Click on any image for enlargement

Back in May, Odie and I went out to Yosemite for a couple days. I had been there once before, but it was extremely hot and crowded, and we didn’t see much outside of the Valley. This was a chance to explore the park a bit futher. Odie had made up an extensive list of sites to see, so in order to get two full days in, we got out of Albany at 6:30am. A bag of Chex mix and three hours later, we entered the Park. We noted that to the east of Yosemite is Stanislaus National Forest. It’s like Yosemite is so beautiful, it needs a natural buffer from the outside world. I love it. After driving through the dense forest for 30 miles or so, the road starts down into the Valley. We stopped to take more pictures than necessary before realizing there was much more to see this day.

The general plan was to drive to as many sites as possible on the first day and hike Half Dome on the second day. Thus, our first destination was Glacier Point, so after we got all the way down into the Valley, we crossed the Merced River, and started up the mountain on the other side. Before the Valley passed out of view, we stopped at the popular tunnel overlook. Here I am in front of the Bride Veil Falls (right middle) and Half Dome in the distance.