Take a Little Trip: Yosemite

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul."
John Muir, Scottish naturalist, among the first to explore Yosemite

Words defy Yosemite. No matter how I try, I cannot find any fitting descriptors to convey the magnitude of Half Dome or the adrenaline rush produced by standing before a 2,500 foot tall waterfall. Last weekend, I had the great pleasure of visiting the Yosemite for the first time. This visit will be indelibly marked on my travel memory.

In art historical terms, Yosemite is the purest example of the sublime that I've ever encountered. In brief, the sublime is a feeling of magnificent terror--a mix of pleasure and fear, of beauty and horror. As I stood, enclosed on all sides by gigantic monoliths of stone, I felt the sublime power of nature and the creative glory of God.

While beautiful in its grandeur, Yosemite also at times made me feel so small, so vulnerable. Feeling equal to a rock in a river or a tree on the hillside might just be the antidote for the modern poison of Facebook, consumerism, and general self-absorption. At Yosemite, rather than spending hours checking e-mail, I spent hours admiring the multiple shades of green in a meadow or the pulse-slowing effect of a gurgling stream.

If any location in the world, fits the phrase, "you have to see it to believe it," Yosemite would be that place. No pictures nor words can adequately capture the vastness of the Sierra Nevada mountains or the abundance of natural wonders. But in a vain attempt, I will share with you some of my impressions of this wonderful granite cathedral (but you truly do have to see it to believe it):All photos by moi.