Last year’s Hawaii trip was wonderful, but this year we stayed closer to home and did a California Road Trip, featuring Malibu, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, San Simeon, and Yosemite. On the way back to San Diego, we spent a night in Anaheim and enjoyed Knott’s Berry Farm before heading home. As they say, the best camera is the one that you have in your hands, so my iPhone 7+ was the go-to solution for times when I didn’t want to lug the big gun, but I intentionally brought my 70-200 lens to play with, and the waterfalls and wildlife at Yosemite were too much to resist! The most-photographed activity of our vacation turned out to be a rock-stacking detour off the trail on a short walk to Yosemite Falls. Even though it was about 11:00am, the lighting was wonderfully even and pretty because of the tree cover. I couldn’t resist taking lots of shots of the kids and their daddies (and my daddy) stacking rocks and exploring the nearby stream.
First stop . . . Santa Monica Pier for some beach photography! Every beach is different, and this seemed more like a morning session to me, even though it was right at sunset! The sun actually sank 180 degrees away from the water! That made for great blue-sky lighting.
I skipped toting my big camera to Morro Bay and Hearst Castle, so we’re skipping straight to Yosemite. Here we are, driving in.
Group shot on our first day in the park. My sister’s family hadn’t arrived yet.
The next morning, we drove up to Glacier Point to get a bird’s-eye view of the National Park.
We enjoyed seeing this little guy!
This is a stitched-together panorama from my Canon 5Div. I even got it to work as one of those Facebook panos by changing the Exim data. Fancy!
Favorite guys.
We stayed at the Yosemite View Lodge, where the Merced River ran right outside our window. We spent time watching it from the patio, reading, and just relaxing. The guys took the kids down to the pool.
On the second day, we spent the hottest part of the day at the hotel and then headed back into the park for the afternoon. We decided to go biking, and it turned out to be my favorite activity of the vacation! No big camera shots of biking, but here’s one of the deer we met in the parking lot!
As promised, rock stacking the next morning with the whole family.
At some point, we finally decided to move on! Here we are at Yosemite Falls.
Compulsive rock-stack picture on the way BACK. (I seem to have an issue.)
From our balcony at the hotel.
On the road again. One last stop before heading to Knott’s.