It was one of the most amusing trips we had. Packed in the minibus we rented from the Enterprise, everyone was excited to start out toward our destination - the Yosemite National Park in Sierra Nevada.
We left LA at 3:00 A.M. Prior to the trip, we had downloaded maps and directions from yahoo so that we wouldn't get lost. One of those said it would take us about 6 hours to get to the park. Mom, my sister-in-law and myself had packed everything we needed to take while the guys kept bickering about having to bring too many for an overnight trip. That's how mothers are, I guess.
The drive from LA all the way to Bakersfield was really pleasant. At one point we had to stop to take a picture of the grass-covered mountain. My daughter had pointed to it and said it looked like a painting. The sun was just starting to rise behind the mountains and it shone a light golden ray on the flowers that bloomed. The pretty wild flowers were like a carpet of different colors - solid colors of purple, pink, yellow, orange and red laid on a background of a combination of light green and emerald. She was right! It looked like a masterpiece from a painter's easel.
About a kilometer or two before reaching the park, we went through a tunnel the end of which was a wonderful sight... the sight of the park with its waterfalls, hills and mountains against a blue and white sky. We stopped once more to marvel at its beauty, take pictures as other tourists did. At the park, we specially liked going to the different waterfall (sorry, the names have escaped my memory) and take pictures and play at the area near each one. We had wanted to go to the Glacier Point but were told it was closed that time because the ice was already melting. Too bad. There was an area where we had come face to face with a deer. It didn't move and was quietly observing us. We, on our part, did not move either lest we scare the creature and send it running away. After it had drank from the spring and left, we went straight forward only to come back soon because a sign read "beware of mountain lions" and we heard a loud roar. It was probably cranky and had been awaken from sleep.
The one thing that we missed was to camp at the park itself. You couldn't blame us. We were tourists from the Philippines and were not accustomed to having bears around. Yes, bears. They could smell food a mile away and they were said to ransack any camp that has food with them. We are Filipinos and there couldn't have been any destination that we could enjoy without food to have there! And no bears could ever have stopped us from eating. How I'd wish they had sniffles. haha! But, little did we know that there was a solution to this. We could have used bear-proof containers. They had it at the park. Well, at least now we know. Perhaps on our next trip we could camp and fish there.
We spent the night at the Shiloh Hotel which was about 5 kilometers or so away from the park. The following day we got up early, checked out and headed back to the park again. After lunch, we were on our way back to L.A. but we know we'd find ourselves back there... soon... I hope.
2 comments:
It takes months (6 or more) to reserve a camp site inside the park. However, if you do not have a reserved site on the day you want to camp, you can go and line up very early at the reservation office and hope for cancellations. Usually, if you are within the first five or six in line, you can get a spot.
Hi Bert. That was quick. Thanks for the tip. I didn't realize it was gonna be that hard to get a reservation.
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