"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike."
~John Muir, The Yosemite (1912)
and if Point Reyes were not enough of a blast of Nature
after 4 days there
we headed inland
to
Yosemite National Park
This is the third time I've visited the park in less than two years
and the first time in the spring.
California is in a drought like many of the western states
and there was not the normal abundance of snow that feeds these magnificent waterfalls
however, if there is a time to see them flow, it's in the Spring
and last week we were blessed with an abundant show of water cascading off the ridges of cliffs
Bridal Veil
Yosemite Falls
All spilling into the Merced River
(a wash of water so refreshing to see as I sit here now in central New Mexico's
90 degree heat imagining a rain dance)
But I think the highlight for me was walking and meditating among the ancient
Giant Sequoia
and experiencing the ephemeral blooms of the Pacific Dogwood
after 6 days in the park we sat for the last sunset of our journey......
rested, healed and energized
"Keep close to Nature's heart...and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean."
~Muir quoted by Samuel Hall Young in Alaska Days with John Muir
