Posted by Karen on 10-May-2009
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The golf course at Wawona had been calling Vic’s name since our visit last year, so he went to play a round of golf this morning and we girls went and checked out the Yosemite Pioneer History Center. I’ve been to the history center before, but can visit it many more times. It’s a really lovely and peaceful setting next to the river and the buildings on display are all in really good condition.
After golf and lunch, we saw a truck drive over a road that cut through the golf course and we wondered where it went, so we went that way too. The road turned out to be the Chowchilla Mountain Road, a former stage coach route, now a rutted, dirt road that takes out out of the park. We followed the road over hill and over dale, next to the flowing river and finally made our way to the summit of Devil’s Peak. Only a couple of tough spots where there was still snow on the road, but we made it. We met a bicyclist at the summit and while we marveled at his strenght to peddle up here, he was surprised we made it in the SUV… LOL! There is a fire watchtower at the summit, but it was still closed and nobody was home. There is also supposed to be a geocache up there, but we all looked and couldn’t find it. 
Back to the valley and pizza at Curry Village (yumm).
Posted by Karen on 09-May-2009
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And it’s a moonbow and waterfalls in Yosemite this weekend. Tersha, Vic, Brianna and I arrived last night and settled into Housekeeping Camp. This was my first time saying at Housekeeping instead of Curry Village and it wins hands-down (if you can get a reservation there). It’s got beds of a sort (bring you own padding and bedding), a firepit and you can cook food there, whereas you can’t at Curry Village. After we settled in, I headed over to Cooks Meadow around 11pm to try and capture a picture of the Yosemite Falls Moonbow. The moonbow is a phenonemon that occurs only under the right conditions of a full moon at the right angle and enough water in the waterfall to produce enough mist for a rainbow. During the day, the naked eye can see the rainbows, but at night they appear silverly and can be seen with time-lapsed photography. So I joined the many dozens of people with their tripods along the path in Cooks Meadow and took a few photos and got one I like. 
This morning we headed up to Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias so that Tersha could get her big tree fix. We stopped at many of the tourist pullout spots on the way because this was Brianna’s first trip to Yosemite and we had to show her all the wonderful postcard views that we could. We took the open-air tram tour of the grove this time and enjoyed it quite well. Afterwards, on the way back to camp, we stopped at Bridalveil Falls, donned our rain ponchos, walked to the base of the 620 foot waterfall and took a shower! At this time of year with the waterfall at peak flow, there is no way to get near the base without getting drenched and we enjoyed evey minute of it!
Posted by Karen on 24-Apr-2009
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A while back, I’d heard about the Castles & Kites Celebration in Bodega Bay, so I booked a campsite on the beach at Doran Regional Park for this weekend. I invited Tersha and Vic and they came up with Brianna and their new tent trailer, which was really great because it was so windy I don’t think my tent would have stood upright. Friday night was spent cozily out of the wind inside the trailer playing cards and hanging out. Early Saturday morning I took a walk along the beach and enjoyed photographing some sand textures. On the harbor side I met some guys digging for clams and they showed me how to spot where the clams were buried–look for a little hole and them stomp and watch for the water to spurt out; very neat. We then all headed back down the beach to watch people fly kites and build sandcastles. We set up our chairs near the roped off area used by the pros and watched them launch some huge kites. Another gentleman we met had plenty of kites and explained the difference between sport kites and beer kites to us. Sport kites require constant handling, while beer kites just need to be launched and then you have a beer while it flies.. LOL! We took a little drive over to the other side of the bay, but it was really too windy to enjoy much time outside, so back to the calm of the trailer for dinner and some relaxation. Sunday was an enjoyable drive home along Highway 1.
GPS Stats: • Odometer: 3.80 miles • Total Time: 6:04 • Moving Time: 1:41 • Moving Average: 2.2 mph • Overall Average: 0.6 mph
Posted by Karen on 04-Jan-2009
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Tersha, Vic, Brianna and I headed out early in the morning and drove over to Natural Bridges State Beach to see the monarch butterflies that winter there. According to the website,
The park’s Monarch Grove provides a temporary home for over 100,000 Monarchs each winter. From mid-October through the end of February, the Monarchs form a “city in the trees.”
and I’ve seen pictures of the butterflies clustered in trees, and was hoping to see that that sight. Unfortunately, we didnt’ see any clusters, but we did see Monarch butterflies holding perfectly still while it was too cold still for them to fly. On the path, we met a researcher that was doing a count of the butterflies and he explained how the death of the pine trees in the refuge were affecting the eucalyptus trees that the butterflies nest in, so the butterflies weren’t coming there in droves anymore *sad*. Next we walked over to the beach and checked out the remaining natural arch that gives the beach its name. Herons, seagulls and cormorants were also hanging out on the beach. After lunch, we drove north to the Año Nuevo State Natural Reserve for our elephant seal tour at 1pm. This is my third time here and I have yet to see the bull fighting that I’d like to see in action… oh well, maybe next time. There were a few seal pups on the beach, but they weren’t in full force yet. It was a nice sunny day, so the seals weren’t too terrible active today. On the way out, we decided to walk along the beach instead of the trail and we did get to see a couple of elephant seals close up on the beach. Everyone kept a respectful distance and didn’t disturb them. After watching the surfers for a bit, we started home, but we just had to pull over to enjoy the gorgeous sunset in Half Moon Bay.
