Mono Lake

An unusual yet scenic spot is Mono Lake, a salty lake.

The coolest thing at Mono Lake is the tufa formations that were created by the minerals in the water. They are great for filling up digital space on cameras, especially at sunset.

Yosemite Part 4

After leaving the gorgeous views of Yosemite Valley, we found more beautiful mountain scenery while crossing the northern part of the park on Tioga Road. Below is Tenaya Lake.

On Sunday we hiked to a smaller lake, Elizabeth Lake. It was nice, but the views at Tenaya were better, and Tenaya was right next to the road!

Even the scenery leaving the park is splendid! This is Ellery Lake, which we saw as we descended from the eastern side of the park.

Yosemite, Part 3--Bears!

After a fruitless quest to see a bear on our last western vacation, our dream was finally fulfilled--many times over! If you want to see bears, don't go to Yellowstone, go to Yosemite, Kings Canyon, or Sequoia. Their favorite hangout is the apple orchard near Curry Village (the cabins where we stayed). We first saw a bear cub jumping out of the road in Sequoia. Then when we drove into the parking lot at Yosemite after dark, we saw a bunch of rangers yelling and shining lights at a bear to scare it away. There were two more bears up in the trees, we learned. Later some of us saw more bears in the parking lot, down the aisle from our cabin, in the apple trees (see photo), and along the trail to Vernal Falls. These bears were not far away, either--we were standing right under the tree looking at this one. Jason saw 7 altogether. (More wildlife photos later.)

Yosemite, Part 2--Vernal Falls

We hiked to the top of this waterfall. Notice the rainbow. Above this fall was another small waterfall, and much higher up was a very large one--Nevada Falls, about 600 feet tall. In the spring the waterfalls are roaring with water, but at this time of year some have totally dried up, like Yosemite Falls, and the others are just a trickle compared with what they are in the spring.

Yosemite, Part 1

We spent 3 1/2 days in Yosemite, which was not nearly enough time to admire the beauty and enjoy the splendor of this wonderful place!

View of Yosemite valley--El Capitan is the vertical cliff on the left. Half Dome is the rounded bump in the distance (in the center of the photo).

Can you spot the two waterfalls in this picture? (Vernal Falls is the lower one and Nevada Falls is the upper one.) Later we saw them from below. See next post.

If you ever go to Yosemite, do not miss going to Glacier Point! The view is absolutely spectacular. Half Dome at sunset is an especially beautiful site. We took dozens of pictures of Half Dome from all angles, because it is very photogenic.

Kings Canyon

Kings Canyon National Park is also very scenic, with huge rock walls.

One of the waterfalls in Kings Canyon. We did not spend much time there because we had to move on to Yosemite!

Sequoias

We have been doing so much the past few days that it's hard to remember it all, but here are a few of the highlights.

At Sequoia National Park you can see the world's largest trees. They're so big it's hard to get a whole tree in a picture.

In addition to unbelievably large trees, Sequoia has great scenery. We climbed to the top of Moro Rock, where you can see a 360-degree panorama of the Sierras.

Lunar eclipse

Jason got up in the middle of the night for the opportunity to photograph a lunar eclipse last night. He made a digital composite of two photos of the moon, the first one at about 9:30 p.m. and the second about 4:00 a.m. under full eclipse.

After today we'll be staying at cabins in the national parks (Sequoia and Yosemite) for several days, so we probably won't be posting until Sunday.

Hollywood

On Monday we had brunch with the Tans and Nathan and Jannine before they left for their honeymoon in Paris. Then we finally made it to Hollywood before leaving the LA area. This is the walk of fame with all the "stars of the stars." Jason wanted to see Mr. Rogers' star, which we finally found after consulting a list of all the star locations. They go on both sides of the street for at least a mile. We also saw stars for Kermit the Frog, Amy Grant, Neil Armstrong, and many others.

There it is--the famous Hollywood sign! It was pretty cool to see it. Jason, in his quest for the perfect photo, wanted to get as close as possible. Fortunately, the guidebook I brought told us how to get there. So, in case you ever go to Hollywood, here are the directions. From Franklin Street (just north of Hollywood Blvd, i.e. the walk of fame) go north on Beachwood. You are heading straight toward the sign. Turn left on Ledgewood and right on Deronda. Near the end of the street you have great views of the sign. Just before that there is a spectacular view down into the city--at least on a low-smog day, which we were fortunate to have. It's totally worth the drive, which is all uphill on narrow, winding residential streets.

Reception and more from the wedding

The reception was held at Twin Palms restaurant in Pasadena. Cake cutting and eating was accomplished very respectfully, with not a bit of frosting on either one's face after eating the whole piece of cake!

Jason and Rex Reist, one of Nathan's friends from high school. Jason was best man and Rex was a groomsman.

Mom with Jannine. Mom made her own dress for the wedding.

Dad with Jannine's dad, Sam Tan.

Rachel at the wedding. I read the scripture during the ceremony. (One of Jannine's uncles took this picture for me while I was waiting for the ceremony to start. It was very hot in the sun!)

The Wedding Day Finally Arrives!

Here's the beautiful bride, Jannine Tan. (Jason Whitaker)

Nathan waiting at the front for Jannine to arrive. He sang a song as she was walking down the aisle. It was so sweet! (Rachel Whitaker)

Colorful bridesmaids (Rachel Whitaker)

Nathan and Jannine with Pastor Tony during the ceremony. Everything went beautfully. They said their own vows to each other. Everybody laughed because Nathan said "I do" really loudly, rather than barely audibly like a lot of people. (Rachel Whitaker)

Wedding rehearsal

Friday afternoon was the wedding rehearsal. The wedding was held on the rooftop of the Pasadena Museum of California Art. Here the bridesmaids and Pastor Tony Romeo (from Nathan and Jannine's church, Advent Hope, in New York City) are figuring out where to stand. The girl in purple is Jannine's sister, Shelly. The building in the background is Pasadena City Hall.

Nathan and Jannine with their friend Aurelia from law school (in the center) at the rehearsal dinner. The dinner was held at the New Happy Family Restaurant, a vegetarian Chinese restaurant. We had a multi-course Chinese feast complete with fake shrimp, fake fish, and mushroom soup for dessert. Yes, really.

Mt. Wilson Observatory

On Friday morning we went up to the Mt. Wilson Observatory in the San Gabriel Mountains. The views along the way were spectacular. From the top you can see down to LA.

Mountains floating in the sky...or actually, floating above the smog. Ugh. But kind of neat-looking.

Mt. Wilson Observatory has been around for about 100 years and has many telescopes for research on the universe. They had a small museum with photos they have taken of the sun, galaxies, etc. This building houses one of the larger telescopes.

One of the telescopes. The blue part is the telescope and the white part is the mounting that allows it to turn.

Maybe we'll see a bear on this trip! We can hope.

Santa Monica beach

On Thursday Jason and I went to the beach at Santa Monica while Mom and Dad went to the airport to exchange the rental car, because the air conditioner had stopped working. It's a beautiful beach with lots of sand and not many people.

Jason in his usual pose during any trip, taking pictures off the pier at Santa Monica.

Surfer

Rachel playing in the waves. They were so strong that I was afraid to go out more than waist deep.

After Mom and Dad returned with the new car, we foolishly thought that we could get to Hollywood to see some sights there, and then get back in time to watch sunset over the ocean. However, once we got out in LA traffic, we quickly realized that was not going to work. So we raced back to the beach and arrived just in time to see the sun disappear behind the mountains (not into the ocean, as we were expecting). We took a few more minutes to enjoy the beautiful colors. (At least smog is good for something!)

Train store

This picture is of a store sign near our hotel in Pasadena.

The Mountain Drive

On Wednesday we tried to drive through the San Gabriel Mountains to Pasadena. However, we got stopped by contruction twice and had to find detours. We got route information from helpful police officers, park rangers, and construction workers. The picture above is of Mormon Rocks near where we got off I-15.

The drive through the mountains was very beautiful. However, there was a lot of haze, which someone said was smoke from a fire near Santa Barbara.

Ghost Town Part 2

This is a Joshua tree--we saw quite a few of them along the road through the desert. Some of the rock layers near Calico were drastically twisted and contorted.

Sunset along the highway.

Ghost Town Part 1

We visited the ghost town of Calico, an old silver mining town in California. The surrounding mountains and rock formations were colorful, and the town contained many interesting old buildings and some that were apparently recreated for the benefit of tourists. The green house was made of pop bottles (in the 1950s).