Yosemite

I am headed to Miami on Saturday for a show and thought I would use the time off this week for a day trip down to Yosemite national park. With the doors off, and the half bikini top on the Jeep I took off around 8:45 am and only got about 3 miles away before I realized not only was I cold, but with no doors on the jeep, it was going to be a bit of a rough day with the wind buffeting me all day. So, I put the doors back on and with a quick bite at McDonalds, I was off again. The road to Yosemite from Folsom is very slow. It is really windy and it starts out very rough. All along the trip there are little "Old West" Gold mining towns with populations of anywhere from 150 people to 900. Very interesting and beautiful ride.
I stopped at Jamestown Harley Davidson to see if anything struck my fancy, and then headed the last 70 miles to the park.
Right after James town there is a beautiful body of water that for the life of me I can't remember what it is called.
But I took a couple of shots there.







It is 70 miles from Jamestown to the park, but it is also another 24 miles from the entrance of the park to the valley floor. So, it was a long trip to get into see the "Good Stuff." After finally making it, you shoot through a tunnel carved into the side of the rock and when you pop out, this is the view you get.





From this point, it is still about 13 miles down to the valley floor where you can sit at the base of El Capitan and Halfdome and just stare for hours at the massive rock. Sitting in front of these rock faces is a very calming experience. It almost feels like life is in slow motion. You don't think about work, home, bills, the stress just floats out of your body and all of a sudden, you realize things like,man that sun is hot, and wow.. am I hungry! So, here are a few images that hopefully give you a 1% idea of what it is like at this amazing place.


Yosemite Valley

Along the road on the valley floor is a gorgeous creek bed




Half Dome is tremendous!


The Mighty EL CAPITAN!


I took about 300 photos in about 4 hours, so, I have to process a lot before I can post them.
On the way home it was pretty incredible. With all the mountains that you have to go over, you could watch the sun set in front of you with a beautiful orange and purple color, and then by the time you got over the next hill, you got to see it set again! So, yesterday, the sun set three times here in California. Here is a shot from the last one... it is not very good, but I just pulled the jeep to the side of the road and shot it out of my hand with no tripod and it gives just a peek into what I saw at the end of the trip.