YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

 I have heard about Yosemite National Park my whole life,  it always seemed like a faraway place that I would probably never get to visit.  But, here we are less than 100 miles from Yosemite National Park! This is why I love this life!  The reports given on TV finally said that most of the roads were open in Yosemite.  So, on Thursday, June 8, we went to Yosemite! It was only supposed to be in the 60's up there,  a cool and cloudy day,  we could leave Maggie and Marlee in the truck if we wanted to get out and explore. I made us some sandwiches and we set out pretty early.

We were headed toward those mountains, when we first arrived in April,  they were all snow covered, there were still some that had snow.

We drove through some  gorgeous scenery just to get to Yosemite. 

A few quaint little towns.

We went through some of the Stanislaus National Park.

What a beautiful view this was!

We remember when this fire was burning in 2013.

This was a huge fire! We drove through acres of  burned trees.

It wasn't long and  we were at the entrance to Yosemite.



 Somehow, I was expecting a "more" Grand Entrance!

The best news was there were no lines to get in!
We stopped at the Visitor Center to get a better picture of the Yosemite sign  and a map of the Park.

The Ranger told us we were headed to Yosemite Valley where today,  we would see spectacular waterfalls!

Oh, and I had forgotten bears live here!

We drove through this tunnel.

 And out the other side to see our first waterfall ....and the Ranger was right, it was spectacular!

We could see Half Dome off in the distance.

We kept driving.....more beautiful waterfalls!

Lupines, the alpine wildflowers  flourish  in Yosemite.

The towering granite cliffs greeted us next!

It was time for lunch and a potty break. We stopped by this babbling brook to eat our sandwiches.

Not so babbling!

Then, it was on to Bridalveil Falls and El Capitan.

We were lucky enough to find a place to park!

After seeing El Capitan it was hard to believe, Alex Honnold, just three days before became the first climber to " free solo"  Yosemite's 3,000 foot El Capitan wall.

We continued on our way. We were headed to Yosemite Village where all the shops, hotels  and restaurants are located.

The traffic was heavier here with lots of people!

We drove through several parking lots, but we were too late, the spaces were all taken!

We saw Upper Yosemite Falls, but didn't get to see Lower Yosemite Falls.

We hope to come back in the Fall before we leave the area and possibly take the Shuttle. We were at the end of the road, so we headed home.

Beautiful Alpine meadows!
We stopped one more time for a potty break for Maggie and Marlee.

Look at the size of these pine cones!

It was time to go.

It was a great day, Maggie and Marlee were so good! Hope we get to go back soon!
A couple of days later the news reported that due to the wettest-year in history as of mid-April 2017, the Yosemite waterfalls were the best they had been in decades!

TRAIN CITY, PICKING CHERRIES AND BLUEBERRIES

Riverbank was founded as a ferry crossing and was established as a town with the coming of the Santa Fe Railroad.  This is downtown Riverbank where some of the history is depicted in this mural and statue of a cable ferry operator. We had regular meeting downtown  throughout the summer with Sue across from this display.

Some of the  streets are named for the Atchison,  Topeka and  Santa Fe Railway,  back in 1946 an original song, sung by Judy Garland won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

We found  Ott Farm  on the Internet where we could go pick  cherries and blueberries in Modesto.

We picked cherries first.

We tried to not get too carried away like we did last year in Washington.....but we picked plenty!  

                                  

And then we headed to the blueberry patch.

We picked 9 pounds of berries.

When we got home this large snake was in the yard!

He was going down the gopher holes!

Only one set of flower seeds came up, the cucumbers were up, so we bought flower  plants.

Everyone says it gets hot here in the summer, but the weather has been beautiful so far. Just to be safe though, we ordered these outdoor solar shades for the two back windows, which are on the west side here.

We were ready for the heat! Bring it on!