Happy Poetry Friday! This week’s round-up is hosted by children’s author and poet Buffy Silverman on her eponymous blog. Thanks for hosting Buffy!

My husband and I spend May 28th – June 3 in three of our National Parks. We first went to Yosemite for four days, followed by Sequoia and Kings Canyon for two with a day in San Francisco on either end.

One of our greatest joys of retirement has been the ability to travel several times a year. My sister-in-law comes to watch our pets, and off we go. Yes, we are blessed!

Since January, I’ve visited five of our National Parks. On Medium, I’ve written about respecting rangers and giving them a break. You can check that article out here. With a Master’s degree in Environmental Education, I have the skills to be a park ranger, so their current plight, given the government’s penchant for a reduction in force, is disheartening to me.

The scenery at Yosemite was jaw-dropping. And I don’t say that lightly, as I’ve been to some pretty spectacular places.

In Yosemite, we saw Bridalveil Falls on our first night. We didn’t get into the park until mid-afternoon as we had to drive from San Francisco. You can walk to these falls through a shaded and verdant trail, with the sound of water falling the entire way. The trail stops at the base of the falls, where you get misted by the water, which is a relief from the heat. This area is crowded, but the crowd thins as you move away once again.

The next day, we drove by Yosemite Valley to Glacier Point. There we had a birds-eye view of Half Dome along with more waterfalls.

We also hiked to Sentinel Dome and Taft Point. It was a full day, as we then went to Mariposa Grove. I had 24,323 steps and 519 zone minutes that day, according to my Fitbit. The views were stunning, and I’m working on a photo journal post.

The next day, we went to Hetch Hetchy and O’Shaughnnesy Dam. This is an area of the park rarely visited by tourists, but I knew of the history here from my schooling – a heated conflict between conservationists led by John Muir and those that supported progress and development for the city of San Francisco, which was suffering following the devastating fire at the turn of the last century. Eventually, the Hetch Hetchy Valley – called Yosemite’s twin was dammed to provide water and power to the people of San Francisco.

What exists today is a feat of engineering that sits in another exquisite valley. We hiked to two waterfalls beyond the dam, and it was well worth it. Honestly, the day in Hetch Hetchy was one of our favorite days of the trip.

On our last full day in Yosemite, we drove to Tenaya Lake, a glacier-fed lake in a sub-alpine environment. Again, it was stunningly beautiful.

On our first night in Sequoia, we went to see General Sherman and some of the other sequoia groves in the park, and climbed Moro Rock.

The following day, we went to Kings Canyon National Park. There we saw more of the Sequoia groves, some stunning valleys, and rushing rivers. There’s so much to share, I’ll have to save it for another post.

Needless to say, I got a lot of inspiration for my writing from this trip. While we were waiting for a Night Sky presentation by Yosemite Conservancy last Friday night (5/30), I saw a crow doing something interesting. Here is a draft of a poem I wrote about his antics.

Hey, Look At Me!

I saw a crow a skippin'
Across a parking lot, so sweet
He had a dance in his head, 
You could tell by his feet.

He followed some guy
Who maybe gave him a crumb,
It's when he started skipping,
Hoping to become his chum.

He skipped and followed
To say, "Hey, look at me! 
I'm a clever bird, 
Can't you see?"

But the human he followed
Was not impressed,
Failing to turn and see
The crow perform at his best.

So the skipping stopped,
And off the crow stalked,
Around a bend in park,
Now, he did walk.

Leaving only me to know,
Of the Yosemite skipping crow.

© Draft, Carol Labuzzetta, 2025

For more of my articles on nature, travel, and the environment, please check my Medium.com page.