Around Town:: Yosemite

Yosemite isn't exactly around town...so maybe these posts will have to evolve into Around Town and Other Travels...I'd love that! But, Yosemite is completely relevant to living in Southern California to me and for now the Around Town posts because when I first moved here a friend (and Cali native) insisted that I was not a true Californian until I went to Yosemite. About five years or so ago now, I had accomplished what I thought qualified me as a resident...I had applied for my California drivers license, the new license plates were on my car, I officially changed my address...BUT my friend still insisted - and I trusted his opinion as an older and wiser local native - that all was not official until I witnessed the greatness that is Yosemite.

For my birthday this summer, my husband planned us an amazing trip to the famed Yosemite, visited by nearly 20 million people each year, and we became official Californian's. I had no idea there would be so many people there and it quickly erased all fear of seeing any bears! And then later, all fear aside, I was sad that we didn't see any bears...from the car window of course. We drove all over and saw lots of great sites from Yosemite Falls and Half Dome to the breathtaking Tuolumne Meadows and the gigantic Sequoia Groves. It was fantastic. If you can ever go, you must. It may have taken us both a while to get there but we now understand why we can truly call ourselves Californians. It was well worth the discovery.