Yosemite

We have just returned from Yosemite! Although I haven't been too many places, it is one of the most majestic. Our campsite in Lower Pines, courtesy of one of Kelly's co-workers who couldn't use it, was situated on the bank of the Merced River. I have truly tried to limit photos in this post, but it was very difficult. Here are some of the highlights...

Our campsite is on the left, just before the tall, light-colored tree trunk you can see about mid way down from this bridge (look for small green circle)...

The girls have always wanted a pool in their backyard, but not many kids can boast of a river in theirs!

This is a shot I took from our inflatable boat. You can see Kelly on our beach, and our RV right behind him. We woke up each morning to beautiful trees, a flowing river, and stunning granite mountains.

Some playtime in the river...

Hiking and biking were what we did. This is a picture of Kelly and the girls biking back to our campsite via a wooden bridge through a meadow. Our campground is behind the dense copse of trees.

Every bike trail was along a beautiful forest path, which is partly why we biked every day. The other reason was that we were so close to everything we wanted to do that there was no need to drive. We saw no bears, but we did stop to watch a deer munch on some leaves. We were so close; it was amazing.

This are two more views from our bike path. If we weren't in a forest, we were riding a long a meadow with stunning views. Here you can see Half Dome in the top picture, and Yosemite Falls in the other.

On our second day, we biked to Yosemite Village where we found the trail to Yosemite Falls (the falls you see behind the girls in the photo above). Look closely at the base of the waterfall for Kelly and the girls. Kelly is waving. These were the lower (smaller) falls. Can't imagine what the big falls would have been like!

On our third day (Friday), we hiked to Vernal Falls. We were told this was a must do, and it was the highlight of our activities for the week. The hike was moderately strenuous (up hill most of the way), and it became a little more difficult toward the end when we reached the "goat path" where we literally climbed up to the top of the falls. We hiked through mist and rainbows and every time we stopped for a rest, the beauty was overwhelming.

Here we are looking over the top of Vernal Falls. The view was gorgeous! We didn't have it in us to hike to the next falls above Vernal (Nevada Falls), but we will next time. I'll be working on getting in shape for those!

We stopped for lunch at the top of the falls and were shocked at the bravery of the squirrels. I thing this one would have taken Jenna's sandwich if she hadn't had a good grip on it!

Saturday found us in the car and headed for Glacier Point. You could see all of Yosemite Valley from there. Over Kelly's shoulder is Half Dome and at the bottom right of the photo, you can see Nevada Falls (the general area where we hiked the day before).

On our last day, we got up at 6:00 a.m. and biked to Mirror Lake. It was nice to have the area to ourselves (it gets very touristy the later in the day you get), and we found it great fun to look at the reflections in the small lakes that were here. We will definitely be headed back another year. There were things we talked about doing next time including hiking to Half Dome. We'll see!