How To Get Me Away From My Garden

So, if you really couldn't care less about what pulls me away from the garden at the height of the planting season for a bit of R&R you should skip this post, there's NOTHING about gardening here.

My husband and I drove most of the way across the state in pouring rain on Sunday. Not really an auspicious start to a few days of outdoor activities with a couple of good friends. Not long after we got to our destination the rain turned to snow. . .  Fortunately, we had a cozy room booked at a place with big roaring fireplaces and a good restaurant. I had also packed a big fat page turner just in case I decided that I didn't want to deal with the elements (I am a fair weather outdoor adventurer).

Monday morning the scheduled activity was a guided photography walk with my friend J-. Here's the best shot I managed to get.

Halfway through the walk it started to snow again and I put my camera away. The next few hours were spent in front of the fire with that page turner.  The guys were less sensitive about the cold than J- and I and spent the afternoon slogging through the snow on a hike. J- and I got out again that afternoon in hopes that the clouds would part and we could get in a good walk. Mother nature did not cooperate, it started to snow again.

The next day, the sun was out! Hooray, time for a group hike. Here's my husband at the trailhead.

By now you've figured out where we were. What the sign doesn't tell you is that that 3.5 mile hike also takes you up more than 2500 feet. There were many views of Half Dome on the way up.

You can see what a spectacularly beautiful day it was. There was one lookout where you could see the upper fall, the middle cascade and the lower fall, but it was impossible to get it all into one photograph. The peak flow for Yosemite falls occurs in May but I think the flow this week was pretty close. What the photographs can't convey are the roar of the falls cascading down the cliffs. Our destination for the hike was the high point to the left of the top of the upper fall.

Upper Fall

Middle Cascade and Lower Fall

Here's a first for this blog, a photograph of me. I'm on the right and that's my friend J- on the left. The baggy hiking pants, gaiters, and funky hat don't make for the most flattering photograph, but so be it, I don't ever seem to be in front of the camera when I'm looking my best.

I took a lot of photographs of Half Dome. Who could resist? Our next trip to Yosemite will probably involve a hike to the top of Half Dome.

A glimpse of the very top of Upper Yosemite Fall from our destination. I was really happy to have the funky gaiters and warm water proof boots going through the snow at the top of the trail. It was amazing to see the various types of footwear on the hikers that day, including one guy in loafers. My feet were warm and dry.

Here's my husband and our friend B- (J-'s hubby) at the top. J- turned back when the trail got too snowy, she was leery of re-injuring a previously sprained ankle. What a spectacular view!

The next day my husband, J- and I took a beginning lesson in rock climbing.  B- didn't need a lesson, he's an experienced and passionate climber of rocks, ice, and mountains . . . big mountains. At the moment he is training to climb Denali, he's taking the difficult way up, he's good . . . Anyway, here's a couple photos of me on my first day ever of rock climbing.

I had a blast and am ready to do it again! My husband and J- both said "that was fun but I don't need to do it again". I was incredibly surprised by how much fun I had, I always used to think that rock climbers were nuts. Not only that but I don't really like heights. B- said that he would take me climbing again sometime this summer - I can't wait.

The next day we had to leave so we just took one quick hike to Mirror Lake in the morning. I didn't feel like lugging my camera with me so there's no photographs to show. Now I'm home again, back to the garden,  catch up on the blogging. Those peppers really need to be planted.