Our first stop was at Bridalveil Fall. It was only a little chilly to start out but as you approached the Fall, it became pretty cold. There was also a lot of mist floating through the air, which was really pretty but didn't translate well to picture and may have been the cause of our camera malfuction later in the day. We couldn't even follow the path all the way up because it was covered in flowing water. It wasn't deep, plenty of people were walking up, but we decided it was a bad idea to try with the kids.
Here we have El Capitan. I think. After a while everything blended together for me. It didn't help that we took over 4oo pictures and for some reason the dates are mixed up on them. Anyway, El Capitan is big. The end.
And here we have Ribbon Fall. Or Horsetail Fall. Either way, it's still big. I mean, I'm used to waterfalls in Ohio. Ohio waterfalls consist of a dribble pouring over an edge and falling about three stories. All of the waterfalls in Yosemite were pouring and high and just listening to them amazed me.
See? It's pretty.
On our ride to the hotel we followed a road next to a river. At one point we had to wait at a light and go over the river and follow a one lane road. When we glanced over we saw why - there had been a rock slide that had absolutely covered the road for big stretch. I tried to take pictures but they didn't come out great. So here is another example. Big cliffs. If you look toward bottom, center of the cliff you can see rubble. Then realize the rubble is higher than the trees.
Here's a close-up.
Now at this point we were on the trail at the Swinging Bridge. Josie was a bit cranky and did not want to be in the backpack anymore. Xander was doing okay with staying with us and only trying to pick up every other object that caught his eye. We decided to head to Yosemite Fall next. It was near lunch time and this is when parking became a mess. We took a quick break for lunch and then headed in.
Yosemite Fall is the one that has two levels, Upper Yosemite Fall and Lower Yosemite Fall. We took the path for the Lower Fall and boy was it crowded. With the kids running amok we had to constantly dodge around people and apologize. Despite that, Josie received so many compliments for how cute she is. I'm surprised her head didn't inflate (but I don't think we could tell with that hair). There was one group of young women on the trail that saw her a couple times and finally just asked to get a picture with her. By the end of the walk, she was asleep in the backpack.
I didn't get to see much of Lower Yosemite Fall due to Josie issues, but Chris's pictures sure made it look nice.
We decided the kids needed a break, so we loaded up into the car to head out of Yosemite Valley and south to Mariposa Grove. As we drove, we found a lookout called Tunnel View. It had a gorgeous view of the valley. But since the kids had just been buckled up, I wasn't about to get them back out of the car. So Chris jumped out for a few (dozen) photos.
Our plan for a peaceful drive with children who took naps backfired but we made it to the giant sequoias in Mariposa Grove.
There was a surprise for us - snow! It was still cool and shady enough that some of the snow had stuck around. And there we were dressed for sixty degree weather. Poor Josie was shivering by the time we left.
We walked on some trails, took more photos , chased some mule deer and ended the day at the souvenir shop. Xander walked away with a puzzle (he cannot get enough of them nowadays), Josie has a new prized raccoon named Mariposa and I have a lovely wood bookmark.
Then we headed home and slept.
No comments:
Post a Comment