Yosemite

Since the holidays are over, it's time to get back to the real adventures. We need to go back a few months so you don't miss out on some great adventures.
So a bit back, when I was small (because I'm so big now), we had a 3-day adventure to Yosemite National Park in Yosemite, CA. Wow, what a beautiful place.

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We drove into Yosemite National Park on Hwy 120, through the Big Oak Flat Entrance, and headed straight down to Yosemite Valley.

Our first stop was Bridalveil Falls. After a very short walk, we reached the base of the falls. Now remember we took this trip during October, the dry season, so the falls were just a trickle of their springtime flow, but amazing still the same. They are so tall! We could feel the spray with that little water, I can't imagine how wet I could get if it was full force.

Next we moved further into the valley. There is so much to explore in the valley, so we hit the big stuff.

We checked out half dome and did a nice hike to Yosemite Falls. Once again just a trickle of it's normal flow. We'll have to go back in the spring to see the change.

To see the view from above, we drove up to the top of Glacier Point. Half Dome looked amazing from this vantage point, especially as it was getting close to sunset. Glacier Point is a great place to see the Valley below. We also got to see deer, a mama & a baby.

That was quite a full day! We decided to stay outside the park in a hotel just of Hwy 120. We thought about camping in the Valley, but decided with me along we all needed a little more luxury (or at least a hot spa for mom & dad to rest their feet it). It turned out to be a pretty good decision. We found out the next morning that there was a rock slide at the campground in the Valley and everyone had to be evacuated from the site at 7am that morning. No one was hurt, but there were some close calls.

The next morning we headed up to the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir entrance. The Reservoir is such a beautiful color blue, and it has a great big Dam. It was cool to look at the river below. There was also a tunnel in the mountain that led to all the very long hikes. We just checked out the tunnel, and the butterflies playing in the entrance of the tunnel.

Next up on our tour is Tioga Pass. We drove back down to the Big Flat Oak Entrance to the park and this time turned onto the Tioga pass. There is so much to see & explore on that stretch of road. Every time I got fussy from being stuck in the car, there was a new place to get out and explore.

There was a great little lake (actually it's more of a large pond) that we stopped at for a picnic snack. Then on to Olmsted Point. It was fun to climb on those big rock slabs. (Don't worry I left the climbing up to mom & dad and I just got packed around for the ride). It's also a great view of the back of the Valley. (Yosemite is amazingly big).

Tenaya Lake was another great place for a rest stop. What a beautiful lake.

Tuolumne Meadows was another nice place for a break. It looks like a great place for hiking, when I bigger and I don't have to be packed around.
Our final stop in the park was Saddlebag Lake. Down a long dirt road there is a small lake, with a cool old wood dam.

We took the pass straight through Yosemite to Mono Lake and the small town of Lee Vining. We stopped for an early dinner, which included a great chocolate milk shake. (At least my head thought it was great)!Note to those fellow explorers. When driving up Hwy 395 from Yosemite, get gas where you can. There are plenty of small towns, but that is what they are, small towns. Not all of them had gas stations. We were forced to pay way too much, because we tried to wait for a cheaper place and passed the first station. By the time we found another place, we were so excited that we hadn't run out of gas, that we didn't mind paying.

It was a very quick whirlwind tour of Yosemite, but it was still amazing. When I'm bigger we'll have to go back and see more. Especially during the late spring when the falls should be flowing. I highly recommend checking it out!So when you're ready to plan your trip to Yosemite check out: http://www.nps.gov/yose/, we also liked http://www.yosemitepark.com/ to get info on places to stay.