Arriving in Yosemite

It was so strange waking up in Death Valley this morning and having it already be 98 degrees at 8:30 in the morning. It was a little sad walking around and seeing birds hopping along on the ground with their beaks open, seemingly panting in the hot morning air. Dry heat or not – it was still ungodly HOT!

As we made our way out of Death Valley we were quite pleased to watch the external thermometer in the car go down as we made our way through scenic, winding canyons and along side the snow capped Sierra Nevada mountain range until we finally reached Yosemite National Park – where we’ll be staying for the next 2 nights in the Yosemite Lodge.

The first thing I should mention is - Yosemite is not only extremely beautiful but it is HUGE! Before going to the Lodge, since we drove in from the East on the Tioga Pass we planned to stop and hike around Tuolumne Meadows. After a lovely picnic lunch in comfortable 75 degree, breezy, sunny weather we headed up Pothole Dome. We had a choice of either going up the Dome via a nice easy, gradual trail – or to scramble up the Dome’s rock face… can you guess which way we decided to go?






The view from the top was postcard picturesque! Everywhere we turned our eyes were flooded with beautiful back drops, dramatic vistas and extreme color contrasts – it is no wonder that artists and photographers (like the famous Ansel Adams) flock to Yosemite! After playing on top of the dome, we made our way down to the meadow. On our way down, as we tried to find the meadow trail, we were startled by a Black Tail fawn that came bounding out from behind a downed tree only a few feet away from us. It leapt away from us with such speed and grace that we didn’t have time to do anything but stare at it racing away. It was SO neat!

After recovering from our deer encounter, we found the trail and decided that instead of heading back toward the car, we would head deeper into the meadow and the woods for a bit longer. I’m so glad we did! Not even 5 minutes into hiking we spotted a herd of Black Tail Deer amongst a cluster of trees in the center of the meadow. There were at least 7 deer that we could see – some grazing, some bounding around chasing each other, some laying stock still in the grass looking very regal. It was very impressive!

After watching them for about 10 minutes, we reluctantly decided to move on (the swarming mosquitoes helped to motivate us to get moving). After walking another 10-15 minutes on the trail, the trail curved into the woods and we spotted a Black Tail Doe and her TWO fawns! We very slowly moved in closer until we were about 50 feet away from them. We got close enough that we could see the spotted fawns playing and nursing. We felt fortunate to be so close to something so beautiful and lively. The deer were aware of our presence, but didn’t seem to mind as long as we stayed still and at a distance. We often use the expression ‘frozen like a deer in headlights’ – but as we stared at each other we could not help but wonder if we looked like ‘humans in headlights’ as we gawked at them.

After returning from our hike, we climbed back into the car (did I mention that it is a Mazda 3 – zoom, zoom?) and made the hour and a half drive into Yosemite Valley to the Lodge. I told you Yosemite was huge. We have a very short amount of time here to explore as much as possible – so for now, we’ll leave it that today was another incredible day and tomorrow will likely hold even more for us.

By the way, have you figured out who wrote today’s blog? Feel free to cast your votes in the comment section: Bryan or Carmela?

Death Valley

I wasn't sure if I should have titled this post "The beautiful colors of the dessert", or "Help me, I'm melting!". The surprising thing for me about Death Valley was how beautiful and colorful it can be. The part that wasn't so surprising was how tremendously hot it is. I know what they say about it being a dry heat - and it is - but so is a blast furnace!

Today was a day of extremes - we started out in Brian Head, Utah which is a ski town at almost 10,000 feet elevation and then we ended up in Death Valley, including Badwater which is 282 feet below sea level, making it the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere. We decided that neither extreme is really for us. While the mountain top was typically 50 degrees cooler than Death Valley, we found the altitude a bit difficult to adjust to - headaches, plus trouble breathing and sleeping. It was difficult breathing in Death Valley, too, but that was because 118 degrees can take your breath away.

The drive from Utah brought us through the northwestern corner of Arizona (about 20 minutes), and then across Nevada before ending up in California. We planned to stop at the Whole Foods in Vegas in order to get supplies for this next leg of the trip, so we figured we'd spend a bit of extra time and drive down Las Vegas Boulevard for fun. We had been there about 7 years ago, and it was interesting to see how it had changed.

Once we got checked into the Furnace Creek Ranch in Death Valley, we headed out to see the sites. It was already around 4, but we'd be leaving first thing in the morning, so there was no time to waste. Badwater, as mentioned before, was our first stop, and then the Devil's Golf Course. Both of these are areas that have massive salt deposits from ancient times when it was a saltwater lake. Next, we drove through Artist Drive and stopped at Artist Pallette - a beautiful area that has multi-colored hills from the variety of minerals. While there we also really noticed these interesting bushes that seemed to shimmer in the light (extra credit for any of my students that can post a comment with the name of these plants)

Our last stop was Zabinskie's Point, which was well timed for sunset. This was an overlook that was perfectly situated to capture the incredible effect of sunset on these "badlands". The way that the shadows give added dimension to the hills was amazing. Thankfully, it cooled down once the sun went down - I'll bet it actually dipped below 100 by the time we went to bed.