Sunday, June 21, 2015

CA - Yosemite National Park



Yosemite

Half Dome

-- Gordon   


      Welcome to one of world most fascinating places: YOSEMITE!!! When you enter, everything looks absolutely great. Waterfalls, weird rocks, and granite.

      Best of all, Glacier Point, shaped like a glacier. People go stargazing every night. Absolutely gorgeous.


Half Dome

      Now presenting, what Yosemite's most famous for...Half Doom!!! Adventurous people climb the crazy side, but they're not afraid. Their hobby is climbing mountains. They are awesome!
               
Set up our 2-bedroom tent
      You can go camping! Having fun. Enjoy your time. When you are camping, you get to do anything you want. Bears may visit you, then...attack! BEAR ATTACK! WARNING: Put all food in Bear Lockers or you have to pay a fine ($5000). Protect yourself, save the Yosemite bears.
Mono Lake

      Visit Mono Lake! What's that? Good question, that great big lake is Mono Lake. Without that lake, Yosemite would have no life. The fish are big and healthy. Why? There's no pollution.

      Yosemite is great. I would rate it as the number one best attraction in the whole world!


waterfall

seeing a pika

Tourist Attractions of Yosemite

--Aaron


    Yosemite is really awesome. An exciting reason is you can camp there! The tall Yosemite Falls is located inside the cool Yosemite Valley. Maybe try climbing Half Dome, but it's pretty steep on both sides. My brother and I felt and played in snowmelt water. We also visited Mono Lake outside of Yosemite. If you're lucky enough, you'll see a bear! Glacier Point is known for its excellent view. Everything that you would like is found in Yosemite.

  

our tent

the campfire
yummy food
      Lots of things can be done while camping. Unfortunately, you will have to build a tent. Our wonderful dad cooked us some yummy food. You are even allowed to setup a campfire! A campfire means roasting marshmallows! So that's why, in the amazing Yosemite, camping is worth all the trouble.

   
Yosemite Falls from the mountaintop


Lower Yosemite Falls
Yosemite Falls
      Do you know that Yosemite Falls is so high that it has been divided into the Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls? It is tall enough to be the highest in the country and one of the tallest in the world! Still, it's only part of the reason why Yosemite is so famous along with the Bridalveil, Cascade, Vernal, and Nevada Falls.
the pretty steep Half Dome
      Half Dome is really famous too. There's a choice to climb on the dome side, or the basically vertical side. The dome side has a cable, but the steeper side doesn't. Every day, there's a lucky draw to see who's lucky enough to camp on Half Dome. But every year, people fall off from Half Dome while climbing. So, maybe Half Dome is a bit more like a challenge than an activity.

playing in the snowmelt water
     Remember to bring your bathing suits! We stopped by a beautiful place in Yosemite creek. My brother and I played in the snowmelt water. The shallow and rocky part pokes our feet really hard. The sand-covered but deep part feels fine. A splash fight started. Mud was observed for golden particles. What a fun experience we had.
Land Bridge
Black Point
     The Great Basin Desert outside of Yosemite is where the huge Mono Lake is found in. It's the only source of water in the whole desert! Black Point is a volcano that erupted underwater, but looks like an island. A thin strip of land called the Land Bridge connects 2 islands together. Mono Lake is really unique.


grizzly bear
what's for dinner?
     Bears are rarely seen and even more rarely attack humans. You may often see black bears. If you have really good luck, a grizzly bear will appear. We were shocked to see a bear. It made me even more shocked; a grizzly bear! But don't worry if you see a bear, it's not likely to attack, so take a couple of pictures.
left: North Dome; middle: Basket Dome; Right: Half Dome

Glacier Point view of Half Dome
left: North Dome; right: Basket Dome
      A really spectacular view is found at Glacier Point. The mountain is so high up that 1/4 of Yosemite is seen. Half Dome and North Dome can be viewed from Glacier Point. Native Americans  say that there was once a woman and her husband who argued and fought all the time. The displeased spirits turned them into stone: North Dome and Half Dome. North Dome really looks similar to an angry person's face and Half Dome is like turning its head away from North Dome. There are different trails from Glacier Point leading to Yosemite Valley. One thing they have in common is that they are all very long; the shortest one is already 4.6 miles long. People come to Glacier Point to watch the beautiful sunset and the bright stars. Glacier Point will always be a really special place to visit.

     I've never seen a more naturally beautiful place than Yosemite. Many sweet activities can be done there. One exciting activity to do is playing around in ice-cold snowmelt water. Another nice one is camping in meadows. Yosemite is one of the last places left in the world where nature is still alive!
Turn Out view of Half Dome
salad for a deer!













sunset on the Yosemite mountains

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Essay - Dreaming of Summer by Gordon

Dreaming of Summer
-- Gordon

      On a sunny day, Panda Bear decided to go to the beach. He felt it was important to bring a bucket, a surfboard, a shovel, and an umbrella. If it was too hot and last but not least sunscreen. He also grabbed his towel. On the way, he saw a crab. It was very hot at the beach. So Panda Bear set his umbrella. He built a big sandcastle. He went swimming with the sharks. He got wet. He bought and drunk lemonade on the sailboat. It was the best summer ever.