Tag: Yosemite National Park

It’s Thursday night. I’m deep within Yosemite National Park. Who knows when this entry will hit the server. I am totally cut off from the outside world. No cell. No Internet. No TV

It’s mostly unexpected.

No cell service was a given in this mountainous wilderness.

There’s supposed to be WiFi. It’s useless. I connect to it, but it’s not connected to the Internet.

The TV is problem more interesting. I tried the remote, then went to the real buttons on the set. Nothing. I traced the wires. It’s hooked to satellite.

What I couldn’t find was a power plug! Who know why, but someone ran off with the power cord.

The office closes at six. It seems dickish to get the manager at home. I can wait.

Let me back up. This trip was planned about six months ago. I’d been mulling a photo workshop for years. Helaine finally told me to “pull the trigger.”

Friends and family said, “Go,” in spite of what’s transpired. I agreed.

I’m dipping my toe. Workshops are new to me. This one’s a two day affair.

Yosemite is an easy 5½ hour drive. Interstates first, then a twisty two-lane through sparsely treed rolling hills.

After an hour the road winds into the mountains and you enter Yosemite National Park. The park is around the size of Rhode Island. Just because you’re ‘in’ doesn’t mean you’re ‘there.’

Cell service quickly disappeared. I wondered if the maps on my GPS needed contact with the mothership? They did not today.

Late afternoon. Sun going down. Right amount of clouds. Sky was on fire!

No time to stop.

I set the camera on aperture priority, rolled down the window and shot away. Forgive me, please. It was irresistible.

I have no sense of direction here. Roads are very twisty. You’re never going in the same direction more than a few seconds. I am heading to a specific places, so it feels like I’m playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey.

I followed another Aldo, another camera geek, to a brief meeting with our leader, Phil Hawkins. He’s a grown-up. UNC sweatshirt. Says he’s going to teach and make us better. He’s confident. Not his first rodeo. Sounds good.

He says the weather forecast is favorable. We’re lucky. There’s snow coming! Better shots.

He doesn’t know my car wears California license plate SNOLESS! I’ve come prepared including a pair of fingerless gloves and earmuffs–referred to at my house as “earmuffins.”

On the way back a few of us stopped at an overlook and shot the valley under the stars. This is an impressive place. (Consider clicking on these two photos to see them larger. There’s lots of detail you don’t get in the thumbnail.)

I can do without the snow, but I can’t wait for tomorrow.

I hope you get this soon.