Yo

Yo: part I of Yosemite

Back in April, DMA and I flew down to Fresno, rented an AWESOME Ford Escape, and drove drove drove north toward Yosemite. I wasn't sure what to expect: would there be bears? would we see wild flowers? would it be just as cool as the countless images already captured in this mystical place?

After three days in the park, the answers are: bears aren't real, I WILL brake for wildflowers, and yes, absolutely yes, Yosemite is just as beautiful as you would imagine.

Our first stop on day 1 was a lookout about a half-hours drive from the entrance. Of course, we climbed over the rock wall barrier, powered on the walkie-talkies and set out to explore a gigantic cliff. I took this picture of a pine tree from this spot:

We made our way to the valley, ooo-ing, ahh-ing and gasping a few "daaa-aamn!" along the way. Beautiful stuff... glad we had a moonroof! I formulated a new equation:

The valley on Saturday + at lunch+ during Free National Park Weekend = Chaos. (make that chaos...squared).

We managed to find some tranquility by exploring some woods on the side of the road. We saw a deer! I wanted to get some unique frames, so I concentrated on some moss & new grass thriving in an area that was previously in a forest fire.

Continuing our survey of the park, we headed over to an area directly across a canyon of where our day began. I think this area is called Crystal Creek?

We decided to head back to the valley in the evening, pleasantly surprised that most of the families and tourists had headed back home. It was just us & a bunch of photogs...

I was glad to have my 70-300mm, tripod & cokin gradient filter!! I zoomed right past those wierdos. ;)

And that just about wraps up day 1! Not too shabby, eh?