Yosemite and beyond!

Fresh Fruit from the local Fruit Stand (taken w/ cell phone)

I thank God, the Universe, El Guero Chuy y todos los angelitos for allowing my Mini Me and I to relish in the beauty of Mother Nature along w/ thousands of other Yosemite treckers.

Day 1 (May 20):

As much as I'd planned on being up and out of the hotel by 6 a.m., it was a big fat happy FAIL. We arrived sometime after 11 pm the night before and had a tough time getting up the next morning. When I woke up, I was in so much pain. The entire flight was one of the most excruciating experiences I'd had with pain. It felt as if my left calf had split in half. The funny thing is that when I drove up to our hotel, I noticed that there was an Urgent Care right next door. It was closed, but figured if I really had to go then I'd go the following morning. It was so bad that I was wishing I had Vicodin (stuff prescribed to me after my C-section with my son). It took me a long time to get ready during the morning before finally realizing that I'd packed some Motrin. Duh! I popped in 2 pills and hoped for the best. By the time we'd gone down for breakfast, I felt zero pain. Nada. Zilch. I kept praying that I'd be pain free for the hike.

The happy part of the FAIL about us leaving late is that by the time we left the hotel (2.5 hours later than planned), the local farm fruit stands were open along highway 41. The pic on the right shows what we purchased for $6 and ate on our drive up to Yosemite. They were soooo gooooooood. Nom nom nom. If you miss this fruit stand on your way out of Fresno, you'll have another fruit stand available in Oakhurst, CA.

There are two little towns that we drove through that reminded me of Cloudcroft or Ruidoso, NM; Coarsegold and Oakhurst, CA. Oakhurst is about 1/2 an hour away from the southern Yosemite gate or ~1 hour from the Yosemite Valley.



Oakhurst on Highway 41 (taken w/ cell phone)

Oakhurst on Highway 41 (taken w/ cell phone)

I'd probably stay in Oakhurst the next time I visit Yosemite.... unless I stay in the valley. :)

For starters, the following photo depicts what I hauled around during our hike. My camera, camera backpack, 2 trail mix pks, beef steak nuggets (aka beef jerky), 2 water bottles, ponchos and hiking stick (not shown). My Mini Me had a Camelback which holds water in a form of a backpack. Also, not shown, is my bottle of Motrin. For me, personally, I should've also packed a belt! Will tell more about that later...

Hiking supplies (taken w/ cell phone)

Initially I was hesitant to carry a hiking stick the entire way due to holding a camera in one hand most of the time, but it was one of the best ideas my son had! They came in handy during the Mist Trail hike.

The Yosemite park fee is $20 per personal auto and is good for 7 days. I made sure to keep my receipt to re-enter for day 2. If you live by the area, I'd guess that paying $40 a year for an annual pass is well worth it. Once you cross the gate, it's another 20 minutes or so before you start to really see photogs in the area. You pass through a tunnel.



Yosemite Tunnel

 

Once you pass the tunnel, you'll see parking immediately on your right or left hand sides. Park! This is where you'll get to see an exceptional view of the valley.



Photogs taking pix of Yosemite's Valley view





Ansel Adam's famous shot of the Yosemite Valley with my Mini Me in the forefront :)



In another 5-10 minute drive towards the valley, you'll come across another pit stop: The Brideveil Falls. This is when you'll need a poncho (which I wasn't aware of and didn't walk over prepared with one). My Mini Me wasn't too happy about us turning away from the falling mist due to my camera. However, I was able to get a few shots of the mist the Brideveil Falls produced. 



Mist falling off of Brideveil Falls



My Mini Me observing the mist off of the Brideveil Falls


Another 3-5 minute drive brings you into another pit stop where you'll see Yosemite Falls on the right and another waterfall on the left.



Yosemite Falls

 And across the street is:



Falls across the street from Yosemite Falls



Another 3-5 minute drive onward on Highway 41, you'll finally come across Yosemite Valley. We headed towards the right seeking parking in Curry Village. The goal for the day was to hike up and down the Mist Trail leading up to the Vernal Falls. It was a high goal given the pain I'd been in. I popped 2 more Motrin before hitting the trail. Below are the photos I took along the way via Nikon D90 and Samsung Galaxy S cell phone (un-tagged w/ my watermark logo).



Trail leading from the Curry Village parking lot over into the Mist Trail



Water run-off from the Vernal Falls



My Mini Me and Myself. :D



Beginning of the Mist Trail





My favorite shot of my Mini Me on the Mist Trail



Aside from walking up the inclined trail, there are these 600 steps leading up to the top of the Vernal Falls. Aside from the entire inclination, I had to hold up my pants manually or they would've fallen around my ankles! Grrrrr! **insert roaring laughter**  :/

My Mini Me making his way up the slippery steps on the Mist Trail (taken w/ cell phone)

The only place you'll have to go under a rock along the Mist Trail (taken w/ cell phone)



Pretty rainbows reflecting off the mist from the Vernal Falls



Vernal Falls :)



This is the last portion of the Mist Trail.... and yeah... I was freaked out! (taken w/ cell phone)



View from the top of the Vernal Falls





Emerald Pool-- located on the same trail passed the Vernal Falls



Nevada Falls-- found on the trail after the Vernal Falls



The mist looked and felt amazing! (taken w/ cell phone)

This is why the hiking sticks came in handy. My legs were shaking most of the way down. (taken w/ cell phone)

Mountain Room Restaurant in the Yosemite Lodge -- where we had a delicious dinner ♥ (taken w/ cell phone)

You can see the Yosemite Falls from the back windows. Very nice ending to an amazing day. :)

Day 2 (May 21):

This day also began later than expected.... about 3 hours later. Woops! We stopped by the same Fruit Stand on the way to Yosemite and this time added Oakhurst's Subway to grab some sandwiches to eat in the park. As we were driving, we suddenly came to an abrupt stop. It turns out that even MORE folks visit Yosemite on the weekend. See below:



Let's all go to Yosemite!! (taken w/ cell phone)

Traffic behind me... (taken w/ cell phone)

We spent around 30 minutes or so waiting to get into the southern entrance. (taken w/ cell phone)

Despite all of the traffic, we got to rent bikes!! Woo hoo! (taken w/ cell phone)

Renting bikes was my Mini Me's idea. I wasn't sure that we'd be able to rent bikes because they're available on a first come first served basis. With the traffic we ran into, it being a weekend and us leaving Fresno super late, I was a little worried. But as quickly as the worry arrived, the worry left when my Mini Me said, "Don't worry, mom. We'll be able to rent bikes. You'll see." :) We rode around all of the valley and got to see more than I had expected to see. One of our first bike stops was Mirror Lake.



On the way to Mirror Lake




Mirror Lake


Surprisingly, I was a little disappointed with this lake. I'd assumed it was much larger than it truly is.



Rock sculpture area found straight across from Mirror Lake





Our bike rentals posed in front of the meadows.





My Mini Me running through the Meadow :)





My bike rental :)





Ansel Adams Gallery





The trail leading into the Lower Yosemite Falls





The bridge full of photogs taking shots of the Lower Falls





The Lower Yosemite Falls view from the bridge (You should wear your poncho or you'll get soaked)





Oh dear... there were several deer roaming around





By eavesdropping, I heard another photog say there was a hidden pond w/ a great reflection. Sure was!





This..... is my favorite shot. :)


On our way out of Yosemite, we headed over to the Mariposa Grove to see the tall, tall sequoia trees. This place is 2 miles from the southern gate. :)


Mariposa Grove..... pretty Sequoia trees





My Mini Me was freezing at this point of the trip....... **chattering teeth**





They were ginormous!





I spy something tall and green!


On my drive home (while my Mini Me was sleeping), I stopped at this bar-b-que place in Oakhurst for some dinner on the go. It wasn't too bad. ;)

Todd's Cookhouse Bar-b-que (taken w/ cell phone)

Overall, the entire weekend I spent it pain free. I really thank whatever entity is out there watching over us. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had this amazing experience. I chose not to cancel the trip in hopes that all would go well and it did. Everything happens for a reason, right? My guess is that our late starts each morning were so that we could savor the local fresh fruit and possibly avoid a strange mishap along the way.

I'd love to go back to visit Yosemite someday. Mainly because another area of it (Glacier Point) was closed due to the snowfall they had the previous weekend. The Half Dome was also closed, but I'm not so sure I'd attempt that climb quite yet.

I truly recommend vising Yosemite. It's so much more majestic in person. Not to mention it smells wonderful! ♥

Murphy's Law at work?

Apparently, I pulled a calf muscle. This is my self diagnosis due to the assumed leg cramp I had every morning since Wednesday became a full-fledged blown out pain the entire day yesterday. A cramp feels like the muscles overlap each other by accident. I can stop a cramp by reversing the angle my foot; contracting the muscle into the opposite direction. This time, that trick didn’t work.


So, how did I pull a muscle? I don’t know. It could’ve been a combination of things that I did. I’d started running up and down my stairs repeatedly in order to prepare my legs for inclined hiking AFTER the cramp episodes began. That probably made the pulled muscle worse. I also wore heels two days in a row to work which probably made everything worse, too. Not to mention I did the Ab ripper from P90x which requires elevating your legs off the ground. But the initial pull? I really don’t know.

My Mini Me’s prescription was, “No more exercises, mom! Cuz then you can’t hike!” lol It’s funny, but not so much. I have 3 to 4 days to heal before we hit Yosemite’s trails. Lesson learned. Do not try to “exercise” before a major physical function. I’ll pick up "exercising" after we return.

Let’s just say I’m grunting and groaning like an old lady limping down the halls at work. I rubbed some Theragesic on my calf and my Mini Me said, “Smells like grandma.” Good times. Did I go see a doctor? Nope. Just crossing my fingers for now.

Friday the 13th ♥

It's Friday the 13th! Muah ha ha ha! What does that mean? The reverse in my world. I actually see Friday the 13th as a lucky day.

The fear of Friday the 13th is called friggatriskaidekaphobia. The whotie whatie? Yeah. That. How can any Friday be a bad thing?

I used to work with a woman who's fear of Friday the 13th was so great that she would refrain from going to work and hide out at home. So, again, I ask, How is that a bad thing? She's taking a day off from work? lol 

Factoid: What I can tell you is that I've never seen the movie(s). **gasp** Why? You ask? Mainly because I'm a chicken. Pak pak pakuh. True story. I suspect Mr. Freddy Kruger is at fault for my horror flick dismissal. Yep. I blame him.

Anyhow, there's tons of information on the "scary" urban legends related to today's date found here. I think the only one that's the most interesting is that many tall buildings don't have a 13th floor. But they do! It's called the 14th floor!! **pa dum tss**

Happy Friday! ♥

Travel Goals

Subway -- Zion National Park by JB Crane

My bucket list is full of places I'd like to travel to. It seems that once I scratch one off the list, several more have been added. I haven't made my trip to Yosemite, yet, and I'm already researching Zion National Park in Utah. May as well start early so that I can figure out a budgeting plan. Besides, I need to take advantage that my Mini Me still wants to hang out with me. :)

The above photo is one of the many reasons I absolutely love Flickr. Although there is some valuable information on websites about parks or locations, photos can say so much more. I'm also a big fan of blogs because they relay secret treasured spots that only locals would know of in certain places. It all requires a little bit of research in order to fall into these photos or blogs.

We'll have to see what the future holds in my traveling endeavours. ♥

All Aspects of ME

Narcissism, as in excessive or erotic interest in oneself and one's physical appearance. noun

Believing that the world revolves around you is supposed to be a bad thing, right? And yet, it does; at least for me. The world I’ve built for myself revolves around the choices I’ve made. If I failed a class, who cared? Me! If I changed jobs, who cared? ME! If I moved, who cared? ME! I chose to pass or fail. I chose to change jobs. I chose to move. I chose the world I’m in whether I like it right now or not.

My world isn’t like your world. I like different things. I like different people that suit my world. Within my world, are mini worlds like my creative venues, my social venues, my jobs, my family, my home, schools I’ve attended and so on. Not everyone will belong to each of my mini worlds and that’s quite alright. This is why we all have different friends in different aspects of our lives. We’re all different.

However, it becomes a problem when I become involved with someone that doesn’t find any of my mini worlds interesting. If a friend is interested in visiting one of my mini worlds, it’s ok. They’re just a friend. BUT, when that significant other refuses to visit those mini worlds of mine, they become less avid travelers in my entire world. Their lack of traveling becomes a major turn off.

I express myself through various venues that don’t just include my vocal chords. For example, Facebook, Blogger and Flickr, have become social venues where I can, as my blog description states, “Basically, it'll be a place to rant and take a load off.” Those venues are part of my mini worlds that revolve around me. If I’m involved with someone that fails to encourage or support my many creative loves, then guess what? I lose interest in that person.

My first interest is of myself and then of others. My success means the success of my child. The more I have, the more I can give. It’s still about ME and my world. Right? I mean in reality, who feels good when a donation exchange happens? Both parties! The donator and the receiver.

Here’s the thing that future travelers have to understand: I have several aspects of me. I like to do A LOT of different things and have A LOT of different goals. If you have zero hobbies or interests of your own, then that’s your choice. My world may not be good enough for you or be too complex. The choice is this, do you want to know all aspects of me or just belong to a mini world and be a friend?

Additionally, if that special person has interests outside of your own, you may learn something from them and gain a new interest. :)

Take a Hike!

I can't pinpoint the exact moment I decided that hiking was an activity I enjoyed. However, there are a variety of reasons why it's become an endeavour I have embraced. I was seldom exposed to nature outside my own backyard as I was growing up. I can count on one hand how many places I was taken to before the age of 22 that offered me the opportunity to explore Mother Nature in a different form.

It wasn't until I met my ex-husband that I was truly introduced to hiking while we camped in the Gila Wilderness Forest. I used to think it was funny that people defined a walk or stroll on a trail a "hike", but that's what it was/is. When we moved to Austin, I began to explore the city's hidden trails and treasures on my own.

When we moved back to El Paso, TX, my hiking adventures stopped for a bit due to mommyhood. I really looked forward to the day that I got to take my Mini Me camping and hiking for the first time. I only had to wait a year before we took him camping into the forest. On his first hike, we came across some horses and he was ecstatic!

2003 - Willow Creek, Gila Wilderness Forest

My boredom with the El Paso area encouraged me to seek surrounding venues to explore when my husband (at the time) was willing to explore with me. I felt "safer" hiking with him than alone with my Mini Me. Eventually, there came a time when begging him to go hiking with us became something of a chore. I decided to suck it up and brave the trails on my own with my Mini Me in tow. I slowly became an avid hiker seeking new trails to discover within 100 or so miles from the city. The best part of it all was that my Mini Me fell in love with hiking, too. We've both cleared miles and miles of trails, eaten several pounds of trail mix and beef jerky, chugged liter after liter of water, all while discovering nature's beauty.

His love for hiking is shown in his selection for this year's birthday gift. I asked him if he wanted a birthday party (which I tend to go all out on) or a trip of his choice. After thorough contemplation, he chose to visit Yosemite National Park. I'm so proud! :) We get to hike the same trails and terrain that Ansel Adams did at one time. I get to shoot the marvels of the trip!

His love of nature comes from me and his dad. I'm glad that seed was planted early on because he appreciates nature and respects it for what it has and offers. ♥