Yosemite Dreams

Anticipating more traffic nightmares, we left the Ahwahnee Hotel at 6:30 this morning. The sun was rising over the granite walls warming the rain soaked meadows so that the mist seemed to suspend the valley floor in a dreamy blur. There was nobody about except for a few photographers setting up their tripods and unloading their huge lenses. Deer grazed nearby, unphased.

It was so beautiful that despite the rain and the crowds and the lack of communication, we felt a familiar sadness at leaving a truly special place, and are already planning our next trip back, perhaps in the autumn, in the middle of the week, after the kids have gone back to school, their parents have gone back to work and the tourists have returned to their native lands.

Although we have always avoided the valley in the summer, and will redouble our determination never to do it again, we have no regrets about having gone, lots of good stories to tell about good times with old friends and their families, and lots of memories of an unforgettable trip.  Despite all the people, even under the most dire circumstances, almost everybody seemed cheerful…especially the children, who played in the creeks, climbed rocks, rode bikes and did all the things that we remember doing as kids, before the advent of 'devices'. Since I took all of mine and none of them worked, there is a lesson to be learned from that.

There's nothing like a trip to jog one out of blipfoto burnout. I have back blipped the days when I gave up on posting, and will begin tomorrow to catch up on all your kind comments, and your journals. Thank you.