Yosemite Part 1 – The Journey Up!!!

本來我真的不想在感恩節時去優勝美地的。一方面是剛搬完家東西都還亂成一團，另一方面是聽說優勝美地要春天去才漂亮，冬天會下雪沒甚麼好玩的。但是山姆大叔相當堅持，覺得他難得有四天連假，若這次不去就不知道要等到何時能去了。因此搬家後第三天我們便拋下還堆滿箱子的家往優勝美地出發。

I originally didn’t want to go to Yosemite during Thanksgiving holiday. We just moved in to our new place  haven’t even settled in yet, plus I heard Yosemite is most beautiful during spring time. But Sam insisted, saying this was the few times in the year that he would have four days of holidays. If we didn’t go now,who knew when we would have this opportunity again. So we dropped everything and went on a trip after staying in our new place for only three days!!!

從聖地牙哥到優勝美地單程約420英里，幾乎是8、9個小時的車程。星期三傍晚直接到學校接了工作實在太認真的山姆大叔，一路殺到半路的Delano小鎮過夜。因為這可能是我們接下來幾天唯一有網路的地方，雖然我們抵達時已經半夜了，山姆大叔還上網工作，實在讓我有點看不下去....。連我們在山上的幾天都還得不時的回到唯一有微弱訊號的遊客中心用手機收e-mail ，是真的有需要這麼認真嗎？！

言歸正傳。我們一路從都市走到草原進入森林爬上高山，只見路旁的景色從青翠的綠變成冰雪覆蓋的白。當我們看見積雪的時候超興奮的，我們都沒想到這時的優勝美地已經被白雪覆蓋了！！

The distance from San Diego to Yosemite is about 420 Miles and takes about 8 to 9 hours driving. We left on Wednesday evening and spent a night at a small town called Delano. Sam the workaholic insisted on finishing the day before leaving for vacation, and spent every possible moment in search of internet to check his e-mail….

Anyways, we went from city to farmland to forest and finally mountains. The scenery also went from green to white. We were so excited when we spotted snow on the ground. We didn’t expect it to be snowing already in Yosemite.

   

不知道為甚麼，一進入覆雪的山區，就讓我想到童話故事裡雪后的世界，好白、好美、好冷！！

For some reason, when we first entered the snow covered forest, I thought of the world of Snow Queen. Everything is so white, so beautiful, so cold!!!

有雪的地方美雖美，開車卻是不方便的。尤其是在山上，加上國家公園裡的路都雪沒有剷乾淨，很容易就會打滑，甚至有爬不上坡的情形。這也是為甚麼優勝美地國家公園規定冬天開車來玩的遊客一定要準備雪鏈的原因。其實出發前要不是Claire提醒我要準備雪鏈，我想我也不會帶吧！！那時我想說小愛車都平安度過芝加哥冬天的考驗了，這點雪算甚麼？！事實證明有準備還是正確的，上山那天天氣好也就算了，下山那天下大雪，路上還真的有警察檢查每一輛通過的車子有沒有裝雪鏈，沒有的一律不准通過。所以這是我們生平第一次裝雪鏈，其實不難，只是會搞得很髒....。不過不要以為裝了雪鏈就不會打滑，因為就在我們裝好不久的路上山姆大叔不小心壓到路上的融雪，車子馬上失控打滑轉了一大圈最後往山壁滑去，把我們兩個都嚇了一大跳，還好大家的車速都不快，我們的車沒事後面的車也沒有撞上來，算是很幸運的了！！

Although the snow scene was pleasing to watch, it was quite challenging for driving. Especially on the mountain roads in the Park, which were nor cleared and slippery, made it very difficult to go up and down the hills. This is why snow chains are required for cars coming to Yosemite during winter. And if it weren’t for Claire reminding me to buy a set before coming, we won’t even make it. This was our first time putting on snow chains, it wasn’t difficult at all~~ But even with the chains it was still very slippery. We actually slipped and lost control of our car for a moment and spun270 degrees!! Fortunately everyone was driving slowly and the car behind us didn’t hit us. That was quite an experience!!

 

我一直都覺得優勝美地這個名字翻譯的真好，一眼就能會意這是個美不勝收的地方。但是到底有多美，真的要親自體會才能明瞭。一過了隧道眼前豁然開朗，映入眼簾的就是這個景象。左邊那座大石山是El Capitan，聽說那裏是攀岩人士的天堂；中間遠處的那塊尖石則是Half Dome，在Yosemite Valley幾乎處處都可見到它的蹤影。這兩塊大石可算是優勝美地的地標吧！！

I’ve always heard people say Yosemite is out of the world beautiful. But one could only know its true beauty by seeing it themselves. After passing through a long tunnel, this was what we saw right away!! That’s El Capitan on the left, which people say is the best place for rock climbing. The famous Half Dome is in the middle, you can see it almost everywhere in Yosemite Valley.

當我們沿著貫穿Yosemite Valley的Merced River河岸行駛時，又被這岸邊森林的景色吸引住了。溪邊的石頭都帶上的白色的帽子，像一顆顆饅頭一樣真可愛！！我們忍不住停下車來拍照，山姆大叔一馬當先的衝了下去，他看到雪地時像小孩子一樣超興奮的，瞧他在照片裡笑的真開心~~ 請原諒我們是住在溫暖南加州的鄉巴佬，實在沒甚麼機會看到雪啊！！

When we were driving along Merced River in the Valley, the gorgeous scenery of this quiet forest by the river caught our attention. We had to stop and take pictures!! Sam was as excited as a kid and run through the snow, you can really tell by the photos how happy he was!!! Well, we are from Southern California where there aren’t any snow!!!

    

再往前開一點就可以看到優勝美地聞名的瀑布啦~~ 這是Upper Yosemite Fall，看到這個季節的瀑布竟然有水，真得讓我又驚又喜~~ 也許沒有春天豐沛，但至少不是完全沒有啊！！

This is Upper Yosemite Fall. I was surprised again when I saw how much water there was during this season. I thought we won't be seeing any water at all since winter is usually the low season!!!

  

我們這樣邊開邊玩的從南邊的入口一路開到公園中心的Yosemite Village，雖然才四點多，太陽已經開始下山了。因為擔心天黑路不熟，我們也不敢逗留太久，在遊客中心看了看展覽拿了資料就開始往旅館出發。傍晚的優勝美地又換上另一番景色，因為溫度的變化從地面上開始有霧氣升起，映著晚霞森林高山，有種迷濛夢幻的感覺。

When we finally arrived at Yosemite Village, the sun was starting to set already. We didn’t stay too long at the Visitors Center because we want to get to our hotel before it gets too dark. Yosemite at sunset was totally different. A layer of misty fog stared to raise from the ground, and the mountains were glowing in the sunset. It felt mysterious and dreamy, like a fairytale land.

 

能夠住在園區裡當然方便許多，但是因為太晚決定要去玩，我們並沒有訂到在園區裡面的旅館，而是住在園區西邊出口不遠的Cedar Lodge旅館裡。我個人是覺得這間旅館還算不錯，離Yosemite Village不遠 (開車大約30分鐘) 又蠻乾淨舒服的。我們住的那間是最便宜的等級所以沒有廚房，連咖啡機都沒有喔！！但是有冰箱。我出發前因為擔心感恩節那天餐廳不開門沒東西吃所以自己帶了咖啡機和飯鍋，還買了一些罐頭準備當晚餐吃。結果其實根本不用擔心，不但在園區的遊客中心旁邊有一間超齊全的販賣部兼超市，吃的穿的玩的都有在賣，旅館也有自己的販賣部和餐廳。只是那天餐廳的感恩節大餐實在太貴了 (一個人至少要$40大洋) 我們覺得不值得，所以在那裡的兩個晚上我們都是自己煮飯吃，也是不錯滴~~

It would be best to stay in the Park when visiting Yosemite, but because we decided late so I couldn’t find any openings. We stayed in Cedar Lodge located a few miles outside of the west Park entrance, and we liked it a lot. I was worried that no shops or restaurants would be open on Thanksgiving Day so I brought our own coffee maker and rice cooker with us. But it turned out that there was a nice store stocked with all kinds of goods next to the Visitors Center in the Park, and out hotel had it’s own little shop and restaurant as well. We still ended up cooking our own dinner though, because the Thanksgiving Dinner the restaurant had that night was soooo over priced. It was kind of nice having dinner in our room, felt like we brought a little bit of home with us~~

 

提醒大家若是要到優勝美地去玩，想住到園區裡春天夏天請至少一年以前就訂好房間，不然就訂位在西邊入口的旅館比較近。千萬不要訂在南邊入口的旅館，即使它標榜離入口只有幾個Miles，但是從入口到Yosemite Village開車大概要一個多小時才到得了，而且路也沒西邊好開喔！！

For anyone who would be visiting Yosemite in the future, it would be better to book a hotel near the west entrance the the south entrance, because it would take twice as long to get to Yosemite Village from the south, plus the drive would be much easier from the west.