Wintry blast from the past

I think this was taken in spring 1988 by our friend Sue. She, her daughter, her cousin (and our friend), her cousin's husband, and Ken and me went up to Yosemite for a night or two. We rented cabins toward the western end of the valley. The first night, a mid-April storm unexpectedly (at least to us) brought snow. A lot of it. There was not much to do the following morning except to walk around and take in the beauty.

L to R: Sue's daughter Rachel, me, Ken. April 1988. No hats; we weren't prepared for snow. Digitzed color photograph by Sue.

Sue and I, the two photographers in the group (at that time), ventured out at first light to ooh and ahh and snap wintry pictures. Later, as the roads and paths got cleared and the snow started to melt, we all went out for a walk from the cabins over to the Ahwahnee hotel and back. Our friend Cheryl tried to be a good sport, but she really did not like the cold and snow.

We all planned to have dinner in a big cafeteria-style place where the cabins were and watch the Academy Awards on the television in the dining room. Our friend Cheryl was really looking forward to that. However, the snowstorm blocked the signal. No awards show. Cheryl was not a happy camper, as it were.

Rock formations

Just some interesting formations around Yosemite's Taft Point overlook. Nothing much to say about them.

Formations around Taft Point, Yosemite. Digitized color slide, August 1998.

Today is market day in Saint-Aignan. We don't really need much, but I want to get some nems (Vietnamese egg rolls) from the Asian vendor. He makes good ones with either chicken, pork, or shrimp. I like to buy a bunch and freeze them. That way we can have a couple to accompany whatever Asian style food we make. Yesterday we made a sweet and spicy grilled lamb (leftover) and veggie (including green beans from the garden) stir fry with Japanese udon noodles. Yum!

Half Dome

The other of the two most recognized mountain formations in Yosemite is Half Dome. I read that it is actually the most recognized mountain in the park. Plate tectonics pushed the granite domes (formed when magma cooled) up toward the surface and erosion helped to expose and continued to shape them. Subsequent glaciation and further erosion carved the valley and, in this case, scraped away a good part of the exposed dome.

Half Dome, Yosemite National Park. Digitized color slide, August 1998.

Our heat wave has broken. Sort of. The temperature really cooled down over night when a weather system moved in. We got very little rain here, but at several times during the night I could see lightning flashes in the distance. The lightning was too far away to hear any thunder. This morning is cool, but the humidity is up. It's supposed to get up to about 30ºC (mid-80s F) this afternoon.

El Capitan

This is one of the two most recognized rock formations in Yosemite National Park (California, USA), El Capitan. I would wager that it's also the most climbed. I'm not a rock climber nor am I much of a hiker. I took these elevation photos from Taft and Glacier points on the south rim, both accessible by car with relatively short hikes from the parking lots.

El Capitan seen from Taft Point (I believe). Digitized color slide, August 1998.

Last night was not a good night for sleeping, at least not for me. The daytime high was up in the mid-30sC and it didn't cool off much at all when night fell. I tried sleeping downstairs (Ken did and said he slept pretty well), but I could not get comfortable on the couch. I ended up back in bed up in the loft by midnight, but continued to toss and turn most of the night. This morning, the temperature on the deck is 23.4ºC (about 74ºF). That's our highest low so far for this heat wave, and it's expected to climb back into the mid-30s again today.

Ken on the edge

Taft Point in Yosemite National Park is high. It's about 2,300 meters (about 7,500 feet) above sea level. The views are dramatic, especially when they include humans for scale. And it can be a little scary. Here are two shots of Ken at the edge.

Ken was "far out," but those other people were even farther. Digitized color slide, August 1998.

Watch that first step! Taft Point with El Capitan in the background, Yosemite National Park. Digitized color slide, August 1998.

Happy dog

This is our dog, Collette, who came camping with us in Yosemite back in 1998. We took her on pretty much every camping trip we did between '92 and our move to France in 2003. She loved riding in the car and sleeping in the tent. And hiking long walks.

Collette and Ken, Taft Point, Yosemite. Digitized color slide, August 1998.

I think this photo is from a walk we took to Taft Point. Park visitors could drive up from the valley and park in a lot, then walk to the point itself for the views back over the valley. Collette was always on leash and was well behaved. We brought her to France with us (of course) and she got to see Paris, Normandy, and a lot of the region where we live. She even went to Madrid with us in 2004.

As you can see, Collette was mostly Shetland Sheepdog (like Tasha), but was mixed with some other breed. We adopted her from the Silicon Valley Humane Society in 1992 when she was picked up as a stray. The vet estimated her age as six months, but her origins remain a mystery.

Note: I realized this morning that I had mis-dated the photos in the last two posts. They were taken in 1998, not 1992. I've corrected them.

Yosemite Falls

These are the Upper Yosemite Fall and the Lower Yosemite Fall. If I can trust the file labels I made, the photo is taken from Taft Point on the southern rim, overlooking the valley and the north rim where the falls are. We did some light hiking (from parking lots) to both Glacier and Taft Points that day.

Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls and the Merced River Valley. Digitized color slide, August 1998.

I think we were lucky to see these falls (and the others) with so much water in them, especially in August. They weren't flowing at springtime levels, but they were nonetheless impressive.

Vernal and Nevada

There are two waterfalls in this photo. The lower is Vernal Fall and the upper is Nevada Fall. If my photo labels are correct. I think we were up near Glacier Point when I took this picture in 1998. Later, in 2005, my friend Sue and I spent a day hiking the trail that climbs up to both falls. Our goal was to get to the top of Vernal Fall where it spills over the edge. We made it, ate our picnic lunch, then we hiked back down. I posted about it in the early days of this blog, here.

Vernal Fall, lower center, and Nevada Fall, upper right. Digitized color slide, 1998.

It turns out that yesterday may not have been the hottest of our current heat wave. Today they're saying we'll get up to 36ºC (about 98ºF). I had trouble sleeping last night, but not from the heat. Bert stayed out all night. He ambled in close to breakfast time (for him). Night before last, Tasha threw up in her pen, so I took her out and let her sleep on the bed. I think that was because of the heat. Last night I took the door off the pen so she could sleep where she wanted to. She spent most of the night on the cool wooden floor. Smart dog.

Bridalveil Fall

Yosemite National Park contains several famous waterfalls. Among them is Bridalveil Fall on the southern "rim" of the valley near its western end. The fall's name is self-explanatory.

Bridalveil Fall under a half moon, Yosemite National Park. Digitized color slide, August 1998.

Today is expected to be the hottest day of our current heat wave. Thanks to low humidity, the heat is more bearable, respirable as they say in French, than it might otherwise be. Sleeping hasn't been difficult so far. We have a big fan in one of the loft windows to blow out hot air and bring in cooler air during the night. It works pretty well.

And now for something completely different

Ken was doing some organizing recently and he came across a disk of my slides that he had scanned many moons ago. The photos are from a camping trip to California's Yosemite National Park that we took with our friend Sue back in August 1998.

Yosemite Valley. Digitized color slide, August 1998.

This image is looking east into Yosemite Valley from a view point at the valley's western end. On the left is the top of El Capitan and in the middle left is Half Dome. I'll try to remember (with Ken's help) some of the details of the trip for further posts. I know we had our dog Collette with us because she's in some of the photos. She enjoyed many camping trips in California and Nevada with us back in the '90s.