We left bright and early at 7:00 a.m. in order to beat the traffic, tour busses and the heat, and to maybe get through the gate before the rangers arrived so we wouldn't have to pay the entrance fee. Shucks, darn! We didn't beat any of them.
Once we reached Yosemite Valley, our first stop was Bridalveil Falls. Here's a shot I took looking up through the trees from the trail. It's my favorite picture of the day.
Here, I am with John Muir! I can't believe I hiked all that way, and then found him on the trail. And, he was wearing the BEST boots! (Actually, he is in the Visitor's Center so if you go to Yosemite chances are you'll bump into him too.)
Next up, DD decided she'd try to catch Yosemite Falls. I think she did a pretty good job, and she didn't even get wet!
After hiking up to the base of Yosemite Falls (really not that far and it's all paved so I don't know that I'd actually call it a hike, but we can pretend), we decided to take a nap.
WAIT A MINUTE! That's not us! Just a couple of other people who probably couldn't find a campsite so decided to use a bench instead. And, they really were sound asleep. They even had pillows!
We didn't take a nap, but we did rest for a little while by riding around on the shuttle bus. We rode over to Curry Village where we ate our lunch and treated ourselves to some yummy ice cream. While we were at Curry Village, I decided to catch a bear.
There are a lot of bear in Yosemite. They cause such mischief looking for food that special "bear-proof" trash cans are installed. Well, I don't know if they are really bear-proof, but they are DEFINITELY DSis proof. She needed to throw out some trash and couldn't get the trash can open so she put it on the side and told us that the trash can didn't work. She even told DD that she'd give her a dollar if she could get it open. DD walked right over there, pulled the lid down, threw the trash in, walked back and collected her buck!
For an encore, she tried to hold Half Dome in the palm of her hand, but she wasn't quite tall enough.
I really thought she had grown a lot recently, as she's past me up and is over 5'6" now, but apparently this fireplace was made for Paul Bunyan or Goliath or someone of that stature because DD fit right inside. (This is one of the big fireplaces inside the Ahwahnee Hotel.)
The last stop of the day was a hike to Mirror Lake (aka Mirror Pond) at the base of Half Dome. It was hot! We were tired! Half way there, DSis and I bailed on DD and said we weren't going any further. We went down to the creek instead to put our feet in to cool off.
DD contemplates, "Should I go all the way in?"
DSis and I kept telling her, "Do it. You'll dry. It'll be fun."
So.....Did she or didn't she?
She did....
I tell you if I had a bathing suit on, I would have too! The water was very refreshing!
This brings me to the last photo of the trip.
That's DSis sitting on a rock. She said, "Hey, I'm in Yosemite sitting on a rock. Isn't that what people come to Yosemite for?"
NO, sorry DSis, the slogan is "Go CLIMB a rock." Not "sit" on a rock. But, you're very special and they might consider changing it just for you!
No comments:
Post a Comment