Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks vacation, part 1

Justin’s Graduation Trip

On July 4th, while a lot of people were sleeping late and going to parades, my family was flying out to California for a vacation at Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. Leslie, Justin, his girlfriend Boni, Faith and I, flew out to Fresno, California. From there we rented a minivan and drove up to Yosemite National Park.

This vacation was for all of us, but it was also to celebrate Justin’s graduation from high school. We started thinking about this part of the country while watching Ken Burns’ highly acclaimed The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. It reminded us of the wonderful parks we’ve already visited, but made us want to visit more of these them, particularly Yosemite. And since Sequoia National Park was nearby, we decided to visit there too.

Yosemite National Park

Driving into Yosemite Valley for the first time reminded me of when I first saw the Grand Teton mountain range, as a child. Places like these with their panoramic vistas draw you in with their awesome beauty. When you see these places, particularly for the first time, you just want to stay awhile and take it all in.

While in Yosemite, we enjoyed visiting many of the park’s wonders, particularly the waterfalls. As I write this, I think about the drought we presently have in Texas. But the Yosemite waterfalls just kept gushing from all the snowmelt in the mountains above. Incidentally, we couldn’t have come to Yosemite at a better time because they had so much snow this past winter, which in turn, meant the falls had a higher volume of water.

Hiking

Most of these beautiful places in Yosemite involved short walks to and from. But Justin and I actually hiked the 8.2 miles Panorama Trail from Glacier Point to the valley floor. Pictures cannot capture what we saw and experienced on that hike. We saw Half Dome, the park’s most imposing granite feature, from many angles, and visited two or three waterfalls from above.

All the jogging and bicycle riding I’ve done in the last several weeks didn’t fully prepare me for this strenuous hike. We were pretty sore for the next few days. In fact, I walked funny and at a slower pace than usual. But I wouldn’t have traded the experience for anything!

Biking

Leslie and I rented bikes for a full day in Yosemite, which is a great way to see the valley. Their bike paths are some of the best I’ve seen in all the national parks we’ve visited. So if you visit the park, and you’re able to, I recommend renting one of these bikes because you can sometimes get to places faster than taking the park’s free shuttle service, with buses that fill up quickly with tourists.

Lee Stetson as John Muir

Later that evening we all enjoyed a live one-man play in Yosemite Theatre. It was Lee Stetson playing the part of naturalist John Muir (1838-1914). Through his writings, Muir did more to bring Yosemite and the entire Sierra Nevada range to the mind of the American public than just about anybody, with a view toward preserving these areas so that future generations could enjoy their natural beauty.
If you’ve seen the National Parks special I mentioned above, Lee Stetson was featured quite a bit when talking about the life of John Muir.

Park Ranger Shelton Johnson

Another person you see a lot in the special is National Park Ranger Shelton Johnson. I knew for a fact that Shelton was a park ranger in Yosemite, so I spent 3 days asking other rangers if he was around. The first two days of our visit in the park, Shelton was finishing up a business trip to Alaska, but on this last day of our visit, he was there!

The day before meeting Shelton in person, I bought his first novel, Gloryland, which is about a buffalo soldier stationed at Yosemite in the early 1900s. As a matter of fact, Shelton’s passion is researching the role of buffalo soldiers in the national park system. Shelton, the park’s only African-American ranger, is for bringing more African-Americans to the National Parks, so they can experience the beauty and grandeur of these places. As it is, a very small percentage of them actually visit the parks at the present time.

Super Bowl canceled

Of course I'm just kidding and having a little fun here. The Superbowl is still on. :-) But thanks for clicking. Since you clicked here, here's a little look back at all the basic statistics of Super Bowl: The teams who've played in the Bowl, as well as the final scores. It's on the NFL website, and goes back to 1967, Super Bowl's first year.