My first visit to Yosemite was at 6-months old, in 1955. I accompanied my folks on a camping trip and we stayed at Camp Four. Dad worked for the phone company in San Francisco and Yosemite was part of his regional territory, so we would come up 2-3 times each year.
We almost always stayed at Camp Four, but on one memorable trip trip Dad splurged and we stayed in a room at the Lodge that had heated floors. Wow!! What a luxury that was. One of my favorite memories is the conveyor belt in the cafeteria where you’d put your dirty dishes after eating. And, the gift shop sold little cone-shaped incense that smelled like a pine forest when they smoldered.
We’d cross Northside Drive every evening to catch a Ranger Talk in the amphitheater and I can still recall a program where one of the rangers entertained the crowd with his amazing talent on the violin. One year, we stayed at the Glacier Point Hotel and got to watch park staffers push the Firefall ashes off Glacier Point. They used huge rakes with really long handles, and (I think) they wore ropes around their waists to keep from falling over the edge. I must have hiked every trail in the Valley, and many in the backcountry. The attached photo was taken near Wawona during a February rain a few years ago.
After nearly 70 years of visiting the park, Tunnel View can still bring tears to my eyes.