One of my most memorable trips is to Yosemite National Park in the winter of 2005. I had never seen snow falling since I came to the US as a 'boat people' from Vietnam in 1975 so one day in February 2005 i asked my two aunts and their two friends to join me for a train trip to Yosemite over the weekend, hoping for a chance to catch the falling snow in my favorite national park.
We left the Los Angeles central station at around 1am by bus to Bakersfield where we transferred to the train which took us to Merced. From Merced we took the YART bus into the Yosemite valley. We arrived in front of the village registration area at 10am. All of these transfers are included in the Amtrak ticket price.
Despite the long and busy night the morning bus ride to the valley was beautiful.
When we arrived the weather was cold but there was no trace of snow on the ground. I was somewhat disappointed but since we all love Yosemite we enjoyed the park anyway. There were not a lot of visitors so in many parts of the valley we pretty much had the place to ourselves.
The Yosemite fall was still spectacular :-)
and the stream of water was replaced by a stream of snow which looked like powdered sugar
At one point it even rained
On the last night, after a nice dinner at the Awahnee hotel
we walked to the shuttle stop and my aunt said she saw the announcement at the registration desk that there would be a 50% chance of snow the next day, when we had to leave at 10 in the morning. We looked at each other and wondered how could it possibly snow when it was not that cold, it would take a miracle.
Early the next morning i woke up at 6am and something inside made me lift up the curtain to look outside even though it was still quite dark. Without the glasses i could not see clearly but i noticed that the little tree in front of the room seemed to bend down as if there was something on it. With the glasses on i could not believe what i saw, it was snow! I then casted my eyes farther and saw the whole area blanketed under a white cover, beyond my widest dream.
I yelled, woke everybody up and we all ran outside. The scenery was so breathtaking with all the pine trees covered with snow,
'but the snow was not falling' i thought sadly to myself. As we continued to be amazed at the transformation of the valley ino a winter wonderland, soon after 7am, we started noticing white particles in the air, we looked up to the sky and sure enough snow began to fall. The sky was filled with cotton-light flakes and i screamed of joy!
The snow continued to come down for about 5 minutes, then it stopped. We spent the next few hours wandering in the park to enjoy the magical white landscape
and by the time we left to catch the bus the sun began to shine through the clouds, the snow started to melt quickly, and water dropped from the trees like rain.
One the way to the bus stop i looked up and saw this spectacular sight!
Back on the bus we were continued to be mesmerized by the magnificent sceneries
I will never forget this incredible experience and I think miracle does happen, as if someone up there had heard my silent wishes :-)
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