The world is a magnificent place; if you’ve any doubt, take a walk in the woods with a 3-year-old.
“Wait!” my granddaughter said, grabbing my arm. “I need to go first,” Grace clarified, stepping up to take the lead.
“Okay, now you can go, Nana.”
Like mother, like daughter, like granddaughter. She seems to come by her bossy tendencies naturally.
Grace doesn’t miss much, either; then again, being a three-foot-tall bundle of curiosity means the ground floor is certainly easy viewing.
I missed the mushrooms.
“Wait!” my granddaughter said, grabbing my arm. “I need to go first,” Grace clarified, stepping up to take the lead.
“Okay, now you can go, Nana.”
Like mother, like daughter, like granddaughter. She seems to come by her bossy tendencies naturally.
Grace doesn’t miss much, either; then again, being a three-foot-tall bundle of curiosity means the ground floor is certainly easy viewing.
I missed the mushrooms.
The are layers and layers of exploration to pique Grace's curiosity.
Well, that’s not entirely true. There was no missing this monster growing on the side of a tree trunk. It was the biggest mushroom I’d ever seen. Eat your heart out, portabella!
Holy houby!
On the other hand, these babies nestled among the carpet of leaves beneath our feet escaped my attention. Fortunately I had Grace leading the way.
Gracie and I made a good pair covering all things high & low.
Yes, indeed, the world is a magnificent place, especially when viewed through the lens of a 3-year-old full of wonder and curiosity.
I felt like a 3-year-old during my first-ever visit to Yosemite National Park last month. Alas, if you can’t travel with a 3-year-old to impart wonder (for those of us a bit more jaded when it comes to life experience), simply choose a destination so magnificent, so sublime, so beautiful, that you’re reduced to childish wonder.
I felt like a 3-year-old during my first-ever visit to Yosemite National Park last month. Alas, if you can’t travel with a 3-year-old to impart wonder (for those of us a bit more jaded when it comes to life experience), simply choose a destination so magnificent, so sublime, so beautiful, that you’re reduced to childish wonder.
Boys and their toys!
Plenty of wonder from the top of Yosemite’s Olmsted Point.
This is my only picture of Half Dome. We had 2 days in Yosemite; 2 weeks might have been enough.
In every direction, nature said, “Look at me! Look at the last 92 million years and tell me age isn’t a thing of beauty.”
Spoken like a true grand dame!
Spoken like a true grand dame!
This is all the wrinkles Olmsted Point had to show for 92 million years of wear and tear; impressive!
I was rendered speechless (yes, another novel experience for me) as I contemplated the powerful forces behind all this beauty: the uplifting and tilting in the earth’s crust that created the Sierra Nevada, the steep canyons, and the gorges; the relentless movement of rivers of glacial ice, thousands of feet thick, thrusting their way through granite over eons of time,
A little Retinol every night and those fine lines would be gone.
leaving debris scattered like marbles in an abandoned game of Ringer when the glaciers melted;
No Cat's Eyes, Aggies, Corkscrews or Clearies at Olmsted Point; just granite.
the creation of lakes and waterfalls during those warming periods following glaciation;
Lake Tenya is named after Cheif Tenaya, who was captured here on May 22, 1851.
the rooting of trees despite crushing adversity;
Reminds me of a few setbacks in my life.
the development of meadows that gradually emerged as sediment reduced the lakes to streams and grasses tiptoed with delight through the fertile valley floor.
No more wondering where all that bottled water comes from.
It was all so magnificent, so amazing, so grand.
Cloud's Rest on the left; the back half of Ansel Adam's famous Half Dome on the right.
This lookout, Olmsted Point in Yosemite’s high country, is located on the Tioga Road, also known as CA Highway 120, approximately 29 miles from Yosemite’s east-side park entrance. The east-side park entrance is just outside the California town of Lee Vining, home to Mono Lake’s bizarre Tufa Towers. The sweeping view of Yosemite Valley below included Cloud’s Rest to the left (fortunately, no clouds the day of our visit), the back, rounded side of Half Dome on the right.
Olmsted Point was named for Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903), and his son, Frederick, Jr., when Tioga Road opened to automobile traffic in 1961. Olmsted senior was considered the father of American landscape architecture and best known for his design of New York’s Central Park.
Olmsted senior was chairman of the first commission to manage Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove and wrote a report recommending a policy for the care and protection of Yosemite’s scenery and wildlife. It is considered a classic national park treatise. His son (1870-1957) collaborated with the National Park Service and was a member of the Yosemite Advisory Board, a group of experts who helped park managers solve problems. Frederick, Jr. maintained a lifelong commitment to conservation, contributing the guiding language in legislation establishing the National Park Service.
Olmsted Point offered one of the easier hikes in Yosemite; okay, not quite as easy as our hike through Tuolumne Meadows earlier that morning. A half-mile hike roundtrip with a change in elevation of 100 feet (easy climbing, even for me!) took us to a outlook beyond the trees partially obscuring the view from Olmsted Point proper. Thirty minutes is a heartbeat in these parts.
Like Grace, the guys (Jimmy, my brother Chris, and my son Ryan) felt obliged to lead the way (my bossiness has mellowed with age); I let my child-like wonder be my guide, which was really driving us all to move at our own pace, in our own direction.
Olmsted senior was chairman of the first commission to manage Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove and wrote a report recommending a policy for the care and protection of Yosemite’s scenery and wildlife. It is considered a classic national park treatise. His son (1870-1957) collaborated with the National Park Service and was a member of the Yosemite Advisory Board, a group of experts who helped park managers solve problems. Frederick, Jr. maintained a lifelong commitment to conservation, contributing the guiding language in legislation establishing the National Park Service.
Olmsted Point offered one of the easier hikes in Yosemite; okay, not quite as easy as our hike through Tuolumne Meadows earlier that morning. A half-mile hike roundtrip with a change in elevation of 100 feet (easy climbing, even for me!) took us to a outlook beyond the trees partially obscuring the view from Olmsted Point proper. Thirty minutes is a heartbeat in these parts.
Like Grace, the guys (Jimmy, my brother Chris, and my son Ryan) felt obliged to lead the way (my bossiness has mellowed with age); I let my child-like wonder be my guide, which was really driving us all to move at our own pace, in our own direction.
No mushrooms along the way, but I did spot a lizard lounging;
Descendant of the dinosaurs?
noted some classic trail markers left by former hikers;
It's that-a-way!
marveled at the tenacity of the trees to eke out an existence among all this granite;
The Lone Ranger keeps a eye on Yosemite Valley below.
and simply admired (with child-like wonder) the breathtaking view from 8,400 feet above sea level.
Native Indians called Lake Tenaya Py-we-ack, which meant Lake of the Shining Rocks.
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