March/April 2021 - Yosemite NP, Saguaro NP, White Sands NP

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Yosemite NP

Moonrise over half Dome

Orange groves and nut trees line the roads heading towards Fresno.  Once through town we see development give way to open ranch land then rolling hills.  The snow topped Sierra Nevada mountains form the backdrop to the east.  Our route is one of the main roads entering Yosemite National Park.  We are here for a photography workshop lead by Gary Hart.  The next portion of my blog is an unsolicited story of our workshop experience.

March/April 2021 - Joshua Tree NP, Kings Canyon/Sequoia NP

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General Grant sequoia

Our goal for this trip is to make it to Yosemite National Park for a landscape photography workshop.  On the way we will visit friends, relatives and several national parks.  We will spend several days at Yosemite for the workshop adding a few days to practice our skills before visiting a few more parks on our way back home.

We face the usual southwest spring weather during our drive across TX, NM, AZ and CA - incessant head wind.  At times the skies are brown from the blowing dust.  Driving through a pass just east of Tucson, sleet and freezing temperatures are added to the wind.  We stop outside of Phoenix for the night on our way to Joshua Tree National Park.  I don’t want to know our gas mileage; I know it is low due to the wind.  I almost see the needle move towards ‘E’ whenever I step on the gas.