I managed to get a short visit to Yosemite into my week off work between Xmas and New Year.
I managed to book a room on the valley floor about three weeks before Xmas, and when that day actually came, it coincided with a winter storm blowing through the area, so the whole time I was there, it was either raining or snowing.
Overnight during the night I spent there, my car accumulated around a foot of snow, and I didn't sleep that well, as large clumps of snow would fall off the trees around my room, land on the roof and shake the whole room. A bunch of the bigger hits sounded like thunder. It was actually quite enjoyable!
Despite the weather, I still had a great time - I think it would be impossible not to in that location. During the first afternoon, I got soaked by the rain (despite wearing my snowboarding gear to try and stay dry) hiking around the valley floor, and the following morning, got soaked again (this time by the snow) doing the same thing, this time through a foot of snow.
I managed to keep the camera dry enough to where it could still take pictures (it was pretty wet, I was impressed that it continued to work in those conditions) - full set of (rather gloomy) photos are
here.
On the way home from Yosemite, my route took me right past San Juan Bautista - and as I had recently re-watched Hitchcock's Vertigo (again), I decided to call in and check out the mission area again. This time I paid to go into the State Park parts of it, where some of the more significant scenes of Vertigo were filmed. Photos are
here.
