Over the 4th of July weekend Mr. P and made plans to visit Yosemite. Or I should say Mr. P made plans, I worked about 100 hours in four days then fell asleep in the car until we arrived in Yosemite Valley Friday night.

Surprisingly on such short notice we were able to book a room at a lodge in the valley right below the Yosemite waterfall.

Behold the grander of Yosemite, the rushing waters, half dome and El Capitan. I think we’re all familiar with Ansel Adams work in the area but what you don’t realize until you get there is that the grander, it’s right on the surface. You drive into the park and Bam! there’s El Capitan and then Whoosh there’s Bridalveil falls.

Mr. P was dying to view the nighttime sky from a proper vantage point so we drove up to Glacial Point for an evening of stargazing hosted by a local astronomy club. As the club set up it was apparent that the telescopes were fodder for one expensive pissing contest and that the club itself had a dynamic that could only be described as equal measures catty and geeky beyond all reason. As night fell the crowd was invited to view planets and stars through the any of the scopes set up. I could see Saturn as clear as any NASA photograph with four bright moons extending in a line. We saw a shooting star that was visible long enough to have an entire conversation about it before it disappeared. And most importantly we learned the magic of red lens night illumination which preserved night vision while providing enough light to navigate the woods at night.

But really the main attraction for me in any state park is the taxidermy display. This taxidermist had a definite talent for three things: life like expressions, extreme prey/predator situations and realistic renditions of animal poop. All of which I can appreciate in equal measure.

Aside from the absolute proliferation of muffin-toppery we noticed a dangerous level (see fig 3) of flip flop abuse (see fig 1,2). In my opinion flips flops are not only a national scandal but potentially life threatening. I was amazed to see flips flops on the hiking trails, slippery wet moss covered stone steps to water falls and through heavy brush containing, no doubt, venous snakes. But what are you going to do? People -- they love the shower shoes.

Which brings me to my latest additions to California Deathwish. Behold the rushing waters, the warnings and those visitors who chose to ignore both and go boldly to meet their makers. I’ve read that at least 20 people have been boiled to death by geysers in Yellowstone in recent years and that every year people are swept to their deaths in rivers in Yosemite, and I after visiting the park I think those numbers might be conservative. In fact about a week after we left man in his twenties met his death at Vernal Falls after jumping over the rails to take a dip. The nature it’s not a trip to the mall.

All in all we had a good time, took a lot of hikes up to falls and through Sequoia groves. As it turns out Mr. P gets altitude sickness at +4,000 ft so that limited our range a bit. We didn’t have any dangerous wildlife encounters although Mr. P did not appreciate me calling the water bottle filled with granola and dried berries “the bear rattle”.