Apologies (Post Cop Out Post)

First, my apologies. Apparently you do, in fact, have to have a Facebook account in order to look at a photo album. I did not realize that their wording was merely a sneaky way to pressure friends to sign up for Facebook. That said, the format for flipping through photos on Facebook is more conducive to a larger number of pictures; they also display larger. With that in mind, I've picked kind of an overview sampling of pictures for the blog (there are still plenty). If you want more of the story of our trip as well as more photos, you'll have to give in and make that Facebook account. You can even make up a silly name and remain anonymous to the world at large! You'll have to tell me your name though, so I can be your friend--my photos are not available to "the public." So, the synopsis (for you non-Facebook antiques):

On the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, this fantastic fellow took me on a trip!We went over the river and through the woods and into the beautiful mountain country. Our destination was this place:
What a place! Right now there is water running everywhere as the snow melts, making waterfalls and rushing rivers.
Yosemite Falls and the Merced River
Upper Yosemite Falls
Lower Yosemite Falls
The whole shebang: Upper, Middle and Lower Yosemite Falls. Together they make the world's fifth highest waterfall.
This is also a land of stark rocky walls and tall trees.
The delicate Pacific Dogwood made a pretty contrast.
We saw some fun wildlife during our two days in the park. This is an acorn woodpecker.
Mule Deer
Western Fence Lizard
Actually, in looking this bad boy up to identify him I discovered something interesting. It is thought that these lizards decrease the occurrence of Lyme's Disease. When the ticks that carry the disease feed on these lizards, the bacteria that cause the disease are killed by a protein in their blood! Huh.
Here is one of the FOUR black bears we saw:
Vernal Falls
See the tiny people? That's where we're headed--and beyond!
Erik heads back down.
Much water was drunk on this the most strenuous of our hikes.
If you click on this picture you can see half dome peeking through between El Capitan and North Dome.
Half Dome
Bridalveil Falls
Besides the spectacular waterfalls and towering rocks, there were many little wonderful spots.
Mirror Lake
The O'Shaughnessy Dam and Hetch Hetchy Reservoir
Loooong way down . . .
Looking from the dam to the river
Hetch Hetchy Reservoir (and tiny Wapama Falls); San Francisco gets something like 85% of it's water from this reservoir!
Chilnualna Falls
Chilnualna Creek
I apologize again for the brevity of comments; it's hard to muster up enthusiasm for re-writing all of the same thing over again. Although if anything can do it, it's the little revisiting of Yosemite I got while sorting these for the blog! I hope you enjoy the pictures. :-)

"Mean or fine, it is what I want. Here one can breathe against the wind. Down there it was airless. I felt shut in. It was partly that that frightened me away. But here where I hear the fir tree whisper--In stillness and song! Here I am at home!" (Solveig in Peer Gynt, Act 3)