Nightglow Window

A Hike In The Meadow

My god was it cold last night. Like a idgit, I sleep in my boxers. We're all in single beds (nope, hardly romantic), so when I wake in the wee hours I'm frozen. The wood stove has long ago gone cold and I'm hungover from too many beers and glasses of wine at 9,000 feet.

Things get better once the sun comes up. I pull on my fleece pants and jacket and head to the front office, which has a roaring wood stove going and lots of good coffee to drink.

After breakfast we check out and drive down the road to Tuolumne Meadow itself, which (as you probably know) is the largest sub-Alpine meadow in the Sierra.

We go for a short hike that keeps getting better as the river cuts down through granite steps in low cascades. Cathedral Peak is rarely out of sight as walk through deer herds and past the falls.

Later, we grab lunch from the market (salami, gouda, and bagels) and drive up the road toward Tioga Pass, find a nice spot with a view. Sydney makes a total mess of herself, ice cream smeared all over her face.

Then we drop down out of the high Sierra and into the green valley near Lee Vining.

It's still pretty, but after Yosemite even the prom queen would look plain.