Yosemite!

On Sunday I think I had one of the best days of my whole life.  My amazing sweetheart considers Yosemite one of his favorite places on this earth.  His birthday was on Monday, May 5th, so he made arrangements for us to visit Yosemite for the weekend.  He truly loves Liesl and respects how special she is to me so he searched high and low to find a nice dog friendly hotel. He made reservations for us to stay at the cottages at the Tenaya Lodge (on the South side of the park), which I can not recommend highly enough.  It was the perfect place to stay and I have to say that they are so accommodating to doggies. 

 

I am ashamed to say that as a forty year resident of California, I had never been to Yosemite.  My sweetheart was the perfect tour guide.   As we went through the tunnel, he mentioned that we had to stop for a moment when we exited the tunnel and he brought me to this view.  It was so stunning, magnificent, majestic and huge.  I sat down because I was so overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of it and started to cry.  It was so amazing.  Suddenly I totally understood why people I know love Yosemite so much.  I went with no preconceived notions as to what I was going to see.  I had hoped to see Half Dome or something out of an Ansel Adams photo, but here it all was.  We stood in the spray of Bridal Veil Falls, and had a pick-a-nick in shadow of Half Dome.  It was truly one of the best days of my life.

 

What made it the best was the Liesl was with us and she went to every site, energized and excited.  She walked all over Yosemite without missing a beat.  The valley floor of Yosemite is dog friendly and there were lots of dogs there.  There were also lots of people missing their dogs that were back home, so Liesl got lots of pets and love from people from all over the world.  So, of course, Liesl through that Yosemite was all about her.  LOL.  She just started to think that everyone wanted to pet her and befriend her.  We laughed all the way to the car because at the end of the day, we were crossing the lanes of traffic outside of Yosemite Falls.  She decided that the park ranger who was directing traffic must want to pet her because she is so adorable.  So she went trotting up to the ranger (yes, she was on a short leash) whereupon the ranger said, "What a cute dog!" and started rubbing Liesl's little head.  Afterwards, Liesl pranced to the car, with her ears back.  We were cracking up.  She slept for twelve hours straight after we got back to the hotel and she ate her dinner.

 

Both of us have been working some pretty long, stress filled days since the beginning of the year.  We have been exhausted.  Yosemite is so peaceful. so energizing, and so special.  Words truly can not describe it.  The two days we spent there were such a blessing.  One day was hot and sunny and the second was dark, cold and cloudy.  It looked totally different.  Here is the same view on the second day.

 

 

Yosemite is truly a special place.  Everyone should see it at some point in their lifetime!