The Four-Mile Trail and Camera Phones

On the third day, we hopped on a bus to Glacier Point, hiked 900-ft up to Sentinel Dome, and then hiked down 4100 (knee busting) feet on the Four-Mile Trail.

Sentinel Dome was a windy mess, but offered 360-degree views of the area, and Glacier Point provided in-your-face views of Half Dome. The highlight however, was the hike down on the Four-Mile Trail.

The sun was setting along the trail so we had to hurry a bit, but we were able to get good views of the falls and valley.

Upper Yosemite Falls

The Valley Floor

^Cathedral Rocks, the Merced River Canyon, and El Capitan.

Now during this trip, I started playing around with the not-often used camera phone, which turned out to be surprisingly decent! The photos below were taken by the phone and processed in Instagram...

The phone was able to capture quite a bit of dynamic range in the shot of the falls (especially in the rock's shadows).

For the Valley Floor shot, the phone did a better job of handling lens flare IMO.

Yosemite National Park

I've wanted to go to Yosemite ever since I came across this:


...and I need to go back.


On day 1, we drove in from Oakland; just in time to catch the sunset from Tunnel View.


We also returned to shoot our galaxy.



Day 2 was spent on Tioga Road. We made the short hike up to Pothole Dome, and the views were stunning.


...as was Tenaya Lake


We were able to find great views of Half Dome from Olmstead Point


Shane getting his shots.

^this was basically all we did...

Day 3 was spent on some trails. Photos will follow.

Vacation!!!

My second project took 14-months, and it all came to an end when this flew away on Monday!


^such a happy plane!

Now, I'm on my way to Oakland for my good friend's wedding. Oh, and I'm going to Yosemite National Park afterwards!!! Seated next to me is my brand new (and already drunk) pal, Joel. How do I know he's drunk?

Oh ya know, he told me. Also, he has a beer in hand, and his breath reeks of alcohol...

But in all seriousness, he's an OK guy. He too, is on his way to a friend's wedding, and a moment was had; when we paused to see if we had a mutual friend. We didn't.

He also asked if I packed a vest for the wedding in Oakland...

So Joel works for his family fence company in Lynnwood and they actually did some fencing work at my workplace. It turns out, they were the ones responsible for the ridiculous "maze of fences" that were recently installed in our parking lots... I made sure he heard my complaints.

It turns out I'm not the only hater of what was done. Others were complaining to them as they were installing the fencing, and they thought the work was silly as well.

So we continue to chat about fences, airplanes, and poke fun at this girl across the aisle, who brought an entire family-size bin of salad on-board.lane. She literally went to Costco on the way here, purchased their largest salad bin, some salad dressing packets, assembled it, and went to town in her seat. We wonder how she packed it all...

Other fun facts about Joel:
- He says "bless you" for anyone who sneezes on this flight. ANYONE.
- He likes fantasy fiction books.
- He knows the bartender at my local bar, as they play cribbage each week.

So I arrive in OAK, grab my luggage and head to the car rental area. I booked a compact car but somehow ended up with a full-size SUV. The agent said I got upgraded...

Upgraded to a gas guzzler? Absurd... I declined; and headed off in the Ford Focus I booked.

Wedding and Yosemite photos to follow!!!

WEDDINGS!

My good friend Jill is getting married!!!

ANNNNNND...

...she let me take some engagement shots!












I just noticed this now... Drew is always to Jill's right.