Alone-a in Wawona

Welcome to Wawona, CA. This is where I spend my summers. You've never heard of Wawona? What if I told you that I spent my summers in Yosemite National Park? I do both because Wawona is a small community located in Yosemite.

For many tourists, Wawona is hardly more than a speed bump on the road to Yosemite Valley, as they race to see roaring waterfalls, massive cliffs and maybe a bear. This blog is my attempt to introduce the viewer to another part of Yosemite National Park, a quieter, more relaxed area known as Wawona.

The entries in this blog will not follow any logical sequence. Primarily, my camera will dictate the daily topics. I don't promise to follow the Element of Style as I write my entries, but I will try to carry my camera around in order to capture visual slivers of my summer in Wawona.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Jeff. For the past twenty summers I've been Ranger Jeff. I work as a naturalist in the southern portion of Yosemite. Each season I rent a house from the federal government... well, it is actually just part of a house because  each year I have a new housemate that shares my summers with me. Sometimes these fellow rangers become great friends; other years they remain nearly the same stranger I met in June. I entitled the blog "Alone-a in Wawona" since every summer I have had to leave behind those dearest to me, my family, since there is no family housing for seasonal workers.

If you are guilty of visiting Yosemite and speeding past Wawona, perhaps you recall a quaint hotel and  golf course near the south entrance of the park. Congratulations, you just passed Wawona! During the next seveal weeks, I'll try to make a daily entry to show you what you missed.

This first entry will be a few photos of the hotel since that is the most prominent landmark in the Wawona basin. Most of my entries will have more photos and less words. Promise.