This is my favourite picture and it captures a part of what Yosemite is all about - serenity. See story at bottom of page.
Shane found this HUGE maple leaf. I had hoped to see more reds on the trees, but most trees turned various shades of yellow - not too many reds noticeable. Anyway, I adopted this leaf as part of my heritage and Shane stuck it in my ponytail for good measure.
Another gorgeous spot with the water reflecting the trees.
It was a big leaf OK? Shane wanted to demonstrate how to take a picture so that the light was on my face - of course I couldn't see because of the sun- but the light was on my face! You can see the rock face behind me. I'm actually standing where the 'lake' should have been. But since we were there in the fall, everything had dried up.
Taking a breather at a gorgeous spot along the river. Although the water levels were down, there was still some water!! We found a foot long trout as well at this spot.
Shane using his binoculars to see if he can see anyone climbing Half Dome. As you can see from the terrain, it is very rocky, but it is a smooth path to walk along.
I have wanted to take Shane to Yosemite for so long now and finally I just booked a weekend for us and off we went. On Friday October 26 we took off early from work and headed off in Shane's car with both bikes on the back for our weekend in Yosemite. Shane was very intent all weekend on seeing a bear and even suggested that we paint our hotel door with honey in order to coax out a friendly bear. Luckily there was a shortage of honey so we couldn't paint!! Saturday morning we headed off to Yosemite Valley Village where we looked around the shops and stuff for a little bit before heading off on a relaxing 2 - 3 hour hike. Nothing serious, just awe inspiring rock faces and mountains. We had the binoculars that M&D Nason had given Shane for his birthday earlier this year and Shane was able to pick out many climbers on El Capitan. For those of you not familiar with this practice, there are a few crazed climbers that attempt this rock face and it usually takes 2 - 3 days to climb. It takes a keen eye (with the help of binocs) to spot these fanatics and Shane was exceptional at finding them. On Sunday we drove back to the valley floor (since our hotel was located outside of Yosemite Valley) and hopped on our bikes for a few hours. It was wonderful and I look forward to doing it again sometime - perhaps when Kel visits?!! I had packed a bunch of treats for us for the weekend and on Sunday afternoon we sat down to enjoy a variety of munchies before heading back to Santa Cruz. I did leave my wallet on the bumper of the car when we filled up for gas and subsequently lost it. But that's another story!!!