The Ahwahnee Hotel, Yosemite National Park, California

Designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood, the Ahwahnee Hotel opened in 1927...
and has been flourishing ever since!

Quite a number of famous guests have had the pleasure of staying
in this fabulous hotel including:
Queen Elizabeth II, Walt Disney, Charlie Chaplin, Lucille Ball, Will Rogers,
Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan
and of course...Ansel Adams!!!

A lesser known fact about the hotel is that in 1943, the US Navy converted
the hotel into a convalescent hospital for war veterans.

In addition, Stanley Kubrick modeled the hotel in his movie The Shining.
Footage of the hotel was also included in The Caine Mutiny
and Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day.
For more participants in The Weekend in Black and White, click here...

The Dogwoods of Yosemite...

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."

Albert Einstein

For more participants in Macro Monday...click here!!!

Reflections....

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens

can change the world;  indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

Margaret Mead

We had a great visit with our GSE team from Mexico...truly a remarkable

group of young people!!!

To see more of James' Weekend Reflections participants, click here!!!

It was a grey day...

...in Yosemite and Mono Lake...

...but with a vibrant group of new friends!!!

...our Rotary International Group Studies Exchange group... 

Omar, Astrid, Jessica, Crystal, Will

from VeraCruz, Mexico!!!

These 5 lovely young professionals came to Mammoth on Wednesday
as part of the Rotary Group Studies Exchange program.  While here
they visited professional settings similar to their own, and of course,
we showed them a good time with dinner parties, shopping, walking around
Horseshoe lake, and our trip to Yosemite and Mono Lake.  They've
been a great group to have visit and we're sorry to see them go so soon...
Here's to our special new friends having a fabulous rest of their trip!!!

For more participants in the Weekend in Black and White...click here!!!

Winter before it struck!!!

Half Dome, Yosemite, California, January 2012

"Yosemite Valley, to me, is always a sunrise, a glitter of green and golden
wonder in a vast edifice of stone and space."
Ansel Adams




For more participants in Our World Tuesday...click here!

A Lofty Mountain top...

"Doubly happy, however, is the man whom lofty mountain tops

are within reach, for the lights that shine there

illumine all that lies below."

John Muir




On the way back from Yosemite Valley, very near Lake Tenaya...

Have you ever seen...

...a waterfall made of ice?

This beautiful icefall is off the road in Yosemite on the way to the valley floor 

from Tioga Pass.

Back to Yosemite!!!

I'll bet you thought this was going to be a spectacular photo of El Capitan, 

Bridal Veil Falls, or Tuolomne Meadows...

Gotcha!!!

This wild cat was perched at the door of one of the employee houses by the

Ahwahnee Hotel!!!

Can't Go To Yosemite Without a Shot of This...

Not my best shot...

I think I prefer this one...

What do you think???

Lunch Stop!!!

From the Tenaya Lake Ice Dancing to the Ahwahnee Hotel for lunch...

Unfortunately, we missed brunch in the main dining room...

and settled for pulled pork sandwiches in their cafe...

I was surprised at the number of people visiting there...we were all in various 

states of dress, most dressed for outdoor activities...

Perhaps the casualness of dress prompted this admonition...

The Weekend in Black and White...

El Capitan!

3000 feet of sheer rock face!!!  

A favorite of rock climbers from all over the world...

I think I'll pass, but if you want to climb it...I'll come take your picture!!!

For more participants in the Weekend in Black and White, click here!!!

I am taking a short break from blogging...

I have pre posted for ABCWednesdays,

Skywatch Fridays, Weekend Reflections, 

and the Weekend in Black and White.

I hope to be back November 10th...

Thanks for visiting!!!

El Capitan...

El Capitan, Yosemite National Park, California

"But no temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite.

Every rock in its walls seems to glow with life...

as if into this one mountain mansion 

Nature had gathered her choicest treasures..."

John Muir

The Path I Chose...

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path

and leave a trail."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Just recently I was talking with my sister about life and living...

she was out of sorts and we were talking about our lives and our choices...

I find it fascinating, looking back, how much my life was impacted

by the philosophies of the times (the 60's and 70's) and the songs..particularly the 

Beatles and the song "All There is is Love".

As the years have gone by, the idealistic views of my life have been

tempered by the realities of life and and a lifetime of work...

when I became a manager of employees and saw the kids that came 

through our school who were products of social promotion...

my perspective began to change...

At this time in my life... I wish I had followed my heart and values more...

I gave up bits of myself along the way...particularly in relation to 

two previous relationships  (ok...previous husbands...)

I look back now and I see opportunities I lost along the way, and yet the path 

that I followed made me who I am today...
(Something the Chief reminds me of when I get philosophical...)

Would I really change the path I took???  

Food for thought...

For more participants in Sunday Bridges...click here!!!

Ahwahnee Hotel...in Black and White...

Ahwahnee Hotel, Yosemite Valley, California

"Yosemite Valley, to me, is always a sunrise, a glitter of green and gold

wonder in a vast edifice of stone and space."

Ansel Adams

For more participants in The Weekend in Black and White, click here...

Yosemite...a Dangerous Beauty...

I just recently read that this year there have been about twice the average number of deaths

 in Yosemite...17 total by mid August...I didn't realize that even half would be a normal number.

When my granddaughters and I were visiting, we saw some news vans and instantly

thought something had happened...but then we realized they were from 

one channel and thought...maybe it's a special interest story about Yosemite...

We found out on our way home that 3 people had lost their lives going over what I believe were 

these falls.  

Yosemite is gorgeous...but it is also wild and can be very dangerous.  

When you visit...pay attention to the signs telling of danger as they may

just save your life.  

For more information, click here.

For more Weekend in Black and White participants...click here!

Bridal Veil Falls

"...Misty water-colored memories..."

Hamlisch, Bergman and Bergman

A Treasure Found...

"Nobody sees a flower really; it is so small.

We haven't time, and to see takes time -

like to have a friend takes time."

Georgia O'Keefe

I saw these flowers out of the corner of my eye while the granddaughters 

and I were watching two squirrels in the lawn of the Ahwahnee Hotel.

They were large bushes, with these delicate, somewhat small flowers...

What treasures we find when we allow ourselves to see beyond the obvious...

Yosemite Bridge...

Bridge by Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite, California

Please click here for more Sunday Bridges...

Half Dome in Black and White....

Half Dome from Olmstead Point, Yosemite, California

One of the complaints about digital photography is the ability to 

manipulate the photograph......

Did you know that Ansel Adams worked with his photos in the darkroom?

He used filters, dodging and burning the light and darks to just his satisfaction...

I'm so relieved!!!  

Please join me in viewing some of the other participants of 

the Weekend in Black and White...