Sequoia Trees

The other day we drove up to a certain section of the park that has giant Sequoia trees. These trees are amazingly large, living for hundreds, sometimes thousands of years!!

The roots of a Sequoia.

Some of these trees can be as wide as 30 feet across and up to 150 feet high!

They do controlled burns in the forest here to keep the Sequoia's from being overrun by smaller trees and bushes. After the fires die away, small plants arise feeding on the ash and dirt for substance. They are called Snow Plants or Sarcodes Sanguinea meaning "the bloody flesh like thing!"

Yosemite National Park Scenery

Tenaya Lake

While driving through the valley the other day, we went by a place called Tenaya Lake. The lake is 8150 feet off of the surface floor of the valley. Most of the year, the roads are closed due to the intense snow they get(53 feet this year!!).

Most of the lake was frozen over. It gets about 65 degrees during the day and drops as low as 25 degrees at night.

  

I got a cool pic of the mountains reflection in the water!

Across from the lake is a mountain cliff that is quite steep. The little dots on the cliff are climbers!

Yosemite Valley

For the last three weeks of our trip here in California before we head to China, we are staying just outside of the Yosemite Valley. We made our first venture in several days ago and saw nature at its best. The valley is breathtaking with rushing rapids, granite walls, snowy mountains, and many waterfalls. We’re planning on making several trips into the park to do some site seeing and hiking. It's taken me several days to get the first post up due to not having very good internet connection up here. Anyway, here’s part 1 of our journey into the heart of the park.

Glacier Point and Half Dome- Glacier point is a lookout 30 miles above the valley floor where you get an amazing view of Yosemite and Half Dome.

El Capitan- A massive granite monolith that stands 3593 feet from base to summit. There is a small newly formed fall off to the left.

Bridalveil Falls- Couldn’t get any great photos of this fall. You walk through a maze of trees and arrive at the base where the mist and rushing water fall directly on the path. I took a nice bath here! :P

Yosemite Falls- The highest measured waterfall in North America, it measures 2425 feet from top of the upper falls to the bottom of the falls. During the summer around August, the falls sometimes slow to a trickle allowing climbers to scale the fall. However, one good rainfall up in the mountains can start the falls again sending the climbers down into the pool plunge!

Me and Honey!

Arizona Beers (And One Alaskan)

(From left to right: Wapiti Amber Ale, Old Monkey Shine, Grand Canyon Sunset Amber Ale, Grand Canyon Horseshoe Bend Pale Ale, Grand Canyon American Pilsner, and Alaskan Summer)

While I was at the Grand Canyon a couple of weeks ago, I stopped into a store and was able to create my own six pack of local beers. I picked up five from Arizona and one from Alaska(didn't even know they made beer!). I started off with Wapiti Amber Ale made by the Mogollon Brewing Company in Flagstaff. They have some pretty neat labels and names for all there beers but as for flavor, they fall short. It has a fruity smell, slightly floral but hardly any taste at all. Next up was Old Monkey Shine English Style Ale from Nimbus Brewing Company out of Tucson. This was the best of the bunch, light with carmel flavor and almost a root beer like smell. Similar to a Guinness with a nice head but not heavy at all. They have a great site which really goes into detail about all there beers. I will defiantly be on the lookout to try more of there stuff! I then jumped into three different varieties by The Grand Canyon Brewing Company out of Williams, Arizona. First was Sunset Amber Ale with an IPA smell, good color, light and malty. Next was American Pilsner, slightly fruity aroma more similar to a hefeweizen. I could drink several of these on a nice hot day. Last was Horseshoe Bend Pale Ale, also similar to an IPA with flower notes in the smell but a little bitter on the after taste. Of all three, American Pilsner was the best. Finally, I ended with the Kolsch Style Ale from the Alaskan Brewing Company in Juneau. I can't say I thought much of the beer as it had no flavor and smelled to me like V-8 juice. They do however make many other types, one being a smoked porter that sounds good. If you can find it, pick up some of the Nimbus beer. You won't regret it!

Proposition 65

While stopping into a Starbucks today, I saw this sign posted above the milk and sugar station. It mentions a chemical compound that can cause cancer called Acrylamide. It says that Acrylamide is not used in anything at Starbucks but is a result of cooking. I had never heard of this before and when I looked it up, I found out some really interesting information. You can check out the link of Acrylamide(it gets kinda technical in certain areas) but here are some of the interesting points involving cooking. It was found in many cooked starchy foods such as french fries, potato chips, and bread that had been fried, baked or roasted to 120 Celsius(248 Fahrenheit). It is produce when coffee is brewed or when bread is toasted and is naturally found in black olives, prunes(prune juice), and dried pears. However, it is not produced when you boil any product or just don't heat it at all. Obviously, the biggest way to get Acrylamide is from cigarette smoking. Some researchers believe that it may be a by-product of something called The Maillard Reaction. This is a form of browning similar to caramelization. Health Canada and the FDA here in America are looking into whether this poses a threat to human health and should action be taken. As of yet, they are still doing research by testing many products. I found a list of products that the FDA have been testing and the list is pretty amazing in the fact that 95% of us eat most of these things every day! The top 4 are Postum Original Caffeine Free Instant Hot Beverage, Pringles Sweet Mesquite BBQ chips, Blue Mesa Grill Sweet Potato Chips, and Route 11 Sweet Potato Chips(sorry mom and dad!!). However, coffee is quite low to almost non-existent. It should be interesting to see where this goes in the future and what, if any, impact it will have on the restaurant community.

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is a sight to behold. When you walk up upon it, it almost seems unreal. Nothing is moving, everything is still and yet there it is completely real. Being so used to the hustle and bustle of big cities, to come across such a site is so strange without seeing anything but a bird fly by. I have to say, everyone should see it at least once in there life. Amazing.