Charlotte and I had stayed at a little inn near the south entrance to Yosemite NP. What they don't tell you is that it takes an hour or so to get to the valley from there. So you drive for that time along a winding mountain road through fairly thick forest. You start wondering, after about an hour, how much longer? Shortly after asking that, you notice the terrain changing. You begin to see rock outcrops. Then you turn a corner and you see it. Your breathe gets taken away and your senses are over loaded. This is where that long winding road lead to. A place of sublime beauty.