'll miss it town off the 49 that is home to the movie railroad, a historic train used in movies from High Noon to Petticoat Junction to Back to the Future III. the train station is a replica of the one in 1897, built to bring people and resources from the surrounding mining towns back to Jamestown and to Stockton and SF. j planned for us to ride the historic train. it was an interesting experience; everyone should ride a real train at least once. a bit slow. and j was disappointed that it didn't go further and faster. fun, though. timyas would love it.
we blew this joint and headed to our hotel in sonora, a sleepy historic town that's the major junction in these parts. the town is cute, though i was getting irritating by taking pictures of everything that had a historic marker on it, especially this one victorian built by a freed slave in 1851 that housed four generations of his family. everything closed by 7pm, no joke. we were back in our historic hotel room in historic sonora inn after dinner by 8:30, watching the three channels of cable.
we were off at 6am to yosemite. the drive is scary for anyone not used to mountain driving. i drove it because j gets sick from twisty driving. the scary thing is that the drive and yosemite are so beautiful that you want to turn and gaze and stop, which i kept doing until j was yelling at me to concentrate. take your eyes off for one minute and you're a headline in the SF chronicle:
Two Yosemite Tourists Found Crashed at Bottom of Sierra Nevada Ravine with Cooler Full of 200 frozen Capri Suns and Adobo and Rice in a Tupperware
arriving at yosemite, we were astounded (ok, me, since this was j's second trip) by the rushing merced river and the sheer enormity of el capitan. i mean, it's big. really big. i mean, there isn't really a word for how big and breathtaking this mountain is. and it rises right above you, with waterfalls splashing over it. to your right is the bridalveil fall, or what the native peoples called pohono, because they believe it is haunted. and yosemite is a really spiritual place. if i died, i'd probably kick it here a lot. especially since you can't get into the cabins when you're alive, they're booked up so far in advance. we took crazy pics there, and at Tunnel View, the point where you can see the entire glacier-carved valley and falls and half-dome.
our first short hike was to lower yosemite falls. the rain and snowfall were at record levels, so the waterfall was even more spectacular than usual, according to experts. it was incredible -- the hugeness of this waterfall and the rushing river below. tons of pics here.
our next hike was the vernal falls/mist trail. i had mistakenly thought this an easy hike, and about 2 miles into the uhill battle, j and i were no longer speaking and taking rest stops every 200 feet. we weren't fighting; just exhausted and unprepared. the dozens of older folks and kids coming down the trail shamed us into continuing. after about 2 miles upill, there's a footbridge under the falls, and most people went back at this point. we took snaps and decided to continue on the precarious Mist Trail, in which you climb steps next to the waterfall that cling to the side of the granite mountain. the mist from the waterfall pushes you back, yet you have to keep climbing. uber prepared, we had ponchos. i've never done anything more physically draining than climbing that mountain; at some parts, they put railing so that you don't slip down and get bashed against the rocks. nice.
at the top there was a rainbow and i thought of my dad, whom i believed made that climb with us as he'd never been to yosemite when he was alive. i got teary. we amazed ourselves at this.
the climb downhill was hard -- slippery, wet granite is easier on the climb up. the whole trip began at 2, and it was now almost 6. we got to the curry village buffet and KILLED it in contemplative, endorphin- and exhaustion- induced gluttony. checked into our rustic cabin at the foot of glacier point (you look up and there is the mountain, right there behind the cabins). collapsed. at this point, everything was beginning to hurt.
bright and early the next day (tuesday) i greeted the sun coming over half dome, right next to our cabins. after our breakfast buffet, we rented bikes and biked 12 miles of the entire valley, stopping at Mirror Lake, rushing downhill next to the merced river, riding through forests, past waterfalls, in front of half dome. incredible. at the end of the day we collapsed on adirondack chairs at the curry village lounge, ordered a small pizza, and snoozed. dinner that night was at the posh mountain room, where we had to remember our manners though we were starved by all the sun and air and exercise. something about yosemite makes you want to bike one more mile, climb one more mile.
nothing much to do at night at yosemite, as the park goes completely dark with the exception of small lights around parking lots. and i was terrified to meet a bear, and mosquitoes were eating us alive despite the liberal amounts of repellent i had poured on. so it was lights out again, early.
wednesday was a chill day. we walked around the gift shops at yosemite village, ate a sumptuous lunch at the arts-and-crafts lodge Ahwahnee, and then drove down to see the giant redwoods at Mariposa Grove. snapped a few in the parking lot and jumped back on the road to glacier point, the huge granite mountain next to half dome. an hour up the snow-covered (yes, there is still snow!) mountain and we were at the most astounding, almost 360 degree view of yosemite. our cabins looked like teeny toys. mirror lake looked like a droplet of water. the ahwahnee looked like a barbie house, seen from a plane. took tons of pictures there, along with tourists from every imaginable country who were also captivated by the view.
by then it was 7pm, and time for the winding, freaky, four hour ride home.
i'll post pics here if i can figure out how to make them smaller. even on tinypic they end up taking up half the screen!
next?
we're taking a short road trip down Highway 1 next week. Monday: Big Sur and a cabin and more hiking, this time, beach and cliffs and redwood forests. Tuesday: San Simeon, Morro Bay, and Solvang. Wednesday: Solvang pastries and breakfast, walking around downtown, and the drive back on 101.