Assorted scenic pictures

A picture post, ranging back to our family vacation in May (note: for some reason I still avoid posting pictures with people's faces in them, yet people who know my ID can go and browse my Yahoo photos at their leisure. Go figure. Maybe someday I'll be more comfortable with it):

Yosemite
With the huge amounts of rain dumping tons of snow on the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California, going to Yosemite and other national parks in May just as all of it was melting resulted in some breathtaking visuals of waterfalls and rivers swollen beyond capacity.

Yosemite Valley:


Bridalveil Falls:


Yosemite Falls:


There was even so much water that Yosemite, famed for its waterfalls, had more than a few impromptu waterfalls show up on the valley walls:



Sequoias
These trees, the largest living organisms in the world, are both awe-inspiring in their size, age, and majesty - and yet interesting in the sense that they aren't as all-powerful as they look. In order for the seeds to take root, they rely on lightning-caused fires to clear out the underbrush on the forest floor so that they don't have to compete with other plants for nutrients. They need squirrels to help them disperse seeds from the cones. And finally, despite their ability to live several thousand years, they can actually be quite fragile in that their root system is very shallow.

Amazing that a little brush like this one (which came up to my mid-shin):


Could eventually grow into the General Sherman tree, the largest living organism in the world (2300-2700 years old, 275 ft high, 103 ft in diameter at the base):



Getty Center
Entrance:


Garden:



Independence Day fireworks
From the Shoreline Amphitheatre after the Movie Magic concert (see Esther's and Karen's recaps, as well as Karen's video of the grand finale):


Bursting over Great America: