Zooboy28 in America

[zooboy28]

Day Eleven – Part Two

Nestled in Stanley Park, Vancouver Aquarium is the city’s main animal attraction, and is Canada’s premier aquarium attracting over a million visitors a year. Which is a bit shocking given its fairly tiny footprint! I visited just before the expansion opened, which I understand greatly increased the area available to visitors. I hope further expansion can increase this space more, especially in the outdoor parts. I have not visited many world-class aquariums, and in terms of comparisons, I’ve only been to a handful of aquariums that incorporated both indoor and outdoor exhibits – Gold Coast Sea World (Australia), Underwater World (Singapore), Bergen Akvariet (Norway) and Valencia Oceanografic (Spain). And I would rank Vancouver 2nd out of these five (Valencia trumps it).

The outdoor exhibits comprise a number of pools for various marine mammals, including Beluga, Harbour Porpoise, White-sided Dolphin, Steller’s Sea Lion, Harbour Seal and Sea Otters, and African Penguins. While none of these enclosures can be called spacious (I’m glad the orcas left), I think all are adequate for their inhabitants, and the underwater viewing and sea-scaping are done very well. Hopefully future expansions can increase the size of the main pools, and the otter and penguin exhibits can be relocated to increase visitor’s areas. It would have been nice if the penguins had been put in the new entry area – penguins are always good entry species, and they don’t fit with the northern theme where they are now. I saw a number of very professional and impressive presentations with the pinnipeds, dolphins and beluga, which really showcased the animals and the work of the aquarium. The final enclosure is a stream for salmon, but there isn’t enough room to appreciate this freshwater exhibit sadly.

The indoor exhibits and visitors’ areas, assuming the map is to scale, covers a larger area than the outdoor exhibits and visitors’ area, and it certainly felt that way. The exhibits are contained within themed zones, but there was no real flow or coherence through some of the zones, but this may have been rectified with the new entry plaza. The first part, Exploration Gallery, with various random species, was incoherent, but spacious, with great enclosures and displays and probably the best zone for appreciating the creatures on exhibit. The next two parts, BC Coast and Pacific Canada, housed local marine species. The exhibits were solid, but not anything amazing – certainly they seemed to mostly offer appropriate conditions for their inhabitants, but in a standard aquarium way. The big open tank was impressive, but viewing was very limited. The shark and sea turtle tank seemed too small for its inhabitants, and I think a big ocean tank is required to lift this aquarium into the “great aquarium” rankings.

The next zone I visited was Frogs Forever?, and this was really superb, probably one of the top three amphibian exhibits I’ve seen, with an excellent diversity of species, and a range of display styles. It really seemed to engage visitors and get a clear message across. It was rather dark, which made photography difficult, but this probably suited the animals, and also slowed and quietened down the visitors. I saw 16 amphibian species here (and 5 more in the rest of the aquarium), certainly more than most zoos ever display. Overall, this was my favourite part of the aquarium. The next part was Tropic Zone, which was a mishmash of various fish tanks that didn’t appeal much.

The final zone was the Amazon Rainforest, consisting of a walkthrough exhibit with birds, sloths, reptiles and fish, surrounded by a range of mammal, reptile, fish and invertebrate exhibits. I wasn’t really a fan of this, another cramped space with exhibits that tended to be too small. I get what they were trying to achieve, but I don’t think they quite pulled it off. I don’t know where all the birds were, are they moved off exhibit before it closes? I could only find the ducks, and was disappointed to miss the bats. A flooded Amazon forest tank, with all the usual large fish would have been way more appropriate here, and could have been done a lot better than the walkthrough. I say ditch the monkeys and birds, flood the walkthrough and make it a huge tank, but retain most of the reptile displays (caiman, crocodiles, turtles).

Overall, Vancouver Aquarium was very nice (and I’m probably being a little harsh with my negative comments), and I really enjoyed my visit (although again I was pushed for time). I don’t really think it can be considered a top tier aquarium due to its lack of a decent large ocean tank, but what it does have is generally more than adequate and sometimes superb. The strong conservation focus was brilliant, and I did learn quite a bit there, both from the presentations and signage. I would love to see the new expansion (it sounds brilliant) and hopefully further expansions are possible to make this aquarium world-class in the future.

New Species: Three Striped Poison-Dart Frog, Mimic Poison-Dart Frog, Panamanian Golden Frog, Surinam Toad, Mitchell’s Reed Frog, American Tree Frog, Smokey Jungle Frog, Oriental Fire-bellied Toad, Amazonian Horned Toad, Oregon Spotted Frog, Yacare Caiman, Diving Lizard, Harbour Porpoise, Pacific White-sided Dolphin, & Northern Sea Otter.

 

[snowleopard]

Nice review of an attraction that I visit on a regular basis. I will point out, as you and I have discussed via private messages, that you arrived literally weeks before the $45 million expansion significantly enlarged the footprint of the facility. The establishment had numerous sections temporarily altered and your opinion (while still positive) would have been even higher if you had chanced to visit a little later in the year. For instance, the Amazon Rainforest now has at least 5 bird species as well as butterflies and is certainly not devoid of life at the moment. There is also a new Bat Cave and at least half a dozen other tanks just in the Amazon zone that were not there when you were in the building. I could go on but the link below gives more details on the additions.

I agree with you in that Vancouver Aquarium is very nice but it does lack that mammoth ocean tank that so many other modern facilities now have. A lot of the aquarium is simply "very nice" without being "awesome". The next phase in the long-term $100 million overhaul of this 1956 aquarium is to totally renovate the entire outdoor section but that is somewhat in limbo at the moment as just yesterday the aquarium sent representatives to speak at a Vancouver Park Board meeting. The status of cetaceans at the facility is questionable and a decision will be reached in the fall after a public discussion that is sure to be become rather heated.

Here is the link to my review of the expansion:

http://www.zoochat.com/223/review-vancouver-aquarium-expansion-369387/

 

[zooboy28]

Nice review of an attraction that I visit on a regular basis. I will point out, as you and I have discussed via private messages, that you arrived literally weeks before the $45 million expansion significantly enlarged the footprint of the facility. The establishment had numerous sections temporarily altered and your opinion (while still positive) would have been even higher if you had chanced to visit a little later in the year. For instance, the Amazon Rainforest now has at least 5 bird species as well as butterflies and is certainly not devoid of life at the moment. There is also a new Bat Cave and at least half a dozen other tanks just in the Amazon zone that were not there when you were in the building. I could go on but the link below gives more details on the additions.

I agree with you in that Vancouver Aquarium is very nice but it does lack that mammoth ocean tank that so many other modern facilities now have. A lot of the aquarium is simply "very nice" without being "awesome". The next phase in the long-term $100 million overhaul of this 1956 aquarium is to totally renovate the entire outdoor section but that is somewhat in limbo at the moment as just yesterday the aquarium sent representatives to speak at a Vancouver Park Board meeting. The status of cetaceans at the facility is questionable and a decision will be reached in the fall after a public discussion that is sure to be become rather heated.

Here is the link to my review of the expansion:

http://www.zoochat.com/223/review-vancouver-aquarium-expansion-369387/

Yes, I'm definitely disappointed to have missed the opening of the expansion, and the additional exhibits that were added. Great review btw. I would have liked to see the bat cave too. If the birds were off-display during the expansion they should have changed the signs, or put a sign up saying so - the only species I saw was Ringed Teal.

I hope the aquarium is able to retain cetaceans, it will definitely be interesting to continue following the developments. Keep us posted

 

[wensleydale]

I sincerely hope that Vancouver Aquarium keeps its cetacean program. Incidentally it just occurred to me that it is the only place in North America, maybe the world, where you can see whales, dolphins, and porpoises in the same facility.

 

[zooboy28]

I sincerely hope that Vancouver Aquarium keeps its cetacean program. Incidentally it just occurred to me that it is the only place in North America, maybe the world, where you can see whales, dolphins, and porpoises in the same facility.

While this depends on how you define "whale", I think it might be the only place, nowhere in Australasia, Europe or Russia contains whales (beluga) and porpoises, but I imagine somewhere in Japan (or China) might?

 

[DavidBrown]

While this depends on how you define "whale", I think it might be the only place, nowhere in Australasia, Europe or Russia contains whales (beluga) and porpoises, but I imagine somewhere in Japan (or China) might?

At some point the semantics on that kind of do break down, don't they? Porpoises and belugas are dolphins. All of them are whales.

 

[zooboy28]

Day Twelve

Massive apologies for being so slack at following this through. Part of the problem is that this was the one day that I managed to delete all my photos from (did the same with my Estonian photos from my Europe trip). This day we took the Sea Bus across to North Vancouver, which is amazing. It is overlooked by the North Shore Mountains of the Pacific Ranges, many of which were still snow-capped. From the station we took a bus up to the Lynn Canyon Ecology Centre, which was a small museum with displays of native wildlife, including a number of specimens. Here we collected a map and went for a small walk across a suspension bridge and through the forest, where we saw relatively little wildlife, just a few of the more common bird species, with the only new species a Douglas Squirrel. After a couple of hours here, we took the bus back down to the dock, where we had lunch.

We then took another bus up a different canyon, to Grouse Mountain. This is a 1,200 m peak, the top part of which is a ski area with various tourist attractions and great views over the city below. It is rather expensive to get in, costing C$45.95, and from the entry a gondola takes you up to the main attraction area, a ride which passes over a Grey Wolf exhibit and gives great views over the Douglas fir forest below. At the top is a lodge, with a couple of shops, restaurants and a theatre, and from here we set out to explore the exposed and rather cold plateau area. Among the log sculptures and piles of melting snow were a lumberjack show, bird show, bear exhibit and a chairlift to the summit.

We arrived just before the bird show, so hurried across to a small arena, where we sat on a temporary grandstand with a few other visitors. Two presenters demonstrated the flying skills of five different birds of prey, including a Bald Eagle, Turkey Vulture, Great Horned Owl, (Lanner?) Falcon and (?) Hawk. After this we explored the bear exhibit, a sprawling and naturalistic enclosure for two Grizzly Bears that had been orphaned – this was an excellent exhibit, and the bears were very active indeed! Finally we headed up to the summit on the chair lift, from which we saw Bald Eagles soaring overhead, and squirrels scratching around on the ground. And at the top we saw another new mammal species – a Chipmunk! It was however, very cold up here, and in the clouds, so we headed down fairly promptly.

Overall, Grouse Mountain was impressive, although it would have been better to spend more time there and get to go on a guided eco walk. I did see, and photograph, some small bird species that I was unable to identify, so I’ll never know what they were... But I do have my partner’s photos of the chipmunk, falcon and hawk, so if anyone can identify these species that would be great!

New Species: Douglas Squirrel, Chipmunk.

 

[snowleopard]

We then took another bus up a different canyon, to Grouse Mountain. This is a 1,200 m peak, the top part of which is a ski area with various tourist attractions and great views over the city below. It is rather expensive to get in, costing C$45.95, and from the entry a gondola takes you up to the main attraction area, a ride which passes over a Grey Wolf exhibit and gives great views over the Douglas fir forest below. At the top is a lodge, with a couple of shops, restaurants and a theatre, and from here we set out to explore the exposed and rather cold plateau area. Among the log sculptures and piles of melting snow were a lumberjack show, bird show, bear exhibit and a chairlift to the summit.

Thanks for the Grouse Mountain review, and perhaps of interest to folks is the "Grouse Grind" that locally is famous in Vancouver. To take the $46 gondola to the top is expensive but if you walk up it is actually free and there is only a $10 fee to ride the gondola back down. However, that walk is more of a serious trek up 2,830 steps and it takes on average 1.5 hours. I have only done it once in my life and the hike is so steep that going back down is prohibited. Here are some more facts about the "Grind":

https://www.grousemountain.com/grousegrind/faq

 

[Chlidonias]

on Grouse Mountain you get Townsend's Chipmunk (Tamias townsendii).
https://www.grousemountain.com/posts/tale-of-two-critters

I found some sites that said Yellow-Pine Chipmunks (Tamias amoenus) too, but looking at photos of the two, townsendii seems to have facial stripes which give it a distinct "eye-ring" look whereas amoenus has really bold stripes along the entire face.

 

[zooboy28]

Thanks for the Grouse Mountain review, and perhaps of interest to folks is the "Grouse Grind" that locally is famous in Vancouver. To take the $46 gondola to the top is expensive but if you walk up it is actually free and there is only a $10 fee to ride the gondola back down. However, that walk is more of a serious trek up 2,830 steps and it takes on average 1.5 hours. I have only done it once in my life and the hike is so steep that going back down is prohibited. Here are some more facts about the "Grind":

https://www.grousemountain.com/grousegrind/faq

Oh, I didn't realise it was free to head up the track, that's good. And a serious price difference! But yeah, I wasn't going to do the Grind! When we took the gondola up there were maybe ten people in it, heaps of room to look and move around. But on the way down there were over 30 people on board and most had come up on the Grind, so it was a bit sweaty and stinky.

 

[zooboy28]

on Grouse Mountain you get Townsend's Chipmunk (Tamias townsendii).
https://www.grousemountain.com/posts/tale-of-two-critters

I found some sites that said Yellow-Pine Chipmunks (Tamias amoenus) too, but looking at photos of the two, townsendii seems to have facial stripes which give it a distinct "eye-ring" look whereas amoenus has really bold stripes along the entire face.

Ah-ha, thanks for that! Any thoughts on the birds?

 

[zooboy28]

Day Thirteen

Today we did nothing animal or zoo-related. We spent the morning exploring downtown Vancouver, including the Granville Island markets. I was very impressed with Vancouver, the whole city seemed very nice, and I can definitely see why it ranks so highly on “liveability” scales. After lunch we headed to Vancouver International Airport, where we went through US immigration (in Canada!) and therefore entered the USA before we even boarded our flight to San Francisco. After landing (at the domestic terminal), we caught a train (complete with rather agitated man wearing only a hospital gown who was most distressed to find out the train was heading away from the airport not towards it) to Oakland, where we were staying at an old house found on Airbnb. My partner hadn’t fully realised that Oakland was not the same as San Francisco when the accommodation was booked, and so we didn’t fully realise where we were staying until we got there. It turns out Oakland is a bit awful, and our walk from the station to the accommodation and then to find some dinner left us feeling unsafe and far from impressed. Needless to say, the following days were not spent in Oakland, but in San Francisco itself.

 

[Brum]

Wahey, two travel blogs back up and running! Bring on the SD reviews zooboy28!

 

[zooboy28]

Day Fourteen

Today was our first day in San Francisco, and we were excited to head into the city and do some exploring. We caught the train across the Bay to the city centre, and then walked down to the waterfront, passing parks dotted with homeless people and streets full of litter. We walked along the waterfront, passing a number of piers and the old America’s Cup bases, from which Oracle launched their unbelievable campaign to hold on to the Cup by beating Team New Zealand. Eventually we arrived at Fisherman’s Wharf, a tourist trap with a number of souvenir stores and the “Aquarium of the Bay”, which we didn’t enter. The information centre was very useful however, and we planned our day from there. The first stop being the end of the wharf, from where we could see Alcatraz on the foggy bay, and dozens of California Sea Lions. It was very cool to see these animals in the city!

We continued walking along the waterfront, heading away from the city, and past a number of parks and tourist attractions. As we crossed a small headland, we saw a flock of Brown Pelicans flying across the Bay, and also saw a number of other small birds. We caught a bus near Pier One, which took us past the Golden Gate Bridge to Golden Gate Park, where we disembarked. We wandered through the park, seeing a number of new species of small bird, before reaching an area with several museums, most notably the California Academy of Sciences. This Museum first opened in 1874, and moved to its current site in 1916. After suffering substantial damage in the 1989 earthquake, the museum buildings were demolished in 2005 and a new museum opened in 2008.

Entrance was fairly steep at $30 student/$35 adult, which was really more than it was worth, when considering the prices of other American attractions. The new building was very impressive, and reminiscent of Melbourne Museum, although somewhat smaller than what I had expected. I’m not going to do a detailed review of CAS, there are excellent reviews here: http://www.zoochat.com/22/review-california-academy-sciences-220341/; http://www.zoochat.com/22/put-me-zoo-california-academy-sciences-302785/)

The centre-piece exhibits of CAS are a pair of large domes, one housing the planetarium, the other a tropical rainforest, and it was this that we explored first. This is a multi-storey, glass dome, with a spiral boardwalk leading up through several levels, and then an internal elevator leading back down. Half is an open air rainforest with various South American birds (mostly tanagers), which is surrounded by the very structural dome, so isn’t very naturalistic. The boardwalk levels represent different tropical locations (Borneo, Madagascar, Costa Rica) and have various species of invertebrates, fish, amphibians and reptiles displayed in terrariums. I saw a lot of new, exciting, and rarely-displayed species here, including some beautiful frogs and lizards. The terrariums are mostly free-standing, meaning visitors can walk around all sides and look for animals, which I’m not a fan of. And reflections were fairly bad. The exhibits were, however, of a good size, although the rainforest itself was at the limit of visitor occupation!

The oddest thing about the rainforest was the signage prohibiting photography of certain animals, apparently because they are photo-sensitive. I don’t understand what that means, especially as it applied to a range of species, from macaws to chameleons, and I’ve never seen this before anywhere (except obviously flash photography in nocturnal houses). So I still took photos of everything. Apparently there was an explanation in a distant part of the museum, but I couldn’t find it when I went there.

After the aquarium we visited the Steinhart Aquarium, located in the museum’s basement. This was a large collection of tanks, mostly displaying fish, but also a few amphibians and reptiles. Most of the tanks were good or excellent, but the layout was a bit weird. There were some very clever exhibits however, and the Vietnamese mossy frogs were displayed particularly well, enticing visitors to look for the camouflaged frogs. Overall, less impressive than I’d expected.

The only other area of the museum with living exhibits, apart from the pools of fish surrounding the domes, were in the African Hall, where impressive dioramas of various large mammals were interspersed with a couple of live reptile displays, and one of the dioramas held a colony of live African penguins! Although there exhibit was probably the weakest in the museum. The remaining areas of the museum included displays on evolution (focusing on Madagascar and the Galapagos), earthquakes (focusing on events in San Francisco) and skulls. The final area we visited was the roof, a most impressive area of 2.5 acres that features low hills completely covered with a living meadow of native plants. This was stunning, and was obviously appreciated by the many native birds.

Overall, the museum was a mixed bag. The exhibits were mostly great, and the signage too, but the feel of the place was weird, possibly due to the sterile modern building (apart from the roof). While it is described as one of the largest natural history museums in the world, it didn’t seem that large, and the layout didn’t do it any favours – many parts too narrow and crammed in, others overly spacious and empty feeling. However, the collection on display was excellent.

After leaving the museum, we explored some more parts of Golden Gate Park (unfortunately not the Botanical Garden nor the Bison paddock), before catching a bus back to the Golden Gate Bridge. Now that is a stunning piece of work! There is a visitor’s centre at one end, with a large interpretive display detailing the construction of the bridge, which was fascinating. It is also possible to walk across the bridge, but we only walked out a short distance, owing to the very cold wind. After that, we headed back into town and had dinner on the waterfront, before heading back to Oakland.

New Species: Orange Spotted Frog, Borneo River Toad, File-eared Tree-frog, Harlequin Flying-frog, Rainforest Hopper, Starry Night Reed Frog, Green Mantella, Giant Leaf-Tailed Gecko, Henkel’s Leaf-tailed Gecko, Painted Mantella, Lovely Poison-Dart Frog, Striped Rocket Frog, Granular Poison-Dart Frog, Kuhl’s Flying Gecko, Sakalava’s Velvet Gecko, Yellow-headed Gecko, Stream Anole, Dwarf Plated Chameleon, Mexican Beaded Lizard, Yellow Rat Snake, Madagascar Leaf-nosed Snake, Cope’s Vine Snake, Opal-rumped Tanager, Brown Pelican & Brewer’s Blackbird.

 

[zooboy28]

Massive apologies for being so slack at following this through. Part of the problem is that this was the one day that I managed to delete all my photos from (did the same with my Estonian photos from my Europe trip).

I found them!!! The Canadian ones. Very exciting. And found a new wild species I had forgotten about from the Grouse Mountain carpark.

New Species: Spotted Towhee.

 

[zooboy28]

Day Fifteen

Again we left Oakland early, and headed across to the San Franciscan waterfront, where we warmed ourselves with Starbucks before boarding a packed ferry. We sat upstairs, out in the cool morning air, at the rear of the ferry, looking back at the city as we headed out into the Bay. On the water we saw several Pigeon Guillemots, and a few gulls followed the boat too. After a little over half an hour, we disembarked at a small jetty, from where we assembled in a large group of tourists and were welcomed by a National Parks ranger. We weren’t actually in a National Park however, but a National Historic Landmark – Alcatraz Island.

Alcatraz is a fairly well known destination, so I won’t go into much detail, except to say that it was first a military fort established in 1858, and then a federal prison from 1933-1963, which is what it is best known as. Closure was due to high costs, and building damage from salt water. In 1969 it was occupied by Native Americans protesting the federal government’s treatment of them, until they were forcibly removed in 1971. During that time, much of the buildings were damaged (some destroyed), and further damage was done by government officials after the occupier removal. This stopped in 1972, when Alcatraz was designated part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and it opened to the public in 1973. Much of the Island’s buildings are now being repaired and preserved for the future, and exploring this historical landmark was very interesting (audio tours were brilliant!).

However, the most interesting thing about Alcatraz (at least to me), is its ecology. There are two main habitats on the island: coastal rocks and cliffs, and overgrown gardens with a rich variety of flora. The word Alcatraz is derived from the Spanish word for pelicans, which historically dominated the island, although they no longer nest here. But the birdlife is very apparent, with a large number of species present. Western Gulls were extremely abundant, with many rearing small fluffy chicks within a metre of the tourist areas. Hundreds of Brandt’s and Double-crested Cormorants were located on more distant rocks and cliffs, while Snowy Egrets and Night Herons perched in bushes along paths. And a pair of Canada Geese guarded the abandoned exercise yard.

All in all it was a fascinating place to visit (although not cheap), and the combination of historical and natural features made it one of the highlights of the trip – definitely recommend a visit!

After we arrived back in the city, we had soup in hollowed out bread buns for lunch, and then took the famous cable cars through the residential streets, which was very cool too, although we had to wait about an hour in the queue! We did some shopping and explored more areas of the city, as this would be our last day in the Bay, next stop was out east!

New Species: Double-crested Cormorant, Snowy Egret, Dark-eyed Junco.

Photos below show: Alcatraz Island, Western Gulls with chicks, and nesting Cormorants.

 

[Chlidonias]

The word Alcatraz is derived from the Spanish word for pelicans, which historically dominated the island, although they no longer nest here.

fun fact for the day: the word albatross derives from a corruption of alcatraz.

 

[zooboy28]

Day Sixteen

I know I start all my days with “today we got up early”, but it is true. And this day was no different. We left our accommodation in Oakland for the last time, and headed into downtown San Francisco. Which was very quiet because it was a Sunday. We wheeled our suitcases through eerily deserted streets, and made our way to a small rental car office. Where it transpired that the reason the streets were empty was because everyone was renting a car! The office had been open 5 minutes, and the queue was almost out the door, so it took over an hour to get our pre-booked vehicle, one which I did not drive (see Day Nine for the reason why). Eventually we made our way out of the city, and headed east through dry farmland and country towns for 280 km, until we reached the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

The Sierra Nevada Mountains are a huge 640 km range that include the continental USA’s highest peak, and are a very popular tourist destination. As we wound up the foothills, passing quaint signs displaying our elevation in feet, the vegetation changed from grassland, to scrub, to deciduous woodland, and then to tall conifer forest, which was kind of like driving through a pine plantation in NZ, except the trees were bigger, some areas were burnt out, and we were on the wrong side of the road. As we wound our way higher still, we reached the entrance to our destination – Yosemite National Park. Famous primarily as the birthplace of Yosemite Sam. I haven’t been to many National Parks, but this one was definitely the oddest – because you have to pay to get in. Which to my way of thinking somewhat defeats the purpose of a National Park, but OK.

We drove through the “toll booth” style entrance at Big Oak Flat (very Yogi Bear!), and then parked up to explore the information centre, where we got a map of the park, and planned our route for the day. This turned out to be a relatively short route, given it was already lunchtime, and we only had the rest of the day there. Talk about packing too much in to a holiday! From the entrance, we kept heading up the road, and taking in the views of the mountain conifer forests, and the high peaks and vast valleys. With several thousand other tourists.

After a while, we descended into Yosemite Valley, filled with forest and small meadows, and surrounded by massive, ancient rock walls carved by glaciers and occasionally punctuated by towering waterfalls. Yosemite National Park is huge. And everything in it is huge. We first stopped at Bridalveil Fall, where we parked up and went for a small walk through the trees and rocks to an impressive waterfall. The primary wildlife we saw through here was small passerines, although none were new species, and a few lizards. We then drove down to Yosemite Village, a small cluster of shops and the main camping area about half way down the valley, where we left the car, and began exploring.

After getting a drink, and a hat (it was a particularly hot and sunny day), we set off to visit the Yosemite Falls themselves, the path to which ran through the river bed and was peppered with trees, squirrels and jays. There are two falls, upper and lower, and both are impressive. Next we caught a free shuttle that takes you around the Valley, and disembarked at the Nature Centre at the far end of the Valley, which is a small building with various wildlife displays, including many of native mammals that I would have loved to have seen, such as marmots. We walked along the road from here, following a narrow path along the fast running Merced River, until we reached the path that tracked Tenaya Creek, which we followed up to Mirror Lake. Mirror Lake is a beautiful wide section of the creek, overshadowed by the mammoth Half Dome peak, almost 1.5km above it. The massive peaks surrounding the Valley are its most impressive feature, their pale rock and sheer cliffs are absolutely awe-inspiring, and I wish we could have spent much longer exploring this National Park.

By now it was late afternoon, so we took the shuttle back to the village, stocked up on souvenirs, and drove out of the Valley, and up to a lookout that gave views right through the valley to Half Dome. An absolutely stunning view in the setting sun. We followed the road to the Park exit at its South Entrance, and then drove to the village of Oakhurst, where we stayed the night at a small hotel.

If you ever get a chance to visit Yosemite, make sure you take it! It is spectacular and the landscape was like nothing I’d ever seen before. It’s definitely on my list of places to get back to, although I’ll spend much longer there next time! Thanks for reading, there is an Aquarium visit on the next day!

Photos below of the Yosemite Valley:

 

[DavidBrown]

It sounds like you missed the giant sequoias in Yosemite - the largest living things (by volume) on the planet.

Yep, you need to go back.

 

[wensleydale]

As a plant freak I insist you go back and see the Sequoia. If you really know what you are doing sometimes there are routes to get into places like this without paying, when I went to Acadia (over than ten years ago now, but still) there were ways to get in, on a road, without paying. Emphasis on sometimes though, as I have been to very few national parks.