Traveling West

All of us were traveling last week; some further than others.  As part of my Christmas gift last year from Mom and Dad, I received an all-expenses paid trip to California to visit Mark, which also included childcare.  As an added bonus, Mark and I were also able to stay at Yosemite National Park, a hop, skip and a jump beyond the fertile San Joaquin Valley just four hours away.

I arrived Friday morning with plenty of time for the two of us to explore downtown Menlo Park and visit a couple of Mark and Meredith's favorite stores.  The afternoon included a bike ride over to one of my all-time favorite campuses, Stanford, to work out.  That evening, M & M surprised me with tickets to the San Fransisco Symphony to see 91 year old Ravi Shankar, likely one of his last performances in the US.  It was an amazing evening and I felt really lucky to see a person perform who helped shape The Beatles and their own musical development.  (Shankar, interestingly, is Norah Jones' father.)

Saturday morning, after a lovely California-style breakfast (M & M love, love, love breakfast), we headed out in our rental car to Yosemite.  It was wonderful to not be on a schedule and take our time getting there.  We stopped along the way to look at the almond groves; I picked a handful for Kari to take to her classroom's science table.  But by the time we started entering the mountains, this city girl just wasn't prepared, nor confident enough, to drive the winding cliffside 2-lane roads.  Fortunately, Mark gladly took over and drove the rest of the time we were in the park.  It was just too much for me.

Happy to hand over the reins to Mark.

Yosemite is just shy of 800,000 acres.  Reflecting back, being in the park made me realize, one, how b-i-g the world really is and, two, how s-m-a-l-l I felt being in this massive reserve.  Our first full day we hiked up the Mist trail to see Vernal Falls and further onto the even more impressive Nevada Falls.  While we were hiking, the Chicago Marathon was in full swing.  Even though I wasn't running, I was doing my own sort of vertical marathon.  I knew the altitude would get to me in a hurry.  We rested and had an easy trail-type lunch at Vernal before hiking UP another 1500 feet or so.  I was glad I pushed myself to do so.  Nevada Falls was nothing short of spectacular.  Once we reached the top it suddenly opened up and there were massive spans of flat granite rock.  I felt like I was on top of the world.  It was peaceful.  I saw one woman meditating on a rock jutting out over the falls.

  

 

 

I have no idea what I'm in for.

 

 Giving Mark the bird.

 Not sure I'll make it to Vernal Falls.

 Vermal Falls.  Totally worth it.

 Lunch at Vernal.  Liberty Cap in background.

 

 We made it!  Nevada Falls.

The hike down the John Muir Trail was nothing short of bliss. Blissful walking down.  Blissful breathing at a normal rate.  Blissful being out of the hot, beating sun.  At the end of the day, Mark calculated that we had hiked eight miles round trip.  I could barely stay awake to eat my dinner that night in the cafeteria.  I think I was in bed and asleep by 9:00.

The next day we had a decision to make: hike Yosemite Falls or drive to Glacier Point.  We settled on the hour-long (!) drive for the breath-taking panoramic views of the Valley Floor, The Ahwahnee Hotel, Half Dome, Yosemite Falls, Vernal and Nevada Falls, Liberty Cap and Clouds' Rest.

 

L to R: Half Dome, Liberty Cap, Vernal Falls, Nevada Falls.

 

We hiked that!?!!!!

 

From Glacier Point we took an easy hike to Illiouette Falls via the Panorama Trail, which ultimately leads back to the John Muir Trail we had hiked the day before.  Different from the day before, we started at the top and walked down.  Which meant that the walk back (this was an out-and-back) would be up.  We were up high enough to be at the snow line!  The main thing I noticed on this hike, but also throughout most of the time in the park was that it seemed that almost every square inch of the park had forest fire scarring.  Some of the fire damage was more recent than in other areas; but the hard part to wrap my mind around is that it's considered healthy, when in a controlled manner.

Snowball fight!

It was chilly, beyond 5,000 feet chilly, and eventually started to rain.  We pressed on and I'm glad we did to see the Illiouette.  We had another trail lunch overlooking the falls.  I took my time on this trail picking up many different species of acorns, pine cones and leaves for Kari. 

So much of the time I thought of Kari and saw much of the park through the eyes of a four year old.  I was drawn to stop, touch, investigate, smell and feel almost every living and non-living thing along the trails.  Mark was patient and served as my partner in crime filling up his back pack, too, with treasures from the park trails.  (I'm guessing that it's either against the law or at the very least frowned upon to remove plant life from the park.)

Our last day in the park we decided to take it easy and head over to the beautiful Ahwahnee Hotel for breakfast.  Divine!  And then even more divine was relaxing, reading the paper and a book in front of one of the giant fireplaces.  These fireplaces were big enough to stand in!  A little old man would wheel a luggage cart around stacked with huge chunks of firewood and stoke the fires.  I thought to myself, "Wow, he's got one of the best jobs in the world!"

The trip had to come to an end.  We headed back to the Bay and listened to Born to Run by Christopher McDougall on an audiobook.  We reunited with Meredith and ate at one of their favorite restaurants before heading out early Wednesday morning for the long flight back to Chicago.

Now, how about that for a Chevy Aveo commercial?

It was a week.  It was a week that I'm still having a hard time finding the right words to describe its awesomeness.  I'm glad I got to share it with Mark-o and explore the park and more.  Here's hoping we can do it again soon!