In 1985, Dale Soria went to Yosemite National Park on a trans-Sierra ski trip.

Twenty-two years later, he’s still there.

Dale Soria is a dentist and when he learned that the only dentist working in Yosemite was retiring, he took his place.

At the time, he, his wife Catherine and their three children were living in the California Central Valley town of Merced.

But when the opportunity to live among the towering granite walls of Yosemite presented itself, they packed up everything and moved. “My father was in the military,” says Catherine Soria. “And when I was young we lived in Japan. We lived in a farming community and got to wander wherever we wanted. It was a magical time and I wanted that for my children.”

• Find out about more Family-Friendly Travel Adventures in Yosemite National Park and Beyond.
• Looking for more family travel adventures in Yosemite? Check out Yosemite Rediscovered Through a Child’s Eyes.
• For more Yosemite travel advice, check out Off the Brochure Travel Guide: Yosemite National Park.
• Check out some Great Lesser-Known National Parks.

A teacher, Catherine took a job at the elementary school that sits on the valley floor. Today she is the principal. At its height, the school had about 100 students from kindergarten through eighth grade. But because family housing is the park’s most valuable commodity, today’s enrollment is down to about 30 students.

So, is school different when it’s located in one of the most beautiful places on Earth? “We still have to follow the state of California guidelines and testing requirements,” says Catherine. But when a bear is caught and being tagged, school is let out and everyone— teachers and kids— run to see the scientists at work. And when renowned chefs visit the world-famous Ahwanhee hotel, school is held in its kitchen and cooking classes (really just chemistry with a really wonderful pay-off) are conducted by the best “scholars” in their field.

Out in the real fields, the kids are responsible for monitoring the quality of the water that flows through the Merced River, using the same testing methods any scientist would use. They study biology and botany with naturalists from the Yosemite Institute, act as docents for other kids who visit the park and hold a student exchange with their counterparts in John Muir’s hometown in Scotland.

But does this experience change them? Do these kids know they are on to something special, something few others will experience? If you ask Catherine, she will say unequivocally yes. Citing the experience of her own children, she talks about how growing up in Yosemite allowed them to spend their idle time wandering in the woods, playing in the rivers and “spending their afternoons in their own little fairyland.” Yosemite, she believes, kept the wider world and its culture at bay.

Her son, Orlando, now 26 and an artist living in Los Angeles, agrees. He cites playing in the river and amongst the boulders with his friends as wonderful childhood memories.

But he also says, “Nobody appreciates where they are from until they leave. Living in Yosemite as a kid (he was 5 when the Sorias moved there) just felt like a kid living in a space. It didn’t feel all that special to me because it was all I knew.” (Interestingly, when Orlando moved to Manhattan he felt immediately at home. “Being closed in by the skyscrapers felt like being surrounded by the towering granite walls of Yosemite. I felt the same level of comfort.”)

Molly Horner, 25, who also attended school on the valley floor, says this: “As a kid, I hated it. It seemed so boring. Yes, there was a sense of being somewhere special, but everything we did centered around Yosemite. I just wanted to be five minutes from a Target.”

Then Molly grew up and went off to college. “There was a period when I didn’t come home for two years. When I came back, I drove through the tunnel where that famous Ansel Adams view lays out in front of you as you come back out into the sunlight. The sight literally took my breath away. I couldn’t believe I was lucky enough to grow up here and to call this place home.”

By Jamie Simons for PeterGreenberg.com.

Find out about more Family-Friendly Travel Adventures in Yosemite National Park and Beyond.

Looking for more family travel adventures in Yosemite? Check out Yosemite Rediscovered Through a Child’s Eyes.

For more Yosemite travel advice, check out Off the Brochure Travel Guide: Yosemite National Park.

Looking for a place to stay? Don’t miss the Grand Dame Hotels of Our National Parks.

Check out some Great Lesser-Known National Parks.

And don’t miss America the Beautiful: Five Great Hidden National Parks.