California 2002

'Moon and Half Dome' by Ansel Adams

Headed west

The Cartwright Hotel in San Francisco.

The redwoods of Muir Woods.

These redwoods are 300 ft.tall.

Fallen redwood.

A beautiful walkway through the trees.

One of the few flowers in Muir Woods.

The woods were quiet, like a cathedral.

Muir Beach overlook.

John at the pinnacle - shivering!

Spring on the coast.

Muir Beach overlook, straight down.

Stinson Beach in the distance.

Sonoma hills.

Sonoma vineyards.

View of Golden Gate in the fog.

On the GG Bridge. Convertibles are cool.

Windmills east of San Francisco.

Sunburn in the making.

Foothills of the Sierras.

Our first view of Lower Yosemite Valley.

Our first 'Oooh aaah' view of Yosemite.

El Capitan and Ribbon Falls.

Bridalveil Falls.

Keeper of the journal- our cozy room in Yosemite Lodge.

The view from our balcony.

Yosemite Falls.

Sunburn at its worst!

The complete Yosemite Falls: Upper, Middle, and Lower.

Best shot of the falls, from the parking lot.

View of Yosemite Valley.

The Merced River at Wawona.

A field of lupines at Wawona.

J&J on a mule trek to Nevada and Vernal Falls.

John on Socks the mule.

Winding up the steep trail.

Nevada Falls.

Mariposa Grove - home of the giant sequoias.

The sequoias of the lower grove.

The largest branch is 7 ft.in diameter.

Obligatory tourist shot.

A big tree. A very big tree.

The Clothespin Tree.

This arch was caused by fires.

Jody about to be scared by a killer squirrel.

A Snowplant (Sarcodes sanguinea).

The Sierras on the way to Glacier Point.

We saw two coyotes on the drive up.

Half Dome with Nevada and Vernal Falls. This is where the Merced enters Yosemite valley.

A very cool rent-a-car. No V-8 though.

Half Dome.

Middle Yosemite valley and Yosemite falls.

The valley floor.

Jody's not exactly thrilled to be up this high.

Last week of May and there's still snow left.

Bridalveil Falls in the morning.

El Capitan.

The valley floor, once a glacial lake.

The deer wandered around the grounds of the lodge.

Our place. Every so often you could hear a rock crashing over the falls.

Yosemite Creek on it's way to the falls.

The back side of Half Dome from Olmstead point.

Tenaya Lake.

Tuolumne Meadows.

The road up here had just opened for summer.

Still lots of snow in the Sierras.

Tioga Lake. It's just outside of Yosemite.

The eastern slope of the Sierras.

Mono Lake. Hot, dry and desolate.

The Ehrman mansion on Lake Tahoe.

Water clarity is improving

A view across the lake.

Boats

Emerald Bay.

A Tahoe panorama.

Sausalito, Tiburon Point and Angel Island.

Back to cloudy NJ.