Oh, the life of a teenage boy . . .

So today around noon, we had a 5.4 (downgraded from 5.8) earthquake in Chino, about 20 miles away from Los Angeles. And let me tell you, this building moved. It was a little unnerving. And to make it even worse, the elevators were locked down and I was stuck on the 39th floor for 2 1/2 hours!

I could not reach Brandon at home to make sure he was okay. I was, however, able to reach a neighbor, who went over to check on him. She called me back to tell me that he had slept through the entire thing. Can you believe it? I want to be him - just for a day, when I have no reason to get out of bed, not even for an earthquake.

Under a Canopy of Green

On July 20th, we left for Yosemite. It was gorgeous. I was worried the air quality would be poor due to all the fires burning in Northern California (and people telling me to take Visine), but they didn't seem to be affecting Yosemite (or at least not for someone who hasn't been there in over 20 years).

We stayed at Camp Curry in a tent cabin. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it really wasn't as bad as I imagined. Our tent cabin was surrounded by tall, green trees. The bathrooms were clean and the showers weren't too far.

I love that the moon is out for this picture.

The sun was shining on Half Dome and we couldn't get the lighting right, but you can see it's reflection in the river. This is the same picture as the one above, but with a different lighting option on the camera.

This is our tent cabin, No. 704. They're pretty basic - cots, a night stand and a lightbulb hanging down from the ceiling. But it's better than sleeping on the ground. We took our own sleeping bags and pillows.





This is the first view you get when you come through the tunnel.
I think these are called food lockers, but I prefered to call them Bear Boxes. All food, toiletries and anything with a scent has to be stored in these boxes. It's not very comforting that they're so close to the tent, but we never heard any bears snooping around.



These guys hung out the in the local meadow every evening.

This is from the top of Sentinal Dome. From the top, you get a 380 degree view of the entire valley.
This is enough to give a mother a heart attack. But when I was finally brave enough to venture to this point, I saw that there was more ground below, as opposed to a drop off.

The Uni-Bomber!

At the top of Glacier Point.

This rock has some interesting history. There are photos of acrobats doing stunts from it as well as a car parked on it. This rock, however, hangs over the valley and one slip would surely be the end of you.

I, on the other hand, chose to see a dog.

A fun day of bike riding. Brian LOVED this bike.


We caught these adorable does kissing in the bushes at Lower Yosemite Falls. Mom's keeping a close eye on them.

Lower Yosemite Falls
This guy hung out every afternoon in a very small group of bushes between the registration office and the information office. He didn't seem to mind all the people coming to take his picture.
Lower Yosemite Falls

This was the only bear sighting we got. We kept hearing people tell us they'd seen 5 or 6, but we had no such luck.


The park rangers take their warnings very seriously. The yellow one is for parking illegally. We received this on the last night we were there, after parking in the same spot for 4 nights.

The pink one is for leaving an ice chest in the car. Bears know that ice chests mean food and even if they don't smell anything, if they see a cooler, they will open your car up like a can opener.

Tuolomine Meadows
Mono Lake

Mammoth
Devils Postpile. I have wanted to see this place for over 20 years!



I want to put a house right here and wake up to this view every morning. This is a meadow and stream in Mammoth.

Fissure in Mammoth. Scientist are not sure if this was caused by an earthquake or by cooling after a volcanic erruption. Either way, it's steep and impressive.

Notice the white patch at the very bottom. That is snow. I could not believe there was still snow in Mammoth in July!