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.