Yosemite!

We've been home now for almost a month, so I'd better finish this trip blog while my memory is still fairly fresh, and before the holidays take over and I can't remember anything!

The last destination on our five week journey was a place I have been to many times in my lifetime, and is still one of the most awe-inspiring places I have ever seen: Yosemite National Park. 

Our last night was spent on the eastern side of the Sierras, in a tiny town called Lee Vining, California, just outside of the eastern entrance to the park. As we climbed to over 9500 feet of elevation on Highway 120, we came to a small body of mirror-like water called Ellery Lake, and the excitement began to mount.

Ellery Lake

Before long, we were in the Yosemite Valley, looking at some of the most majestic granite rock formations on earth! 

El Capitan

Half Dome

We drove around the park, stopping to shoot photos of sites like Bridal Veil Falls and the famous Tunnel View overlook.

Bridal Veil Falls

 

Wawona Tunnel View Overlook

Although we didn't take very many pictures of ourselves on our trip, we couldn't resist setting the self-timer on Sam's camera and getting this classic shot.

Before heading out of Yosemite, we stopped at Sentinel Beach, along the Merced River, to have a picnic lunch with El Capitan towering above us. The sun was warm on our backs as we sat at one of the picnic tables, munching on our crackers, cheese, and fruit, when a woman approached us and asked if we minded sharing our table with her and her husband. Of course, we said yes, and struck up a very enjoyable conversation with Heather and Dennis Fardy of Australia!

Sentinel Beach, with El Capitan in the background.

Turns out, they were also both recently retired and traveling across the US and Canada, however, they were beginning the eighth week of their TEN week trip! We exchanged comments about the various places we had been to, and although they have four children, they were tiny bit envious that we have two grandchildren. 

When it was time to go, I took a photo of the two of them and promised to send it to Heather's email address, which I did, and I am happy to say we have written back and forth a couple of times since. Looks like we now have some friends down under, too! Apparently, their home is on the northern beaches in Newport, near Sydney, with a balcony over looking the Pacific Ocean. They have invited us to visit them, should we ever make our way to Australia. I must admit, it does make the thought of that long flight much more appealing!

Las Vegas, The Beatles, and Hoover Dam

The last officially planned stop on our USRT 2011 was Las Vegas! And although I've heard it said, "what happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas," I have to confess my main reason for going to Sin City was LOVE!   (Be sure to watch the trailer once you go to the link.)

The Beatles Love show was more fantastic than we had imagined! The staging, the costumes, and of course the music were wonderful! I cannot say enough about it. If you haven't seen it, you should, and if you already have, you know what I'm talking about. First-class entertainment!

Until last month, the closest I have gotten to Vegas in the last 38 years was a short stopover at the airport. Boy, has it ever changed! 

The strip is an amazing display of flashing neon and very interesting people watching.

The Bellagio's beautiful fountain show, every half hour (?), is awesome!

At first, we were a little overwhelmed, after all, we had just come from the peace and serenity of the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and Zion National Park. Though once we got our bearings, we thoroughly enjoyed the chaos, and we want to go back, maybe see Love again, and explore the area with a little more time.

On our one full day in Vegas, we drove out to see the Hoover Dam, which we had heard was really worth seeing, and we have to agree. What an amazing feat of ingenuity! 

3.25 million cubic yards of concrete were poured to form the dam itself, and another 1.1 million cubic yards were used to construct the power plant -- enough concrete to pave a two-lane highway from San Francisco to New York! The dam is 45 feet thick at the top of the wedge and 660 feet thick at the bottom. It was built during the Great Depression, employed thousands of otherwise unemployed workers, and was completed two years ahead of schedule!

Although the dam's main purpose was to control the dangerous waters of the Colorado River, which caused death and destruction in its path when it flooded, harnessing the river's power to produce electricity is how the government has paid for the dam and its maintenance. It is the largest hydro-electric power plant in the world, and because of it, Hoover Dam has not cost the American taxpayers one penny! (Seems we could use some infrastructure projects like that now!)

Inside the power plant at Hoover Dam.

The face of Hoover Dam.

From the top of the dam, looking down at the power plant, and over to the new bypass bridge that takes through traffic, that used to go over the dam itself, over the Colorado River and the Arizona/Nevada border.

One of the power plant intake towers in Lake Mead.

The  Hoover Dam Bypass, also known as the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.

View of Hoover Dam and power plant from the bypass bridge.

Canyons!

Finally, we had reached the last week of our USRT, and some of what I consider the most gorgeous scenery on earth! Yes, we had been to several beautiful sites, but in my humble opinion, you just cannot beat the western US for jaw-dropping magnificence!

After we left New Mexico, we drove through northern Arizona to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We had visited the South Rim back in 1993, and although it was a very enjoyable trip, being on the rim of the Grand Canyon with three girls, ages 11 thru 17, left me unsatisfied. Whereas I wanted to just sit on the edge and meditate, all they wanted to do was go down into the canyon, and if that wasn't going to happen (which it wasn't), then they just wanted to leave once they'd seen it. (In all fairness to my daughters, going down into the canyon would have been a wonderful experience, I'm sure, but we didn't have the time, and it was summer -- the canyon floor is really hot in the summer time!)

Luckily this time, I was traveling with a fellow photographer (actually, a videographer now, which can be more time consuming), which was great because if I wanted to wander around by myself and get "lost" on one of the trails, or just sit and contemplate what lay before me, I could. So, I did. 

Since it was the last week in October, the North Rim Lodge was already closed for the winter, and there were only a few visitors in the park. It was very peaceful, the wind whistling through the aspens was delightful, and the view was to die for! (Forgive me for including so many photos, but I couldn't decide which ones to leave out!)

Angels Window in the lower right hand corner of this shot. There are railings on the top of this lookout point, and you can walk out to the edge for a breathtaking view of the Colorado River!

Another view of Angels Window.

This funny looking little guy turns out to be kind of a rare thing. Called the "Silver Ghost of the North Rim," the Kaibab squirrel lives only on the North Rim and nowhere else in the world!

The other Silver Ghost, my travel companion, and the park lodge in the background.

By the way, we stayed at Jacob Lake Inn, about 45 minutes outside of the park entrance. It is fairly decent lodging, with a good restaurant and bakery, but the cabins inside the park, on the rim, seemed to be a really great place to stay between May 15 and October 15 -- if you make your reservations early!

From the Grand Canyon, we moved on to Bryce Canyon for a slightly different kind of jaw-dropping grandeur. There, the park lodge was also already closed for the season, but we stayed at Ruby's Inn, which is a very large, old west resort kind of place, just outside of the park entrance, where we got a very good internet price on our big, comfortable room, overlooking a small lake. 

We drove into the park in the early afternoon, and found it to be very car-friendly, meaning, you could drive through, and then stop at all the lookout points on your way back out of the park in a few hours.

These other-worldly rock formations are called Hoodoos, formed by erosion and freezing and thawing of water over millions of years, creating a very unique landscape.

Trail below Sunset Point, where one can walk among the hoodoos, as a large group of Korean students did, yelling and laughing at each other, listening to it echo off the rocks.

 It was a lovely afternoon, a little windy, but fairly warm and sunny. It was dark by the time we got back to the inn. We checked into our room, went to dinner, and then went to bed so we could get up early to see more of the hoodoos, this time in the morning light. Much to our surprise, when we awoke, it was snowing! Apparently, it was only 28 degrees, and the expected high was only going to be 38!!

View of snow flurries from our room window.

Sam scraping snow off of our car with a info card from our room -- without gloves because he didn't pack any!

 After buying some gloves at the general store, we headed out to see the hoodoos covered in white powder! It was sooooo cold, but sooooo worth it!

Poor little pine tree, hanging on for dear life!

Probably my favorite part of Bryce Canyon, and this point is actually outside of the park entrance, so you can see it for free!

On our way out of the Bryce Canyon area, we noticed the Bryce Canyon Airport!

Next stop: Zion National Park. Truthfully, we only drove through the southern most corner of this magnificent park. It wasn't even an official stop on our USRT, but to have missed this incredibly beautiful drive would have been a real shame! I remember seeing a bit of it, way back in 1973, when we moved from the west coast to the east coast. Some thirty-eight years later, I have a much greater appreciation for such things.

I just love all the wavy patterns in the rocks, and it's amazing how some very determined plants (like that pine tree pictured a few photos above) can manage to survive on rock.

Jabba the Hut rock! (for my Star Wars-crazy grandson)

Along the Canyon Overlook Trail, quite an overhang! Wouldn't want to be in here during an earthquake! ( Notice the Maidenhair Ferns growing along the inner corner. Probably my favorite type of fern, and so difficult to grow in Sacramento.)

This is the opening to the 1.1 mile long tunnel that was cut through the mountain, and includes two or three openings (windows) to the outside, the only light in the tunnel.

This is one of the "windows" in the tunnel, from the inside.

And this is what the window looks like from the outside.

(If you want to see a photo in larger format, click on one of them, a slide show will come up with all of the photos. When you close the slide show, it will return you to the blog.)