One more painting

My favorite, but a last minute entry, is a painting from Glacier National Park of an intimate, small lake called John's Lake. Fog was wafting in both high and low, adding interest to the water lilies. Here is the just completed composition.

Paintings from our travels

It has been two months since the National Parks trip. Good news - the sights inspired Popsie (aka Pop Pop) to paint some of the memorable scenes we encountered. Bad news - De De has a stress fracture in her left toe from the hiking, and then playing pickle ball and golf a bit too intensely. We'll have to find a better balance for our next trip (snorkeling is pretty low impact). De De is now making good progress toward recovery. Steve and Jess have given Pop Pop a showing for his paintings during the next "First Friday" in Old City, Philadelphia. The paintings I'll show are from our travels, our neighborhood, our grandchildren, our garden, or a combination of those venues. Here are pictures of the paintings: ...From the National parks trip are scenes from Yosemite (right now burning in forest fires), Glacier, Crater Lake, and what we call the "Oregon Trail." ... From our trip to Turkey are scenes from Cappadocia, and Fethiye. ... From our trip to Antarctica and South Georgia, the "invasion" of South Georgia. ... And locally, barns in our area and the garden. ... And certainly not least, pics of Madison and Nicholas a few years ago.

Last bookend - San Francisco

We started in Chicago, stopped at nine parks (plus Napa Valley) along the way, and now end in San Francisco. The day was spent in the AM in Chinatown (just below our hotel on Nob Hill), and in the PM on Telegraph Hill and down near the wharves - closing, of course at the Ghirardelli Square chocolate factory! Pictures today include scenes from Chinatown, and a view of Alcatraz, out in the bay. We would have loved to have shown the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was unusually warm today for SF, and the bridge created its own fog, enveloping the bridge except for the tips of the bridge support towers. We'll likely "recap" our trip in the next week, but as Bugs Bunny used to say signing off a Looney Tunes cartoon, "That's all folks!"

Wa - wa - wa - WOW! A Grand Finale.

Today we awoke to blue skies, with almost no clouds. We had three destinations - a short walk to Bridalveil Falls to see its stunning drop. We then drove to the Mariposa Grove, a stand of over 200 giant sequoias. The walk was less than two miles, but fairly steep. One of the giant trees was over 96' in circumfrance and 1,800 years old, and another you could walk right through. They are huge. We then drove to Glacier Point - 3,500' above the Valley floor. What views! As we were driving down the mountain from the Point, we were reminded that this is still a wilderness area. Further down the Glacier Point road we had one last chance to see up the Valley, but this time in full daylight. And finally, as we turned into the Valley for the last time to head back to our hotel, we could see the sheer 3,500' vertical face of El Capitan one last time, but this time in the sun. What a privilege it is to have the National Park System. This trip has been long, and we are ready to return home, but we are full of wonder and awe at what we have seen.

Riding high

De De and Pop Pop started the day at our hotel, which is at 2,000 feet elevation. We drove to the Yosemite Valley at 4,000' and took a left turn up Big Oak Flat Road - but it wasn't flat. At the turn to Tioga Road we were at 6,000' high, and we drove across Yosemite to Tuolumne Meadows at 8,600' and on to Tioga Pass at 10,000 feet elevation. The day was cloudy, misty, foggy, or rainy until we hit the pass, when blue skies and white clouds replaced the weather west of the Sierra peaks. From up on top, pictures today include flowers along the roadside ... At Tuolumne Meadows we took a mile long walk (remember, at 8,600' so we were happy to make the grade). Then, east of the pass, we could look out over the Great Basin of Nevada toward the Rockies to the east. As we descended, we could again look up the Valley. Closing out the day, we met our niece, Jessie, and her husband, Chris, for a dinner at the Ahwahnee (I think this is the correct spelling - I know my last attempt was not). All in all a beautiful day, even in the mists and clouds.

Yosemite Valley in the rain, mist and fog

Today De De and Pop Pop walked to the Vernal Falls bridge, and to Mirror Lake - but a totally different day compared to yesterday. Still beautiful, but now with mists and fog, not just sheer granite walls. Each day different, but all interesting. Today's pictures are more streams and trees, because that's where we walked, but the mist and fog had great interest also.

First view of Yosemite

We could not get Internet connection yesterday - so, hopefully, two today. We arrived late in the PM, but had an opportunity for two walks and evening snacks and wine at the Alwanhee, a grand hotel built by the railroaders to entice visitors to Yosemite. Yosemite is a Park as big as Rhode Island, but 90% of the visitors jam into the Valley, a seven mile long canyon of granite, sheer cliffs, waterfalls, and conifers. It is on the one hand, one of the most beautiful spots on earth, and on the other, Disney Wilderness on steroids. If you blow up three of the pictures, you'll see cars and people - very, very small.

A little like Italy - Gelati at 3:30, wine at 5:30

We toured the towns of St. Helena and Calistoga today - both small, quaint downtowns sitting in the middle of a sea of vineyards. We tried to find a spot where we could view the valley's patchwork quilt of various vineyards, but we could not find a suitable vantage point. Pictures include grapes right off our breakfast porch, several fields and one telling us it is just about time to be coming home. After driving around, we stopped in St. Helena for a gelati, and tonight our hotel is hosting a tasting of Grgich wines. Despite the spelling, De De likes this brand.