Annual pilgrimage to Yosemite National Park this week. Visiting this national park is always a delight and you never know what you’ll see during your time here. This year the plan was to work on a few oils and watercolors.
One of the things that surprised me was the incredible amount of people at this time of year! Coming into the park about noon, there wasn’t a single parking space available at any of the multi-car areas - just a few at isolated turnout spots and a few at the Valley Lodge parking. Campsites were all full as well. We have usually come in early and mid-November or in Winter. Keeping this in mind for next year!
The plus side was bike rentals were operating, the restaurants were all open, and the shuttle buses were running both the smaller loop as well as the whole valley loop.
Weather was 75f daytime and 50f night/mornings and clear - very nice.
This visit I concentrated on Yosemite Falls - dry this time of year, and the Half Dome at sunset. Both walking distance from the Lodge. I was very happy with the results and even had a happy visitor buy a painting right off the easel! I enjoyed the deer eating next to me while I painted, the coyote walking and stopping next to me, and the blue crested jays keeping track of what I was doing very closely. Overall, I’m claiming victory for this trip.
