YOSEMITE

My wife and I had talked about seeing Yosemite at close to flood stage with all the falls going great guns. However, then we drove into the park and to get anywhere towards Yosemite Falls in person you have to wait (today at least) about 1 1/2 to 2 hours in Traffic trying to get there. If you are a Work Truck or a bus you can used the right lane but if you are any vehicle carrying less than 10 people you cannot use the right lane so you are left waiting up to 3 hours they said to get anywhere. So, keep this in mind regarding having to go to the bathroom and eating and kids and everything else. Also, maybe call the Ranger station to see if it is still this way. They said it is road construction on a Roundabout in the Valley and that might be the case but anyway you look at it it was a long wait for everyone.

IF they are still working on this thing I can't even imagine just how bad Memorial Day is going to be here TRaffic Wise. I came across on 140 mostly and up through where the Merced River is right along the road for miles and miles. It was incredibly impressive the rapids and rubber boats with about 8 to 10 people or so were running the intense rapids on the Merced River right now. Other times of the year it might not be safe to do this but for experts this looked to be a good time for right now even though when I saw a solo Kayaker I worried that he was doing this alone because one of the guys from my senior class in high school (a good friend) died in rapids by getting sucked under for too long in an undertow next to a big rock underwater. So, being alone running rapids is never a good idea even if you are an expert. This is one reason why I don't ski alone at age 69 because it is no longer safe enough to go into the back country alone for me on skis. maybe if I was single with no family maybe then I would but with a wife and 3 grown kids I wouldn't want to do that to them. So, I have to be responsible now at 69 more than I would in my 20s before age 26 when my first child was born. I gave up rock climbing in Yosemite back then when my girlfriend then wife was pregnant because I needed to be alive to raise my son right.

But, Yosemite falls is like a constant freight train of water going over all the time and you could hear the echoes of thunder from Yosemite Falls almost anywhere you were in the Valley. It is pretty cool to be here (if you never have to drive anywhere in your own car or truck). But they have shuttle buses that run pretty regularly that aren't stopped by traffic because they have their own lane.