Yosemite, Part 1

Randy’s work had signed him up for a class in Boston the week when June turns into July. Georgia thought she would offer her services to her (previous) Oregon employer, remembering that the summer months are often busy.

Georgia got an email around the middle of May from her previous employer. The boss said that they had a lot of contracts going on that month. There was a contract coming up that needed a nurse on site. That was nothing new. However, since the staff nurse who had been assigned had already been traveling a lot, the boss had planned to replace her on site for a few days. But wait! The boss was working so much on boss stuff just then, that she couldn’t justify leaving the office for those few days.

Would Georgia be interested in going? It was a contract Georgia was very familiar with, since she had been there every year since moving to Oregon (except for 2010 which is when we moved to Arizona). She liked going there, and liked the people she would work with. Not only that, but the contract is located very close to Yosemite National Park.

Georgia said that she would have to look at her schedule, talk it over with Randy, and then call the boss back. We decided that since it was only a few days, and Georgia knew the contract well, and Randy would be busy at work for most of those days, she would go ahead and help them out.

With the arrangements made, Georgia left on May 22^nd by air, changing planes in Los Angeles, and then flying into Fresno. She had been to Fresno several times because of a different contract with the last company, so she knew the area fairly well. She thought the best thing was that the flight arrived in the late morning, and she would have time to drive to Yosemite, spend some time there, and drive the rest of the way to Sonora, California, where she would be staying for the few days of the trip.

Arriving at Yosemite through the “Fresno entrance” put Georgia by the Mariposa Grove of Sequoia trees. She hadn’t been there as an adult, so she took advantage of the opportunity. The elevation at the entrance is about 5100 feet, but the lower Mariposa Grove was about 6000 ft. Since she wasn’t used to the elevation (Yuma is close to sea level), and since she had other places to go, Georgia decided just to go part way into the grove. These sequoias are relatives of the coastal redwoods that we saw in the Simpson-Reed grove of the Redwood Parks in Northern California. Yosemite had fewer trees per square mile, than the Simpson-Reed grove, but they were impressive nonetheless. There were a number of photo opportunities available here for our interested photographer.

The Sierra Nevada had a lot of snow this last winter, and spring was slow coming. This meant that all of the streams in Yosemite were brim full. As she drove through the Wawona tunnel, she exclaimed at the size of Bridal Veil Falls this year. Photo op!

Traveling through the Yosemite Valley Georgia took many photos featuring waterfalls and streams. Finally, it was time to go. Hopefully she would be seeing the park another day soon.