Life in and around S.S.F.

We woke up Friday morning to another cool, crisp and bright day. Temperatures rose quickly. I made blueberry pancakes. Premeasured and add water, tah-dah. Sarah gobbled them up. She guarded her food from the surrounding squirrels. No chance of getting a free breakfast today. We had a quiet time and headed to Lower Yosemite Falls. I haven’t been up close to them before. They are even better than Bridleveil Falls. It took about 45 minutes to scramble up to the pool. People were in the water swimming. I rolled up my sweats and got in up to my shins. Way to cold for me. Sarah wanted to get in but there is no way I could stand that water and try to keep her head above water at the same time. It was a very memorable morning. The sky was deep blue, the water was deep blue. We worked as a team to get up and out. I’m so proud of Sarah being able to scramble that far. Next time we will be taking our swim clothes to be able to get in the water. We stopped off at the Yosemite Lodge food court for lunch. I was beat from the heat and concentrating on making sure Sarah didn’t slip, fall and bash her head on a granite boulder. There was a huge squirrel at the food court. It reminded me of an over-fed cat. It could hardly move and used it to an advantage. People would trow even more food to it cause it was “cute”. We finally got back to the car. I thought for sure she would pass out but didn’t. We drove to Wawona Camp Ground and set up the tent, had bacon and eggs for dinner. We went to the easy flowing river and played in the water some more. It was fun throwing rocks in the river. It was cold but more bearable than the falls. I got in up to my waist. We played around for a while and went back to camp. The ranger came and told us about the campfire talk going on later. We went to it and it was fun learning about fire safety and the history of the area. We learned the gray squirrel song: Gray squirrel, gray squirrel, bushy little tale, wrinkle in his nose, stands between his toes, gray squirrel, gray squirrel, bushy little tale. You flap your hands and shake your behind during the song. The ranger got everyone to do it including the adults. We toasted some marshmellows on the dieing fire. Sarah explained to the ranger lady how the squirrel stole her chocolate the night before. Ranger lady ended up giving her a honorary Jr. deputy ranger badge. Sarah wore it with pride the rest of the trip. We headed back to camp and called it a night. Sarah fell asleep instantly. I had broken sleep because the ground wasn’t any softer than the previous nights. Couldn’t wait to be on the space foam bed again.

We left a bit later than expected but who cares, no rush. We drove 101S, 92E, 880N, 580E, 205E and 120E. A little bit of traffic through Livermore and we stopped at Jack in the Box for a bite to eat. Sarah was great riding in the car. We listened to the A’s pummel the Detroit 9-2. Then we switched to the Giants game. They lost of course. A flood of memories came over me as we drove through Mariposa and by Pine Mountain Lake. That’s where I went a few times with Randy Souza and his family. They had a boat and we water-skiied a number of summers. It looked the same even at night. I told Sarah a few of the good times swimming in the lake and all. I wasn’t sure where we were going to sleep. I didn’t have reservations for anywhere. I vacilated between a hotel and the car. Just before the Yosemite gate is a camp site we found. It wasn’t fully occupied so we got to pick from just about any site. I showed Sarah how to light a propane lantern, set up the tent and which way to lay the sleeping bags. She kept shining the flashlight at every little sound. It was kind of funny. What wuz that? What wuz that? What wuz that? She kept thinking a bear was coming. I reassured her that everything was fine. We hopped into the tent and fell asleep. The stars were amazing. So clear and brilliant.