We have moved to Cupertino yesterday, it took us a few hours of bad and beautiful roads, even the highways were patched and bumpy as I have ever felt it. One hour away from San Francisco, we have taken residence behind John’s and Carol’s quaint house. Nice yard, quiet neighborhood, I feel like being in a little paradise amongst the urban jungle experienced on our way here…

Yosemite is where we left off the last time. The daily ride we took made me come to a great decision. A day trip to a far destination will be avoided from now on. There is always a patch of land for one tent, for one night, maybe two. Leave home base behind and not turn around, skimming the sites, the stories, the senses… all within one day! It just did not make sense to be on the road for 18 hours! I am excited about that thought… will pack up the tent, sleeping bag, coffee apparatus of course, travel light, but we will get to stay longer… Sunrises and sunsets are also the best time to take pictures and capture the moments… I am looking forward to it…

Yesterday’s travel… on busy highways leading to the Bay Area, surrounded by drivers impersonating Kamikazes diving in front of us, as a finish of some imaginary car race, expressions behind the wheels denoting some present stressed out lifestyle constant diet, no courtesy offered but only the gain of a few feet on those asphalt ribbons broken up miles after miles, only to give out an incredible workout to the suspension screaming for mercy, made me realize suddenly what I was living myself, day after day… and why so many have been enjoying their dreamed lives through this Blog.

Spirit and I, suddenly, I realized, are lucky beings… fortunate to have escaped this rough theater of life that was unwinding before us by the minute. There is not appreciation for health without sickness, there would be no appreciation for our life without witnessing if only it will be a few days of chaos… But again, I am amongst friends, they make up for everything that might make me want to crawl back to the vast lands and hide in seclusion in the hills or the flat deserts of the recent past. The human interest will always be there… either in the form of some ancient granite imposing form or man made built artifacts which I am sure we will experience in San Francisco.

But I am straying again from our visit to Yosemite… We rode what is called the “Floor”… “Valley” first. A loop taking us to the various Falls and Classic sceneries that Ansel Adams made so famous through his Photography. Well designed for a smooth traffic flow, the loop all one way had many “pull overs” allowing for pictures and self reflections of the eye candy constantly offered to us.

El Capitan stood alone, seemed to be leading with full force what was to be seen as the loop went on. Yosemite Lodge was next, a little town in itself where we had lunch, where everything you can imagine was offered. From bicycle rentals, to public transportation, photography classes, a movie… restaurants… even a small hospital including dental care! Not counting the Lodge which we passed through, busier than the lobby of most hotels I have ever been to!

Three tiered Yosemite Falls was a short walking distance… the air getting cooler and… wetter as we approached, keeping our camera lenses covered till the moments of all the shots we took, shielding it from a mist that only made me want to pull a chair and face it for eternity… that is how good it felt! The Awhanee continued the loop, an upscale resort, Curry Village, another one… sights were not lacking on this day, I just felt that due to lack of time we were just moving a bit too fast.

Bridalveil Fall was next, and all throughout the day, as Brian and Michael were my perfect guides, I could only be in constant admiration for what took centuries to form and carve.

But we could not leave without riding up to Glacier Point! A nice windy road going up and up which offered incredible views of Half Dome, more water falls and in the distance the higher snow covered peaks of the mountains that we will see, hopefully shortly when we ride Tioga Pass, open now for the season.

An incredible vertical drop at the scenic point of Glacier Point with Half Dome as a witness, made me dizzy!… it took child like steps to get to the edge and view all those pine trees from the Valley now the size of some minuscule matchsticks. Clean air… a bit hazy from a burn taking place down below making it all a bit hazy… there was not much to say… words could not describe this painting composed with delicate ornaments and massive blocks of granite all mixed in within the perfect composition ever imagined.

And as we looked at each other on this late afternoon, we knew it was time to head back… each to our own destination. I wanted to stay, sunset was about to happen, but as already we did not make it back till midnight… the decision to leave was a smart one, even smarter next time… find “that” patch of land where Spirit and I can linger for the night… not only to witness a sunset amongst this beauty, by maybe also a moonlight backing up the dark silhouettes that make up this Park.

And I had to add this last photo taken by Brian… below…

The Pro on the right… the amateur on the left…

I don’t have too many clues as to where we are riding today… I do know we are meeting by Alices Restaurant… that one, a group ride… will be nice to get out for a few hours and experience this other side of the coin!

You be well…

Ara & Spirit

A “DONATION”?… I have been asking if reading this BLOG is worth a dollar a month to you?… in the form of a yearly donation. Some think so and I thank them for helping the increasing posting costs…

For those not using PayPal, here is my snail mail…

Ara Gureghian

853 Vanderbilt Beach Rd #245

Naples Fl 34108

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 19th, 2007 at 9:59 pm and is filed under travel, spirituality, pit bull, sidecar, motorcycle, cooking, photography, riding, homeless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.