Breathtaking Yosemite

Driving up to Yosemite, I commented to Reid, "it seems hard to imagine that an amazing national park is coming up...it's so dry and barren and not very impressive."  But then, we went over a mountain, rounded a curve, and then I gasped.  In front of us laid the Yosemite valley and the famous Half Dome -- the magnificent granite tower.  We hiked in four areas of the park, along the valley floor along meadows enclosed by the granite cliffs, up to crashing, tall and powerful waterfalls, and into the giant Sequoias grove.  The national park was crawling with tourists, many of which were from other countries.  But some trails were less crowded -- we especially liked the Panorama Trail.  It was much drier and warmer in the day than I expected, then cool at night.  We camped along the Merced River in a great spot in the lower Wawona campground.  The stars were brilliant -- especially when we had to get up and head to the bathroom in the middle of the night!  We took one chilly dip in the river to try to get the dust off --- bbbrrrrrr.