After our morning spent visiting Mono Lake, we decided to cut through Yosemite National Park on our continued road trip to Portland, Oregon. Neither Dan nor I had visited Yosemite National Park previously, yet we were familiar with pictures of the famous El Capitan, an enormous granite cliff that attracts rock climbers from around the world. Yosemite National Park seemed too iconic to miss.

Prior to officially entering the park, we saw dramatic mountains and a beautiful lake.

We entered at Tioga Pass, paying a 30.00 fee. The fee is per vehicle. I think that we must have entered on the quiet side of the park, as the deeper we went, the more traffic we encountered. We visited the day after Labor Day, and many visitors had extended their three day weekends.

After entering the park, the landscape included extensive fields, tall pines, and more mountains.

We pulled over for some dramatic mountain shots.

And another stop at another lake. This one was vast, much larger than the lake near the entrance to the park. To be honest, it could have been a very large river, rather than a lake. I’m not sure. The water was crystal clear, and I felt envious of the people having a lazy day in lounge chairs on the shore. I wish we had both more time to stay in Yosemite and the forethought to have packed a few chairs and a picnic. The weather was crisp, but sunny. A perfect way to cap off the end of summer.

As we continued our drive, the rocks became even more dramatic.

We drove up into the mountains with amazing views of the valley below.

Finally, we reached Yosemite National Park’s star attraction, El Capitan. It was crowded, as if the entire population of park visitors converged into this one area. It was so jammed, that we spent an hour driving around a loop in an attempt to find parking and decided to bail on the idea. We did get to see the magnificent El Capitan, and stand in its shadow, but since Yosemite was an unplanned stop, we had to keep moving. it’s hard to see it in these pictures, but there were plenty of climbers on the mountain, which was incredible.

Our drive through Yosemite National Park took a few hours, longer because of the traffic near El Capitan. We thought that it was stunning, but it Yosemite didn’t pack the same punch as some of the other national parks that we have visited, such as Bryce and Zion.

I am happy that I finally visited Yosemite National Park. It had been on my “California Bucket List,” and visiting was especially sweet, as I moved to Colorado a few months later. I always think of the things that I should make a point to see now, things somewhat close to Colorado, for example, the Black Hills of South Dakota or Yellowstone National Park. In her early 20’s, my mom lived in Virginia for two years, and one of her biggest life regrets was not visiting Washington DC. I want to make sure that I see it all!

We drove through the Stanislaus National Forest and into the charming town of Groveland for lunch. in Groveland, we went to Dog Gone Good, a hot dog stand set up in the front yard of a person’s home. It was odd and delightful. The hot dogs were delicious and a good value. We would definitely eat here again, if we ever found ourselves in the area. I highly recommend it.

I’ll end this post with a beautiful sunflower that was in the garden of Dog Gone Good. I can’t think of a better symbol for the last days of summer.