Wednesday in Yosemite National Park

Today we are "in the valley" Yosemite Valley. This is one of the reasons we have national parks in this country. Abraham Lincoln signed a resolution into law in 1867 that made this area a National Park. The valley is surrounded by 2500 foot cliffs and 2000 foot waterfalls. There is snow on the mountains and it is green and 60 degrees in the valley below. The redwoods tower up from the ground and there are trees here that are over two thousand years old. I will get some pictures up when we have a better signal.
We were in San Francisco for three days and toured highway 1 along the coast from Carmel to Big Sur on Friday. The coast here was beautiful and we found out that Big Sur is a river and not one of the huge outcroppings in the ocean along the coast. Carmel was also beautiful and we saw the huge eucalyptus trees that grow in this area along the coast.
On Saturday we moved closer to San Francisco and camped at Castro Valley at the Anthony Chabot Regional Park up on a mountain in the suburbs of San Francisco. This was an oasis in the middle of the sprawl around the city. In the morning the roar of civilization with the traffic and trains and planes would wake us up at about five in the morning.
Sunday we took a BART train into downtown San Francisco from Castro Valley. It dropped us off on Market Street and we had a short walk to the waterfront and the piers. There was a lot of activity here as it was a hub of restaurants and shops of all kinds. Later we met up with Elizabeth and she took us for a tour of Fisherman's Wharf and then into the downtown area. We saw Alcatraz, the Golden Gate bridge and the Bay Bridge. We then walked the mall in downtown and rode a cable car through the city. Liz took us to see her house and then we went out for dinner and caught the train back to Castro Valley for the night.
Monday we drove into town and picked Elizabeth up for a day trip north up the coast. First we drove through Golden Gate Park and then Lands End National Park. We then drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and then north to Point Reyes National Seashore. This whole area was awesome and made us understand why California was such a big draw for people for so many decades. The small towns along the coast north of San Francisco each had their own character and allure.
On Tuesday we started back east and drove into the Sierra Nevada's to Yosemite National Park. The drive up into the mountains had us questioning our sanity at pulling the trailer into the mountains. The winding uphill grade was a test for my driving abilities and the mighty hemi's performance.
Before we got into Yosemite there was a national forest visitor center and we stopped to see if we could really make this trip. They assured us that the worst of the drive was behind us and that there was an easier road to go back off of the mountain. That made us brave enough to keep on going. The road did smooth out after that and we made it into Yosemite. We were on the mountain top the first day and this morning we drove into Yosemite Valley. This place is just incredible and is the essence of the most beautiful mountain area we have ever seen. We spent the day today exploring the shops and visitors center as we had rain off and on. We took the shuttle to see where everything is and are planning to do a lot more exploring tomorrow as the weather is supposed to improve.
Hope everyone is well and doing fine.