About Mariposa County, CA

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!

Photograph by Robert Swetz - Yosemite National Park - 2009

With a telephoto lens I was able to capture this priceless photograph of George Washington? It would be quite amazing if this George was to pick this post up on the web and give me a comment back!

This is the Yosemite river that flows after Yosemite Upper & Lower waterfalls, (below) is a pic of Upper Yosemite Falls and if you ever see this Falls in person it is breath-taking!

The photo (below) is Lower Yosemite Falls and it is very hard to capture a photo because your camera gear gets very wet from the mist!

And the last photo (below) is of the Valley of Yosemite National Park from a very far distance, and it doesn't look like Robert Swetz is the only one snapping photographs.

For more information on one of the most beautiful National Parks in the Country go to ............

Yosemite National Park Vacation - Yosemite Vacation : Yosemite Park

All photographs by Robert Swetz - Taken at Yosemite National Park in Central California - Please do not duplicate without written permission from Robert Swetz

www.SearchMyPics.com

Vegas Bob visits Yosemite National Park in California 5-16-2009

Saturday I spent most of day in Yosemite National Park in California, the last time I was there was back in 1974.

If you have never been to Yosemite you are really missing one of the most beautiful places in the World. The photograph (above) is around 5000 feet looking down at Yosemite Valley. If you look real close you can see what looks like a white line towards the back, that is a huge waterfall.

The photograph (below) is another shot of the valley and another waterfall.

In the photograph (below) there is a mountain on the right hand side of the tree, this is called (Half Dome). Millions & Millions of years ago this mountain was a (Full Dome) and the glaciers came through Yosemite and cut it in half with the waters and strength of ice.

The photograph (below) is Upper & Lower Yosemite Falls and measures in height approx 1,500 feet, these falls may not look very big in the photograph but they are huge!

The photograph (below) is another shot of Upper Yosemite Falls.

The last photograph (below) is a very nice view of the valley, the green grass and the mountains surrounding the valley.

The beauty of Yosemite Valley continues to be as beautiful as ever since my last visit, and when I was there Saturday there were thousands & thousands of people visiting.

June and July are the busiest months of the year, I cant' even imagine how busy it will be there!

Story & photographs by Robert Swetz 5-16-2009

These photographs were taken by Robert Swetz 5-16-2009 - duplication is prohibited by copyright laws - all rights are reserved.

Please feel free to look at my wonderful Real Estate web site at: www.VegasBuildingsForSale.com

Or my photography web site at: www.SearchMyPics.com

Vacant Land web site at: www.LakeOwner.com

A few months ago i finally came across a lender who does financing for mobile and manafactured homes in over 30 states. Prior to this banks simply wouldnt touch these. They are able to obtain financing for a purchase or refinancing their existing property. Not every real property out there is a SFR. There is a big difference between a manufactured home and a mobile home. A mobile home is a factory-built home manafactured prior to June 15, 1976 , constructed on a chassis and wheels, and desgined for permanent or semi attached to land. In the past mobile homes were known a trailers, and mainly were used as a second traveling home. A Manufactured home is a home built in a factory after June 15 , 1976 and must conform to the U.S. government`s Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards aka HUD code. These federal standards regulate and determine manafactured home design and construction, strenght and durability, transportability, resisitance to fires , enery effiency and quality. The HUD code also stands sets performance standards for the heating, plumbing . air conditioning , thermal and electrical systems of the home. Actually this is the only federally-regualted national building code. Each home or segment of the home is labeled with a red tag. In effect this is the manafacturers guarntee that the home was built to conform to the HUD code. As we all know we sure as heck dont want to mess with government policies.........................................