Yosemite

Wendy Roth and Michael Tompane drove 32,000 miles and visited 41 states to research "Easy Access to National Parks: The Sierra Club Guide for People with Disabilities," being published this month by Sierra Club Books.The authors went to 37 national parks, plus national historical parks, monuments and parkways, to research the book, which is designed primarily for people with disabilities, but may also be useful for the elderly and families with small children.The book contains specific information about the accessibility of individual facilities within the parks -- whether a trail is paved, for example, or a restroom can be reached by a visitor using a wheelchair.

SAN FRANCISCO - The power of a memorable place is difficult to define, but for those who have felt it, easy to understand. You get more than a dramatic view - you also get a sensation, and that is why the experience can stay with you - sometimes for years.The highlights of the best viewpoints in California include long-distance panoramas from mountaintops, an aerial tramway, famous and not-so-famous lookouts, from San Francisco to Mount Shasta to distant canyon rims at sunrise. All share one element: They are places so gifted with natural beauty that you leave refreshed, infused with the beauty, a feeling that can be recharged for months.

Collective art Before closing up shop for a one-year sabbatical, the members of Baltimore's CHELA collective present one more show, Collaborate + Perform. The event, scheduled for Saturday only, will feature live performance art works by Bonnie Jones, Dan Breen, Jackie Milad and a number of others from Charm City's creative scene. Tickets are $6. CHELA Gallery is at 3500 Boston St., No. 210. Visit www.chelagallery.org. Author reading Minas Gallery & Boutique in Hampden presents author-comedian-actor Marc Unger, Saturday at 7 p.m. The Baltimore native will read from his new book, Driving Under the Influence of Insanity.

I am thinking about going to a dude ranch this summer. Do you have any suggestions or Web sites I can check out? If you want to live the City Slickers experience, look for a ranch that includes a cattle or horse drive in its itinerary (not all do). For instance, Rock Creek Pack Station, south of Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada (rockcreekpackstation.com), offers four-day drives in which guests help move horses between ranges in June and September. It also has trail rides of three days or longer that include fishing and camping.

Beverly B. Billingslea, a former educator and director of human resources, died of complications from cancer and renal failure Sunday at her Westminster home. She was 56. Born Beverly Brawley in Cheverly, she was raised there and in Parkersburg, W.Va., where she graduated from high school in 1968. She earned a bachelor's degree in English and speech education from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1972 and a master's in communications there in 1975. She was a 1987 graduate of Goucher College's Institute of Management.

MY BEST SHOTClouds drift over YosemiteAndrew kitt, Baltimore,While touring Yosemite National Park in April, we came across this view from Stanford Point of clouds gathering over Yosemite Valley. Among the park's other impressive sights were an electric blue stellar's jay and a living giant sequoia in Mariposa Grove.A MEMORABLE PLACEJazz from another eraSteve LuckmanSPECIAL TO THE SUNIn the midst of all the drinking and noise and debauchery of New Orleans' French Quarter, just a half block off Bourbon Street, stands Preservation Hall, a monument to a different era and way of life, where the Preservation Hall Jazz Band plays nightly, and perhaps the only place in the French Quarter where drinking and smoking are prohibited.

If your heart is set on a national park vacation this summer, now -- not June -- is the time to nail down plans. Majestic Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, for example, reports that its lodging is more than half booked for this summer. California's iconic Yosemite National Park reports heavy bookings as well. It's not uncommon for people to make reservations a year in advance at the most popular parks. Though the National Park Service projects that visits will be down slightly from 2009, these national treasures will still attract a whopping 282 million American and foreign visitors, in part spurred by Ken Burns' 2009 documentary "The National Parks: America's Best Idea."

The kids wanted to play, splashing in the lake and climbing the rocks. I kept looking at my watch, thinking of all that we were missing at the national park -- the fields of wildflowers, the scenic mountain vistas, even the historical exhibits in the old lodge. I wanted to hit every one. The kids wouldn't budge. They were having too much fun.Noreen McClintock has one word for parents heading to national parks across the country this spring and summer: relax."Families try to see too much and don't realize the kids are on overload and just block it all out," observes Ms. McClintock, a ranger who plans education programs at California's Yosemite National Park.

A Memorable Place Into the frenzied den of Hello Kitty By Adam Kelley SPECIAL TO THE SUN Though it's not listed in the "Temples & Shrines" section of any Tokyo guidebook, Sanrio Puroland, known colloquially as Kittyland or the Hello Kitty theme park, actually qualifies as both. A testament to Japan's enduring fascination with animation in general, and with cuddly animated animals in particular, Kittyland is located within a cavernous pavilion on the outskirts of Tokyo. Every day, thousands of Japanese make the pilgrimage to Kittyland, happily forking over $38 for the chance to mingle with fellow Kittyphiles in what is, ostensibly, Hello Kitty's natural habitat.

Nighttime temperatures in Yosemite National Park dip way, way down in the wintertime, but despite the chill, Yosemite and other campgrounds draw a good share of hardy winter campers. In fact, each month during the winter about 3,000 people camp at Yosemite's four year-round facilities, according to a park spokeswoman. As their reward, they will enjoy the park in relative quiet, as compared with the experience shared by the 100,000 campers a month who visit during the summer.But staying healthy during winter camping requires preparation.