I was unprepared for the awesome grandeur of California's Yosemite Valley. 
The expressive images captured by photographer Ansel Adams
Our four-hour drive east from San Francisco slowly curved up Route 120 to the Big Oak Flat entrance station at 4880 feet above sea level, then down to the quiet jewel of Yosemite Valley. Still a high altitude at 3900 feet, you feel cupped in a hand by such imposing granite monoliths as El Capitan (7569 feet) and Half Dome (8836) ringing the views. While the National Park is 1169 square miles, the valley itself, formed by glacial erosion over millions of years, is only one mile across at its widest point and seven miles long. Standing on the valley floor, the only way to look is up.
We visited in the late spring, while Yosemite Falls, the tallest waterfall in North America and fifth tallest in the world (at 2425 feet), was 
roaring down at its 2007 peak rate of 2000 cubic feet per second. In California, spring is the time of forest waterfalls because the winter snow pack is melting, giving way to dry summers. This year, with the rainfall at only 40 percent of normal, there are concerns that the waterfalls and lush blooming meadows of Yosemite will recede more rapidly into summer. The dogwoods, of course, come only in spring, but in any case, it's always best to visit Yosemite before the crowds around 
Memorial Day and leave around Labor Day. Reservations at the elegant Ahwahnee Hotel, said to be the most beautiful in the National Park system, must be made weeks and months ahead. (The 1920's era hotel is already sold out for the summer.)
A newcomer to the California wilderness, I learned many things by visiting Yosemite, most memorably that "Sierra" is plural. 
So the term is "the Sierra," when referring to the 400-mile long, 75-mile wide, at times 14,000 feet mountain range east of the California valley (not "the Sierras"). Thus, the Sierra Club, founded in 1892 by John Muir and a group of San Francisco Bay Area environmentalists to preserve and protect the American wilderness. I also now correctly use the terms, sequoia and redwood trees. While related, they are not interchangeable names for the same species. The giant sequoia, the most massive living thing on earth, grows only in a limited number of forest groves, as in Yosemite, some living up to 3000 years. Redwoods, taller and more conifer-like, require the coastal fog to thrive. The South Entrance, via Route 41, takes you past the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias.
We entered the Ahwahnee through the parking lot of tall incense cedars, also often confused with the sequoia because of their reddish and feathery bark.
With Yosemite Falls as the backdrop, the Ahwahnee is a monument to environmental architecture. Designed by architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood of Los Angeles and designed as a luxury hotel, the structure actually contains little wood (to reduce its vulnerability to fire). 
The AAA four-diamond property is composed of structural steel, massive timbers and a facade of granite and concrete stained to look like redwood along with stone that mimics the surrounding granite cliffs -- Glacier Point, the Royal Arches and Half Dome. The Y-shaped hotel also was planned to ensure views from each of the 99 rooms and public areas, maximizing, too, the winter sun and shaded from the extreme summer heat of the north wall of the valley. 
Ahwahnee was the name the first residents gave to the Yosemite Valley and means "land of the gaping mouth." Elegantly decorated in a Native American theme, the inlaid mosaics and stained glass of the Art Deco floor resemble basket patterns. Speaking of gaping, the dining room is 130 feet long and 51 feet wide with a 34-foot valuted ceiling offering an uncrowded atmosphere of floor-to-ceiling window views.
Here are some helpful links for your Yosemite travels:
- General information, road and weather conditions -- www.nps.gov/yose
- Lodging -- www.yosemitepark.com
- Camping (reservations and first-come first-served) -- www.nps.gov/yose or www.recreation.gov
- Guidebook -- www.yosemitestore.com
- Preserving Yosemite -- www.yosemitefund.org and www.yosemitepartners.org
