Pastor/Spouse Retreat

I am in Oakhurst, California at the Evergreen Conference Center. It is a lovely place just a few miles from the south entrance to Yosemite. The reason I am here is the Pacific Southwest District Pastor/Spouse Retreat. There are twelve of us here and the setting is lovely.

When I told Bryan that I was driving five hours by myself up here and five hours by myself back home, he told me he didn't have a good feeling about that. That ominous statement helped me stay incredibly alert on the drive up. I listened to 4 1/2 hours of Malcolm Gladwell's What the Dog Saw, ate popcorn and enjoyed the time to just be. I was surprised by how cold it was when I arrived. At dinner last night they said it might even snow. It has been raining here non-stop all day. Everything is dripping with water.

In my free time this afternoon I decided to go into town to find Bryan a Father's Day gift. I was unsuccessful and so I stopped at the Visitor's Center in Oakhurst to find out what might be good to do. Since we are only a few miles from Yosemite and I bought an annual pass last summer I decided to head there. The woman working at the Visitor's Center said, "Are you by yourself?" "Yes, " I said. She said, "Please be careful." So, this is my confession. I assumed that if I were just a few miles from Yosemite I could zip up to the Yosemite Valley in no time. I forgot about mountain driving. I forgot about weather. Well, at least, until I was in the middle of both. My first inkling that this was going to be more than I bargained for was when I pulled over to the side of the road for a photo op. There was already a car parked there and when these two young men from Germany tried to return to the road they found themselves stuck in the mud. I stayed and watched....and took pictures. They eventually made it out with one of them pushing. I decided to be very careful...since I was alone.

But before long it was snowing. I kept hearing Bryan telling me he didn't have a good feeling about me going by myself. Plus, I had told everyone I was going into town to look for a present. No one knew I was in Yosemite. I started hearing scary music in my head....too many Stephen King novels. When I passed Avalanche Creek in the snow and fog I thought about what I had in the car to eat in case I got covered by an avalanche and had to survive until the snow melted. Drama is my middle name. But finally I made it the 35 miles to the Yosemite Valley. There is a tunnel entrance and right when you exit the tunnel the view is awe-inspiring....unless it is foggy and raining so hard you can't see. I never even saw El Capitan.

I had heard that the waterfalls at Yosemite are outstanding this year because of all the precipitation. They are spectacular. At Bridal Veil Falls I parked and got out of the car. The sound of the waterfall was so loud. I have been there before but this was exponentially better.

Yosemite is incredible. I think I like it better in the summer, though.