About Mariposa County, CA

It has been a very long week for Vegas Bob, and I would like to wish you all a "Good Night" from a very beautiful Lake in the High Sierra's of Yosemite National Park in California.

If you look real close at the mountains in the background you might be able to see snow, over half of those mountains in the background are covered with snow. When this photograph was taken it was about 7:00pm with temperatures of 69 degrees, and there is no way VB was going to pitch a tent at this elevation with temps dropping down in the evening to 43 degrees.

Robert (Vegas Bob) Swetz 8-13-2011

 Vegas Bob spent 6 days in Northern California to relax, rejuvenate, meditate and just take in the fresh air, cooler temperatures and beauty.

 Most of our time was spent at Lake Tahoe playing in the clear cool waters, along the beaches, etc.

 On our way home we stopped at Mono Lake in California, and we also drove into the East Side of Yosemite National Park. While we were at Lake Tahoe, Walker Lake, Mono Lake, Yosemite National Park VB took many photographs and videos like the one above.

 I will be sharing these photographs & videos in the near future at Activerain, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and other networks & websites.

 Robert (Vegas Bob) Swetz  8-9-2011

(Slide Show contains 10 images)

If your car has a sunroof when you first enter Yosemite National Park, it's time to open it. Ditto for a convertible - put the top down. At the park entrance gate, I hit the sunroof button, and simultaneously fresh pine air and sunshine flooded in.

On the road from Sacramento and through California Gold Country, I had been listening to the kicky tunes of Dire Strait's "On Every Street" album. But at Yosemite, I thought it time to move on to the more reverent sounds of Luciano Pavarotti. I cranked the volume up a tad. There is nothing like the tones of Pavarotti's magnificent tenor voice ricocheting off massive mountain peaks, and the trunks of ancient Sequoias, to set the world straight again!

At Yosemite, I had arrived early, before the park gatekeepers had opened the gatehouse windows for the day. A sign instructed, "Enter and Pay Upon Exit." I hit the accelerator and moved on in.

As I mentioned in my Thursday blog, it's been said that Yosemite is the Crown Jewel of all America's National Parks. Having been there on several occasions, I can attest to Yosemite's unparalleled majesty.

This year's long Northern California winter had gifted the Sierra Nevada and Yosemite mountain range, with an enormous snow pack. Previous years of drought had brought Yosemite's waterfalls to a trickle, but they are currently hemorrhaging water.

It was an event I did not want to miss!

It's been said that Yosemite is the Crown Jewel of all America's National Parks. Having been there on several occasions, I can attest to Yosemite's majesty. However, several years of draught had turned down the water spigot on her magnificent waterfalls, and brought them to a summertime trickle.

Four years ago, I eagerly went with out of state visitors to show off Yosemite's grandeur, but found virtually no water plunging from atop Yosemite Falls. It was very disappointing.

But near the end of this long Northern California winter, laden with heavy rains and snowfall, I suspected facets and glimmer would return to Yosemite's waterfall bling once again. When 3 days of rain and snowfall hit the area this past weekend, I knew I needed to drive the 160 miles to witness the wonders likely visited upon my favorite of National Parks.

It was just a day trip. I left at 4:30 am this morning, and returned home awhile ago. I'm weary - but in a good way. I'll finish processing my photos tomorrow, but thought I'd tempt you with this one for now!

There's nothing quite like a vacation to make one start to watch the calendar and think of all the things they need to do before they go. Even when you live somewhere like we are lucky enough to live, a change of pace is immensely exciting.


Camp 6 Employee Housing

I've been lucky enough to live in some really nice places, and one of my favorites is Yosemite. When I lived there before, it cost me $5.95 a week for a shared tent and 3 meals a day at the employee cafeteria. I made $1.35 an hour and when I think of my favorite all time jobs, it is one of them. It was a coming of age for me with each new friend sharing experiences at a time in my life when I was open to suggestions. Yosemite has been a special place for me ever since.

I still stay in touch with the most unlikely life long friend I ever could have imagined, Arvi Dorsey. He is in his 80's now and if I had half the energy he has today, I would consider myself lucky in deed. He is the consumate example of anything you set your mind to is possible. Active in his community, politics and his work, you just can't help but be energized when you are around him. But the thing he always worked the hardest at was friendships and relationships. A master of the handwritten letter and a genuine interest in the 100's of people who crossed his path during his career at Yosemite, he remembers us all and found the good in all of us. Somewhere in a personnel file on the jacket of my file there is an "ADP" on it. Arvi Dorsey Product.

It was just that kind of a place. My first experience with people from all over the planet who were drawn to a magical place. I remember thunderstorms in vast alpine meadows where the entire force of the planet seemed to be right above my head. Summer solstice from a perch above the valley where the majesty of the universe seemed to fit perfectly into the confines of the valley itself. Conversations that went deep into the night that stay with you the rest of your life. It is the place that I began to understand what a huge world it was.



The time I spent there was so important to me that I can trace most of my other significant events in my life to that summer and fall. Arvi took me to Colorado from there and introduced me to a friend whose sister became my wife. Yosemite put me in Colorado which put me in New Mexico which took me to Minnesota and Kansas. All from a letter of interest I wrote from my dorm room in college as my freshman year came to a close. I definately got my postage worth on that letter.

My daughter spent a summer there when she was in college and had her own life shaping experiences. My love of living where I love was something I missed more than I knew in the middle years of my life, and it is one of the great parts of living where I live now. It almost seems as though I have made a full circle and come back to the type of life that I always loved the most.

And now I get to go back there for some time to revisit all those thoughts and memories. A reunion of sorts, we will have our daughter rendevous with us along with some of my oldest friends and we will have some good times and good food. If you ever want to enjoy Yosemite from a place of comfort, it is a little known fact that there are actually privately owned cabins in Wowona and they are well managed and they have a great website.



The Redwoods in Yosemite

Some of my favorite vacations are new places and some of my favorites are old comfortable places... a lot like shoes I suppose. It all depends on what you're in the mood for. This time, I'm in the mood to float down my old friend, the Merced river. To sit on a rock at Inspiration Point and remember the awe I felt the first time I saw it. To circle the valley floor and feel the walls of the valley leap from the floor straight into the clouds. To take some time and make sure I remember how lucky I am for a thousand reasons.

And maybe, if I'm really lucky, to find myself in a grassy meadow with pouring rain with the echo of thunderstorms off the walls of the granite as the clawed hands of heaven and earth each reach to greet themselves in the greatest lightshow on earth. It just doesn't get better than that.



See you when I get back on the 16th!