Yosemite, The Valley

This morning our attempts to enter straight into Yosemite were thwarted a little bit...There was some light snow on the ground and the park rangers had closed one of the main roads into the park unless you happened to have snow tire chains!

Being in a rental car we certainly didn't have any of those with us *laughs* so we made due touring about Wawona until the finally let us measly non tire chained cars through.

They had a neat little "old timey" town that had some historical information and at times I believe they perform like a renaissance fair (except it's just 1800's and not Renaissance times) *grins* It's a Pioneer fair *laughs*Can you see that steam rising off this building (above) it was a cold morning and the sun must have been warming up that wet roof to make all that steam! There was an amazing covered bridge that passed right over a rumbling river.
Dad and Kenny had a good time hiking down the river to see where it headed.The rangers finally gave the all clear and we were able to drive on into the valley. Yay! Kenny really captured some beautiful shots of the park!He sure makes it hard to narrow down my favorite pictures, I love them all!!We saw some amazing views of half dome, like this...
Can you see why they call it "half dome"? It looks like it used to be a complete dome and then half of it just broke straight off! *laughs*I'm glad I wasn't around when all that rock came tumbling down!This rock formation below is called El Capitan. Doesn't it look strong and menacing!It's a favorite of extreme rock climbers...but we didn't do any of that *grins*Kenny hiked across the center of the meadow to capture some 'up close' pictures of the sweet deer who were grazing nearby. Meanwhile Dad, Mom and I drove around the meadow and picked him up on the other side.Look at this neat-o wooden walkway he got to follow through the meadow!These sweeties weren't scared at all. I guess they're used to photographers here in the park.You'll never believe what Dad, Mom and I happened upon while we were circling the meadow to pick Kenny up...A big Momma and two precious baby black bear cubs!
They were such little cuties! We were wondering if Kenny would meet up with them on his hike!?! But a park ranger saw that people were gathering around, so he ran out and gruffly shouted and scared them back out of the meadow.Kenny was pretty disappointed that he missed out seeing the bears, but he got some awesome shots that we wouldn't have seen otherwise...He even stopped and silently crept up to photograph this beautiful Stellars Jay.I had been begging him to get a picture of one. They are so bright! Kind of like a blue Jay but bigger and more light electric blue.

We all walked back over by "emerald beach" and crossed our favorite bridge *grins*No ducklings today, the must have gone on down river... Can you see the waterfall reflecting in the water above? So pretty! Speaking of reflections, this one is pretty amazing too!We hiked up a small trail to take some fun couples pictures right under the waterfall!And then ended our evening driving up to the valley overlook just as the sun was starting to set.

We just had such an amazing day! It's hard to put it all into words...but hopefully from the pictures you can feel like you were there too!

Yosemite, Cathedral Beach

Kenny and I made it back to the car through the dip n' dots storm *grins* and then Dad, Mom, Kenny and I did a little driving tour over to see some more water falls. Here is a sweet picture of my Mom and Dad!I think they enjoyed a nice vacation with us *smiles* It's been a while since they've "gotten away". Aren't they cute!
You would not believe how many waterfalls there are all around Yosemite. We chose May as the perfect time to go because my sweet researcher husband discovered that May was peak melting season for all the snow up top, thereby making it peak waterfall season too! The temperatures were great, crisp upper fifties and low sixties, a nice introduction to spring *grins*Next we drove on over to an amazing little place called Cathedral Beach. I keep wanting to call it Emerald Beach because I remember it being so very green...Wow! Isn't that amazing, let's rename it Emerald Beach okay? *winks* I wasn't expecting any beaches on this vacation, but they call it a "beach" because there is actually soft white sand at the edge of the water, just like Florida! Here's me and Mom being goofy on the beach. Do you like our cute rain hats!? *grins*

We drove on through the valley, along the Merced River to a fun wooden foot bridge.It was a great place to stop and take some pictures.We even spotted come cutsey baby ducklings and watched them toddling along behind their mother...then one by one they followed her into the rushing water and whisk! they'd zoom away down stream.One of our last stops for the day was a little bit steeper hike down to see the Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoias. We had had a full day of hiking so Mom decided to sit this one out. Dad, Kenny and I headed down, down, down the four hundred feet descent into the grove. Look at these crazy red pinecone plants we kept seeing along the way!?! I tried to convince Dad and Kenny that these are baby giant sequioa trees *laughs* but I'm not sure they believed me. (I'm not sure I believe me)

I also saw an unbelievable root jutting out from the cliffside...Doesn't this look just like the letter "S"!? I've been trying to spot letters in nature and architecture to spell out our last name, like have you seen these...I'll probably zoom in and crop a little and that fun Yosemite root can be our "s" *grins* and at the bottom of our hike we found our "h" yay! This is the Tuolumne Grove Tunnel tree! It's so amazing that cars used to travel right through here *grins*Dad, Kenny and I walked right through. Look at the "walls", that is a tree!! wow! This was a fun hike, we were basically the only people around the entire time. But, climbing out of the grove, up the four hundred foot incline was more challenging *laughs* We got to experience some more dip n' dots icy rain *laughs* and then reunited with Mom at the car.

As we were driving out of Yosemite to head back to our hotel in Oakhurst we spied this rocky waterfall and pulled over to check out one last thing.such fun! I felt like an explorer!We made the long w-i-n-d-y drive back to town and decided to stop at the local Pizzaria for dinner.
It was so fun! They had a horn quartet playing and singing Louisanna style music out on the patio. My feet were tapping up a storm!And it sure felt good to get some warm yummy food in our tummies before we went to bed for a restful nights sleep.

Yosemite, The Mariposa Grove

Day three started off bright and early. We were bound and determined to get to Yosemite as early as possible *grins* This is always the plan when Kenny and I are on vacation. We like to pack as much as possible into each day and often find that we can beat the crowds by getting there early. So, as much as I like my sleep, I'll sacrifice it to see some amazing sights.

So, about 6:45 Dad, Mom, Kenny and I all sprung up and hopped right into the mini van to hit the road! Our mini van rental car was actually pretty amazing. It had all sorts of push button remote controls, the windows, mirrors, every door and even the back hatch could all be controlled with the touch of a button on Dad's remote. He had some fun making sure the doors were open and waiting for us each time we needed to get in *grins*

We drove for about an hour through the Sierra National Forest and saw some beautiful mountainous scenery, along frosty winding roads through huge redwood and pine trees. It was just amazingly beautiful, little running waterfalls flowing down into streams right beside the road!

Of course, first thing we were dying to see some of those enormous giant redwood trees we'd heard and read so much about! So we stopped at the Mariposa Grove to see these beauties...

Look at those tiny people at the base of the trees!?! I can't even explain just how toweringly enormous they are!

There was a great hike through the giant trees that we lept at the opportunity to do. The first thing we happened upon was this fallen beauty. The Fallen Monarch...Can you see me looking up at its expansive root cluster!? The roots of these huge trees actually don't run very deep...usually less than six feet deep! Can you believe that? But they spread out to nearly half an acre wide and interlink with each others roots to form an intricate woven support system. Here is Kenny standing at the base of one that is still growing.
Here is another fallen giant that has been sawn in two to allow people to walk along the trail. You can see all the thousands of tree rings in this sample. I can't imagine what kind of chainsaw they used to cut this guy in half!Our hike brought us right to the base of the Grizzly Giant, the star of the Mariposa grove. It is an estimated 2,700 years old and 90 feet in circumference! Here are Mom, me and Dad posing at the base. *grins*

Just past the Grizzly Giant you come to the California Tunnel Tree. This tunnel was carved out for stagecoaches in the 1890's, so no cars are allowed through anymore, but that didn't stop us from walking through! So cool!!

After a picnic lunch Kenny and I went on a longer hike up to see the Mariposa Grove museum. Along the way we saw some happy little deers grazing in the meadow.

the pathway lead around and through even more humongous trees

and right down to the museum...

yep, that sweet log cabin is the museum *grins* It was still closed for "winter" but was fun to see and snap a few photos. Then, as we were hiking back to meet up with Mom and Dad a crazy icy rainstorm thundered from the sky. It looked like rain, but it was tiny polka dots of ice, like dip n' dots ice cream, raining down from the sky! Pelting our heads in the 50 degree weather, so crazy!!

We high tailed it back to the car and drove on to our next location.... (more to come *grins*)