Yosemite is such an amazingly beautiful place. Spending the Winter Holiday season here is a dream come true. The air, the solid granite mountains, the 4,000 feet elevation, the wild life (a saw a beautiful wolf near the road as I drove into the valley), the meadows, the falls, the snow, it’s just the perfect setting to spend the holidays away from the craze and stress of the holiday shopping.

There are nights of full moon reflecting on the snow covered meadows lighting up the massive walls of granite surrounding the valley.

I’ve been fortunate to participate at the wonderful Bracebridge Dinners at the Ahwahnee Hotel for the past five years where the artist get to spend two weeks performing and soaking all the valley up. The photographer Ansel Adams started this whole thing in 1926 which attracts about 300 people a night for eight nights.

Last night’s dinner we had that pilot who landed the plane safely the on Hudson River Captain Sully. I approached him and welcomed him and his wife ed to the dinner, he was very pleasant to speak to, he asked us questions about the show and such. Lovely fellow!!!

It’s also wonderful to see entire families coming back, some of them have come to the valley for the last fifteen years. It is a great people watching experience too, the different characters and gowns, and crazy costumes. Every night the energy of the audience varies, sometimes out of control, sometimes just plain boring, fascinating!

If you ever would want to experience a great Christmas you would have to come to Yosemite!

I had the opportunity to sing with acclaimed Mezzo- Soprano Zheng Cao what a wonderful artist and singer! We sang the final duet from Massenet’s Opera Wherther for the San Francisco Boys Chorus Winter Concert in San Francisco and in Oakland. It was truly a fantastic concert. But what made my experience extra especial is the fact that despite her stage 4 lung and brain cancer her attitude is that of a person that enjoys life to the fullest, making others feel warm and cared under her presence. I have heard that she has always being a great colleague to work with but this was unprecedented in my experience. ABC’s Good Morning America did a special program with her story. I’m sharing the link, be prepared for an uplifting yet moving story of this remarkable human being.

Here is the link.