Yosemite

We had such a beautiful time at Yosemite on our little vacation. The weather was gorgeous. The sights were spectacular. The company was pleasant. I just loved it. It would be wonderful to have the time/resources to spend days there just savoring and exploring the goodness. We saw a deer super close up and birds and squirrels galore.

On our way into the park we stopped at a Vista Point where a fire had obviously been through at some past time. The girls posed for a shot for me anyway.

Not too far down the road we stopped at another little viewpoint with a pretty little waterfall by a bridge.

The girls can always use some time outside the car to check their text messages.

Once we were in the valley. We parked and wandered around until we found somewhere to eat. We had burgers and fries. I went over to the store and waited in an extremely long line to buy bug repellent and bottles of water for the hiking ahead. The girls loved the squirrels and birds and kept sneaking food to them until I pointed out the $5000 fine for feeding the animals signs. Then we were off to Yosemite Falls.

It was roaring and lovely from our long winter.
I convinced the girls to stand in the spray for a picture... despite the hair-related consequnces that we would all suffer from.
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We walked out by a different path and enjoyed this view.
Then after much confusion, we found a bus and hopped on to go and hike to the footbridge at Vernal Falls.

This is the view of Vernal Falls from the footbridge. We were planning on only going this far then retreating to do the short hike to Mirror Lake, but Mark is always up for a challenge and insisted that we climb to the top of the falls.

We stopped about half way up the climb from the footbridge to the top of Vernal Falls and I asked some unsuspecting hikers to please take our picture. You can see they obliged me.
Before long, we were hiking up stone steps that were taller than my shins. It was 'strenuous' as the brochure promised. But, I took a second and looked up, and the scene just took my breath away. It was truly spectacular.Not long after this, we got to the most difficult part. The spray from the falls was pelting us like an ice cold shower, the rock was wet and slippery, and the climb was steeper than ever. Neither of the girls complained too much about her sopping wet hair, but they were both displeased by soggy shoes and socks. We rested for a while and munched on some fruit before descending.

After hiking to the top of the falls, we decided Mirror Lake would have to wait until our next trip. So we hopped back on the bus and made our way back to the car. As we were driving out of the valley we were treated to the warmest evening light shining on the sheer granite cliffs.

I just adore lupine. I had to get a close up of this gorgeous creation as our parting shot. I would love to go back again.