Yosemite!

I just returned from my annual pre-Memorial Day pilgrimage to Yosemite National Park.  Spending time in this incredible miracle of nature never fails to inspire.

I find it hard to grasp geologic time.  It’s tough to get my head around processes that take millions and billions of years.  But there they are, massive granite cliffs that we call El Capitan and Half Dome, waterfalls that cascade down thousands of feet, rivers and trees and flowers and wildlife that surround us and never grow stale.

Ken Burns called his series on our national parks “America’s Best Idea,” and he was right.  Honoring and preserving our natural heritage is an ennobling undertaking.  It is evidence that we can rise above our day-to-day pettiness and focus on what’s really important.  I spend time in these postings bitching and ranting about what is wrong.  It’s all too easy to do.  Yosemite gives me a chance to step back and appraise a fuller view – one that we all to often fail to do.