Summer Visit

Where did summer go? That is what I'm asking myself lately. The days are getting shorter and a touch cooler and breezier. It rained recently (so I hear) and there are also rumors of leaves changing colors (I haven't seen it yet). It's a far cry from the beautiful falls in Michigan, but while there are no cider mills and the air doesn't have that pleasant nip of fall, I've already had three pumpkin chai lattes from Peet's Coffee and am looking forward to more of the fall goodies! :)

But anyway, summer is almost gone, so I'll set out to update you on my summer in the next few posts, starting with a quick overview of one of the highlights.

I was so excited to have two visits from friends this summer. One was Memorial Day weekend, which was (sadly) my last post. The next visit was from dear friends from Michigan who made a week of touring the Northern California beauty! Whew, we sure did pack a lot in there (ask my car's mileage for proof!)... From San Francisco to Monterey, Carmel, and Big Sur, a day trip to Santa Cruz (with Steve), Yosemite, and Napa Valley! Phew!

We started in San Francisco, where we explored Fisherman's Wharf (including a yummy seafood lunch), Ghiradelli Square, a Bay tour and a bus tour! That gave the girls a good overview of the city, and then they checked out some of the other nooks and crannies in the city, including the Japanese Tea Garden, Golden Gate Park, and a cable car ride! (Not to mention witnessing San Francisco's lack of a public nudity ordinance! Yikes!)

Near Ghiradelli Square after enjoying lunch at Fisherman's Wharf

Gorgeous weather to enjoy a Bay Cruise in SF Bay

Enjoying many of the delicious offerings of the Ferry Building

Cable car ride that ended in their trolley breaking down!

Then we spent an afternoon at the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz (with special guest, Steve) where we stuck our toes in the Pacific (burrrr!) and enjoyed the lively atmosphere. This visit included a ride on the hang-glider ride and a sampling of deep fried Twinkies and Oreos (so bad and yet so good!).

Mindy's first time touching the Pacific!

Love!

Next, the girls and I drove down the coastal highway to Monterey, Carmel, and Big Sur. The grey skies didn't stop us from enjoying the immense beauty of God's creation in Big Sur or the quaint beauty of Carmel (or the pastries in Carmel!).

 

Then we adventured to Yosemite (and thankfully did not stay in the camp that had the Hantavirus outbreaks!) where we were awed by God's creativity and majesty in his creation there. Amazing! (If you've read other blog posts about Yosemite, you probably get that I think it's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been!) We did some hiking (er, some of us did some hiking) and exploring by car and "glamped" (glamorous camping) in a sweet cabin with a wood-burning stove (which I managed to keep a fire going in thanks to my sweet Girl Scout training... haha, that's a joke, folks! Girl Scouts was social hour for me and my friends!).

View from Olmsted Point, including the back side of Half Dome, upper right

Meredith and I climbed Lembert Dome and were rewarded by amazing views

And finally, we made our way to Napa and Sonoma Valleys and explored some gorgeous vineyards there (including, apparently, the one owned by one of the former Bachelors...ya know, the TV show). And we feasted on a lunch of fancy cheeses and salami with fresh bakery bread. So good!

Lunch at V. Sattui Vineyard

Arriving for our tour at Mondavi Vineyards

It was so fun to have friends visit and to show them a bit of Northern California! These are only a few photos from the week (this post is already long enough!), but I may post more someday on Facebook when I get around to it!

So long, thanks for reading! Next time (hopefully soon!) I'll tell you how Steve needed a trip to San Francisco after hearing about the fun we had there! :)

Whirlwind Memorial Weekend

Wow, I'm so delinquent in my updates! In my defense, it has been not very busy and also very busy. Make sense? I guess what I mean is, when it rains, it pours! Long periods of not-much-going-on (hence no updates) followed by crazy busy-ness (hence no updates). Oh yeah, and not to rub it in, but the weather's been pretty great and I try to get outside (to the pool) as much as possible :)

Anyway, enough excuses... here's the overview with a few photos here and there to keep it interesting.

My friend Katie from Detroit-via-Denver (she now lives near Denver) came and visited over Memorial Day weekend. We hit the big city to ride the cable cars, see the wharf/beach/bridge, and trek back to our car making stops in North Beach (Italian district) for some gelato and espresso, and getting a glance of Chinatown.

We also went to Yosemite and went on the Mist Trail (to see Vernal Falls) but then were rained out the second day after "glamping" at Curry Village...

Our lunch spot!

Awesome tent cabin at Curry Village with heat and electricity (and equipped with a bear box)

And then also visited Monterey and Carmel (and Steve got to come, too!). Isn't Carmel just beautiful?

Whew! That was a lot of fun to have in one weekend (and a lot of driving... and the CR-V is still holding up fantastically!) I had a great time... thanks for coming, Katie! :) More fun this coming week as three more friends from Detroit are coming tonight/tomorrow morning!

Don't give up on me yet, more blogs from beautiful, sunny CA soon!

Yosemite: View from Above

And now, without further ado, I bring you Day 2 of our Yosemite trip (and then eventually there's a tiny bit more to come from my more recent trip with my friend and visitor, Katie...but I might give you a reprieve because I have a niece now that I need to update you on!).

On day two, after a very full day of driving and hiking, some stargazing at the Tunnel View lookout point, and a good night's rest in a sparse and spider-free (thanks to Steve for killing the biggest spider either of us has ever seen!) motel room outside of the park, we made the tedious, winding drive back in to the park for more sights to behold! This time instead of going into Yosemite Valley, we headed up, up, up to a lookout spot high above called Glacier Point. There we found some amazing new views of the waterfalls and granite peaks.

Pictured below are Nevada (top) and Vernal (bottom) falls, which we had seen from our hike the previous day.

 

Then Steve climbed Half Dome! :)

Just kidding, here's the real Half Dome. I just couldn't get enough of it!

Glacier Point is at an elevation of 7,214 feet (2,199 m) above sea level and 3,200 feet (980 m) above the valley floor below. Whoa, that is a long way down... straight down!

After enjoying the spectacular views offered at the lookout point, we began a hike to the top of Sentinel Dome, which was a moderate hike of about 2 miles (round trip) from our starting point at Glacier Point. The incline was not as steep as our hike from the day before, which our glutes thanked us for! :)

Well, that is, until we got to this point and had to ascend this hunk of granite:

But we were rewarded with a 360-degree view, including Half Dome, the falls, and on the other side, El Capitan and more. And the walking sticks we picked up along the way helped, too.

(That's El Capitan above, the peak with the sheer granite face.) We had lunch on top (PB&J and Doritos!), an exhausted Steve caught a quick nap (not joking... he found the flattest piece of rock for us to eat lunch on and then stretched out for, as my grandfather would've said, "forty winks"), and then we hiked back down where we indulged in some ice cream that was sold at the shop at Glacier Point. Ice cream AND these views? We were feeling just how incredibly blessed we are!

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

(Psalm 8:3-4, 9)

And that sums up our first trip to Yosemite. It was truly a wonderful experience and I think it's a spectacular place that everyone should see. (And neither my amateur photos nor Ansel Adams can do it justice... though Adams comes closer!) So thankful that we can enjoy these places and see the awesome work of our Creator!

Yosemite: Valley Views and Waterfalls Galore!

Okay, I better update you all on Yosemite before I go on my next trip there! My friend Katie is coming to visit and we are leaving tomorrow! In fact, I have to leave very shortly to get her from the airport. I'm so excited to go back, and you will see why shortly...

If you recall from my previous post, our first stop in Yosemite was to see the Giant Sequoias. We enjoyed marveling at the massiveness of these trees and ate lunch, then headed to Yosemite Valley. We entered the Valley through the southernmost tunnel and stopped at the spot called "Tunnel View," which is a very famous spot to take in the a view of most of the major landmarks. It was AMAZING!  Imagine coming out of a long, dark tunnel and the first thing you see is this:

El Capitan is the major granite structure on the left, and the waterfall on the right is called Bridalveil Falls. In the distance you can just barely make out Half Dome (just under the cloud arch), which is at the far end of the valley. Being here and seeing this made me teary as I took in the beauty and majesty of God's creation.

Yosemite has many waterfalls, and most are fed by the snow melting in the High Sierras. Here is Bridalveil Falls again, close up. I felt so blessed to have a perfect sunshiny day -- where we were not only seeing amazing granite formations and awesome waterfalls, but rainbows on top of it all! (More rainbows to come...)

Here is Half Dome. Of course you must know that the photos do none of this any justice whatsoever. (More photos of this next time!)

After driving through the valley a ways, marveling and staring and taking photographs the whole way (including this one where you can see yet another waterfall!), we parked and started our ascent toward the waterfalls on the hike that I had planned.

The hike for the afternoon was to see Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls on a trail aptly named the Mist Trail. Since it goes from the valley floor up to the top of not one, but two falls (and all the way to the top of Half Dome if you continue), it is quite steep and there are many places where there are long ascents up stairs carved into the rocks, like these.

And then we saw Vernal Falls. And I now understand what it means for something to be breathtaking, because I was literally gasping for air when I first saw this sight:

I just can't imagine anything more beautiful! And was just in awe thinking that God made all of this and called it good... but then he made man and said it was "very good." And if the creation is this beautiful, how much more so is the Creator?

Since it is still spring, the waterfall was absolutely gushing (it is one of the ones fed by melting snow in the mountains and dries up a bit in the summer after much of the snow is melted) and creating a mist that soaked us through and through (which also created the amazing rainbow! By the way, I stepped on the rainbow's end and there was sadly no pot of gold ;-) ). So we kept climbing up, up to the top where it was almost as beautiful looking back down.

And then we hiked a bit farther until we saw Nevada Falls. Unfortunately, though, it was getting dark and we knew we would not make it back before dark if we went as far as we'd have liked. So we had to turn back because I did not want to meet any of the nocturnal creatures that lived along the hiking path! (Especially bears!)

However, we were able to see both falls from the lookout point we visited (and hiked from) the next day, so there will be more waterfall photos in the next post. And since I am heading back tomorrow with Katie, I imagine there will be even more photos and updates down the road. (Oh yeah, and I'll post even more photos on Facebook soon.)

Yosemite: Giant Sequoias

As far back as I can remember, my dad had this famous Ansel Adams print, Moon and Half Dome, and I always loved it (in fact, I stole it and brought it to college with me... and then returned it afterward!).

So it was a dream of mine to visit Yosemite National Park, which is about a four hour drive from the Bay Area. And on May 11th, we packed an overnight bag and made the dream come true! (But not before fueling up for the drive with some Peets coffees!)

With just about a day and a half there, I planned our excursions so we could see as much as possible. So when we first arrived on Friday at around lunch time, we made our first stop the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. (Mariposa Grove is just one of the few groves of giant sequoias in the California Sierra Nevada range, which is the only place in the world these trees grow naturally!)

After lunch on this rock above, we hiked around a bit to see these wonders and wow are they impressive and amazing. So grandiose! They had some educational placards around so we learned a lot, too. For example, did you know...

- The trees only begin growing and really thriving as a result of fire! The natural cycle of seasonal forest fires helps with the germination of the seeds and also keeps other trees/vegetation from growing too closely so they can get maximum light.

- The trees are hundreds of years old and survive many fires, which burn the lower branches (so that's why the branches start so high!). This also makes them more fire resistant.

- When they fall, they decompose incredibly slowly due to the chemical makeup of the wood, which contains a high concentration of tannins. (The fallen one below has been down for hundreds of years and is still there!)

- They have really complex but very shallow roots, which is why they are fenced off so visitors cannot get too close to damage the roots.

It was amazing to see these giant beauties and we also really enjoyed the fresh smell in the grove! But we couldn't spend too much time here as we were headed for Yosemite Valley and had much, much more to see, which I'll share in subsequent posts... so come back again soon! :)