Weekend Reflection: Tenaya Lake, Yosemite

Tenaya Lake, Tioga Road, Yosemite

On October 21, 2009, we drove through Tioga Road from Yosemite National Park to Mono Lake at Eastern Sierra. There are many mountain lakes along the way. After the the Olmested Point, which we have the last view to the Half Dome and Yosemite Valley, we had the first glimpse of the Tenaya Lake, so crystal blue and so calm in the distance.

The road took us directly along the lake shore. On the left side, it is the Polly Dome, on the right, it is the Tenaya Peak. The lake has an elevation of 8,150 feet.

Too see more entries of Weekend Reflection click here.

ABC Wednesday: A is for Ahwahnee Hotel

Ahwahnee hotel in the Yosemite National Park is a National Historical Landmark and one of the most distinct resort hotels in the North America. It has been opened for business since 1927.

The wood structures at the outside of the hotel was actually made of stained concrete poured into a mold to make it wood-like. The purpose of it is for the fire prevention. The hotel has 99 rooms and 25 cottages with rates from over $400 to over $1000 per night.

One of the most impressive interior of the hotel is its great dining hall. We went to have breakfast during our visit to Yosemite last October.

This is another view of the dining room with windows open to the garden.

The outside garden is park-like with views to all the major landmarks of Yosemite valley. We met deers wondering casually in surroundings.

To see more entries of ABC Wednesday click here.

Skywatch Friday, Weekend Reflection, Today's Flower: Yosemite Fall

It was the second day of our Yosemite trip. Dave Wymen and Ken Rockwell took us to walk around the Merced river in the very early morning. The frost from the night was just start melting. We could see the morning dew on the spider web of the half frozen wild flowers. Can you see the image inside of the water droplet? It is the Yosemite Fall.

Here is how the Yosemite Fall looks like, not through the water droplet but from the reflection of the water pool of the Merced river.

Here is how the whole scenery looks like, the real thing and the reflection.

We could see Yosemite Fall from most part of the Valley. The early mist was now gone and the sky was crystal blue, the day turned out to be a very fine day.

To see more entries of Weekend Reflection click here.

To see more sky from around the world click here.

To see more flowers from around the world click here.

Today's Flowers #74: Siesta Lake, Yosemite National Park

Siesta Lake is not down at the valley of the Yosemite National Park. It is on the Route 120/Tioga Road at the northern side of the park. We took the Tioga Road to drive from Yosemite to Lee Vining at the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountain to continue our photographic tour with Dave Wymen and Ken Rockwell last October. The road was closed for several days due to snow and was only just opened for traffic the morning that we took the trip. Dave reminded us to look out for this small lake for its beautiful Fall scenery.

Ansel Adams took a picture of the lake in 1958 and captured the peace and serenity of the lake in black and white. Over 50 years later we took advantage of the modern color digital photography to capture the multiple Fall color of the foliage around the lake. If he had the same technical advantage as we have, would he still use the black and white film or he would also try to explore the scenery with color?

To see more flowers from around the world click here.

Skywatch Friday & ABC Wednesday: Y is for Yosemite

Some of our blogging friends know that we made a photographic tour to the Yosemite National Park last Fall with Dave Wyman and Ken Rockwell. It's thus obvious that we have been waiting for the letter "Y" to showcase a few of our photos at Yosemite. From a tourist point of view, there are two vista points to take in the whole Yosemite Valley. One is at "Valley View" and the other is at "Tunnel View". Valley View is by the Merced River, at the bottom of the Valley, close to the exit. The day started with a misty morning but by the afternoon when we reached the Valley View, it was pouring rain, only occasionally, the clouds broke to let in some sunshine.

At the Valley View looking back into the valley, on the left hand side is the giant boulder of "El Captan", which we have shown previously.

At the right hand side we can see the "Cathedral Rocks" with the "Bridalveil Fall" barely visible in the distance.

"Tunnel View" has nothing to do with the tunnel vision. It is on the Route 41 just east of Wawona Tunnel. It looks down into the Yosemite Valley. Whenever we see a mountain scene covered with misty clouds, we often say that it looks like a Chinese painting. The view of Cathedral Rocks and Bridalveil Fall from the Tunnel View indeed looks like a Chinese brush painting.

We were down at the valley when we saw the clouds broke, we had to rush up to the Tunnel View and just in time to have a few minutes of the magnificent view of the valley.

The clouds moved very fast with light changing every minute. A few minutes after we arrived, the whole valley was covered with clouds again. However, we appreciate that the clouds make the view much more dramatic than it would be on a bright sunny day.

We supposed to be able to see the Half Dome in the distance, but we would have to wait till the next day at the Glacial Point where we had a view of the famous rock up close during the sunset. You can see the pictures here in our previous blog.

To see more entries of ABC Wednesday click here.

To see more sky from around the world click here.

2009 Yosemite Trip IV: Skywatch Friday No. 71

Monday, October 19 is the first day of our trip in Yosemite. We woke up early and the whole group had a walk over a meadow near the Curry Village. There was a mist on the ground with the Yosemite Fall in the distance lighted up by the early morning sunlight.

The exposure for the sky and the waterfall and that of the foreground was very different. I took 5 bracketed shots then selected two to do the exposure blending in the Photoshop.

Here is a closer look of the Yosemite Fall in a beautiful morning with just enough of clouds over the mountain and blue sky.

To see more sky from around the world click here.

2009 Yosemite Trip III: ABC Wednesday, R for Red Maple

If you drive into Yosemite National Park in October or November, before reaching the Yosemite Village, by the sentinel bridge, you cannot not notice this brilliant red maple.

However, as I mentioned in our previous blog, most of the trees in the Sierra have yellow leaves in autumn. This is not a native tree. It was brought in from the East by the pioneers.

There were much discussions of whether this tree should be removed since it is not a native species of the Yosemite National Park.

Eventually, the tree is considered as part of the National Park's history and stayed.

We were glad that it stood there to welcome us when we arrived in the late afternoon. It greeted us with the most brilliant fall color under the setting sun.

To see more entries of ABC Wednesday click here.

2009 Yosemite Trip II: Merced River

We participated in the Autumn Lighting - Photography in Yosemite by Dave Wyman. One of the highlight of the trip was, of course, to see the various changes of the color of the leaves in the Yosemite National Park. Here it is our first view of the autumn color. It was by the Merced River before we entered the park.

We would follow and photograph the Merced River throughout our trip, especially inside the valley. This picture was taken at a very calm spot where we were still outside of the park. You can see the autumn color reflected from the water.

Here the water was much more turbulent.

Here you can see the mountain beyond which would lead us into the Yosemite valley.

Here we were almost at the entrance of the park. We loved the speeding warning sign. In reality, many bears are killed by cars inside the park every year.

2009 Yosemite Trip I: Mariposa

Sunday, October 18 we started our trip to Yosemite. We drove from South San Francisco to Yosemite. Mariposa was the last town on Route 140 before we entered Yosemite National Park. The town was fully decorated for Halloween. Here is a figurine welcoming us to the town.

You can see that the town was very old from the gold mining era. We had the feeling that we should arrive on wagon or horse back.

This pair looked like us, Grace and Bradley having a good time.

Well, then this must be our granddaughter, Sailee.

Here we were, the first day of our trip into Yosemite!