Some of America's Alps

Although Fresno Air Terminal is the closest airport with airline service into Yosemite, for simmers, Mariposa airport is the closest.  From there, one simply flies E/NE, inbound to Yosemite.  I prefer flying in an aircraft like the Drifter, since once you are over Yosemite valley it is a great platform for screenshots and VFR flight, plus it has the "ooomph" to make it over the high country east of the valley.  In real life I was only in the park once, in the late fall, so the tallest waterfalls were not working.  I hiked there, parking my car, and remember the deer ten feet away from me looking at me, and me looking at them. 

Fortunately I did not get kissed by them, because wild deer tend to kick and they know where to kick.  When I was visiting Rocky Mountain national park with a colleague 25 years ago, a deer came up behind him and licked him.  He shouted to me in his Croatian accent "Zhon, I've been keesed by a dear!"  A park ranger saw the encounter and told him to get the heck out of there, but he discretely walked, and did not run away since animals can sense that fear and sometimes frightfully strike. 

But I know his joy, having been kissed by deer at my favorite petting zoo.  But worst are the baby goats, who would suck my fingers thinking I was "Mommy" or jump on my lap.  They would suck a little too hard, with their baby needle like teeth trying to get blood out of my finger, lol.  Their real mommies would then scold them, push them off my lap, then lay their heads on my lap so the mommies would get attention.

That is one of the things I love best about flying--it has brought me to nature, back to family, and among the sheep and the goats, I find friends and goodness in all of the fellow travelers I meet, or those who vicariously enjoy travel since we cannot always blow our money on real trips or real flight lessons (in my case and others) all the time.