“Where am I goin’?
Paint Your Wagon
I dont know
Where am I headin’?
I ain’t certain
All I know
Is I am on my way”
Our Visit to Yosemite National Park
Gold rush towns, waterfalls, lazy rivers underground gardens and apple cider. It was all included in our visit to Yosemite National Park.
Ken and I discovered that we like moving slowly. That is, moving The Burrow only a couple hours drive at a time. It’s calming and less stressful to everyone onboard our rolling home.
So, we haven’t moved more than a couple hundred miles from the Southern Sierra (our last post). But the natural wonders, history-rich gold towns, outdoor adventures and jaw dropping beauty just keep multiplying. At Forestiere Underground Gardens, an orangery (yes, it really is underground) in Fresno, we saw what one man’s intelligence, tenacity and will-power can accomplish. By carving out tunnels, with only hand tools, he managed to create a cool pre-air conditioned home and was on his way to creating an underground inn. We took a ride on Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad, an authentic mountain steam train that at one time hauled logs from the forest.
Being There
Now we are positioned a mere 6 miles from the entrance to Yosemite National Park. Though it requires a 5 mile trip up a mountain to get cellphone service, we couldn’t have enjoyed ourselves more.
The magnificence of Yosemite is apparent within a few miles of your entrance. Grandeur is the one word that comes to mind. Half Dome; The Ahwahnee Lodge; Bridal Veil Falls are all so photographed and seem so well known until you are standing there. Then it occurs to you. No picture painted with watercolors or words, oils or chemical solutions can ever capture what you are seeing.
Armadillo has had a chance to stretch here as we did a little mountain crawling out in the woods. It’s kind of like going on an unfamiliar fair ride for the first time. Stomach clenching but fun. And grabbing a few of the sweet blackberries blanketing the woods, hoping a bear is not nearby to mind. That’s up there on my list of heaven.
Time to Relax
This is a second visit to Yosemite for us. But 30 years ago we only had time to rush through the park like tourists at Disney World. Today our campsite is on a crystal clear, lazy stretch of river. We may float down it a few times or sleep in the cool shade on the bank. Maybe we’ll get energetic and go slide down the falls into the rainbow pools. Maybe take a hike or open the bottle of organic apple cider that we picked up at a local orchard, Indigeny Reserve, and drink the whole thing (it does go bad very quickly-really it does-or so we have been told). Whatever we choose for today, I know it will be just right because it’s really, really hard to go wrong here at Yosemite. Always grateful.👫
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A quick note
Just a few days after we left, the Ferguson Fire closed down Yosemite National Park. Please keep all those who are fighting to save our national treasure in your thoughts.