My sister was a bear biologist in Yosemite Valley for about 12 years starting in the early ‘90s so I spent a bunch of time visiting her. She lived in a cabin in employee housing near the Visitors Center. I would leave my Santa Barbara area job in banking on a Friday after work and arrive at my sister’s house on the Valley floor around 10:30pm that night. Yosemite set me free from the grind of my everyday life. It empowered me and sparked a lifelong love of open spaces and nature and conservancy. It changed me. When I met my future husband in 1996, he joined me on my frequent park visits to hang out with my sister and to drink in the beauty of the park. When he asked me to marry him, I knew we had to get married in Yosemite National Park. On October 11, 1997, we married with a few close friends under the sycamore trees at Cook’s Meadow. This past October, in 2022, we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary by renewing our vows under those same trees. This time our grown kids read our vows. It’s a moment our family will always remember with intense love and gratitude.
Meredith Klassen, Social media follower