On our way home from our annual camping
week at the Bear’s Lair, we drove
by way of Yosemite.
I visited Yosemite many times as a kid, including a week each High School winter
with the Yosemite Institute. So, the valley
is a very familiar place.
Our family has driven through Yosemite valley in recent summers but this
was our first long visit. From
Mammoth Mountain,
we drove on Highway 120, crossing into Yosemite National Park over Tioga Pass
on the East side. We stayed two nights at the Yosemite View Lodge in El
Portal (just outside the park’s West gate on Highway 140).
Yosemite was hot and there was very little water in any of the falls.
Yosemite Falls was entirely dry. We left my mother at the base of the Mist Trail
(she painted a watercolor of the Merced River), then hiked to the bridge to
find Vernal Falls reduced to a few ribbons.
We ate dinner at the Yosemite Lodge Mountain Room, lunched at the elegant
and formal Ahwahnee Lodge, and had a very good visit.
Sierras Maps
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Driving to Yosemite National Park
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Watch for Rocks, Iconic Yosemite Sign
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Paul, Eleanor, Jessica, Matt
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Katy and John at Olmsted Point
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Half Dome
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Eleanor Painting
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John Downstream from Vernal Falls
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Jessica and Paul
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Swimmer Jumping, Merced River
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Dry Yosemite Falls
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The Mountain Room, Yosemite Lodge
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Ahwahnee Great Room
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Ahwahnee Fireplace
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Ahwahnee Conduct Sign
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El Capitan
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Jessica and Matt check the map
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Rest Break, Yosemite Lodge
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Speeding Kills Bears
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Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson, Paul Dickinson Goodman, John Plocher
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