Yosemite National Park

John and I spent most of the day in Yosemite NP, one of the places in this world that I consider among the most beautiful.  John had never been there, so I took it upon myself to give him the whirlwind tour.  We did spend the morning on the Tioga Road looking for and listening for Sooty Grouse.  Alas, again in vain.  But we did see plenty of gorgeous scenery.  As we turned off the Tioga Road and passed Crane Flat there was a bear jam with everyone trying to get out of their car to see the bear.  We gave the bear a pass and instead did a loop of the Valley stopping at Curry Village for lunch and later a stop for viewing the Yosemite Falls.  I tried to find a Black Swift, but I failed.  We then drove up to Glacier Point where we viewed the Valley from above.  So far things had worked out well with respect to accommodating the notorius summer crowds in the Valley.  However, in trying to leave the park via the Wawona exit, we ran into a mess of construction, slowing us way down.  We eventually got to Fresno and found the Motel 6, cleaned up and went to an Olive Garden for dinner.  On the baseball scene the Cards won on a Carpenter shutout and the Phils won on a walkoff homer by Jimmy Rollins.  Tomorrow we'll try one last time for the Sooty Grouse in Sequoia NP.  Ned Brinkley pointed out that I hadn't listed White Wagtail as seen in the spreadsheet.  However, I had already taken it into account in the overall accounting.  So the total stays the same at 640.  Thanks anyway Ned.