Yosemite Days 1 & 2

We left fairly early Friday morning (8am) although by the schedule we wanted to be on we were two hours behind.  We headed down HWY 99 and caught HWY 140 through Mariposa and in to El Portal.

Apparently on our last trip, Cole's car sickness with out vomiting was just a sweet warning as to what was going to happen on this trip.  Mike gave Cole permission to punch me for taking this photo.  Needless to say, the car smelled like vomit for the entire trip.  We made him a puke bucket for the return trip home.  Stopping to clean that up wasn't easy either.  We were on the windiest part of HWY 140 which was a two lane road with a giant rock wall (granite mountain) on our side and a river on the other.  We had to cross over the other lane to pull over to clean him up.

You've been warned.  Fill up your gas tank before entering any where close to Yosemite.

We spent the day in El Portal.  We got there around 1pm and met up with Russell and Elexis.  We stayed at a little house in El Portal that she was house sitting for. We had our own studio up stairs which was nice because it kept the mess of the kids away.  We had a great lunch of salsa, hummus, dips, chips, and veggies.  We went to the river afterwards for some swimming and relaxing.  I did not take the camera with me (are we surprised) because I knew I would not be able to enjoy myself  hauling that thing around.  This is why I have decided we will be investing in a G11 with a water proof case for any more water trips.  That night Elexis BBQ'd us some awesome chicken and pork loin with salad and brown rice.  We are outdoors while the mosquitos dinned on us.  I finally got to use my new purchase of Avon Skin so Soft and I do think it helped except I didn't put it on my face. :-(  Later that night we watched Avitar.

The next morning we had a little surprise on our car.  The raccoons (we assume since I think the local bear would have dented the car)  took a little stroll all over my car.  So for the entire day Cole kept asking "Why that raccoon crawl on our car.  It tried to get in our car to get our food.  Was that a bear that climbed on the window."  Then repeat those sentences 1200 times.

We left fairly early Saturday morning to drive into the valley.  It was about 20 minutes from El Portal, so not a bad drive but what we didn't realize when planning the trip was that it was a free entrance weekend at the park!  We were prepared for an ton of vehicles but surprisingly it wasn't too bad.  Russell was our tour guide and we just stopped at each stop so we could show Cole the site of Yosemite Vally.  He was half interested but really wanted to know when we were going to the ghost town.  Siena was over it from the first stop.

El Capitan

Cole's first site of El Capitan.  Yes, Cole it is that big.  It is truly breath taking.

Attractive, I know.  Cole does so well at helping me look my best in photos.  Have I mentioned he is obsessed with me at the moment.

Cole using his "noculars" (binoculars) to see El Capitan better.

Bridal Veil falls.  The waterfalls are not a great late in the summer.  Maybe one day in the spring Mike and I can take a drive in and photograph the valley in the snow and with the gushing water falls.

Some of the many meadows.  There used to be a lot more many, many years ago.  The Native Americans burned them once a year.

Cole looking for fish.

Yosemite falls in the distance.

Cole wanted to go down to the beach, so Mike, Russell and Siena stayed behind to mingle with the foreigners.  Seriously, you will hear more foreign languages that you do english.

You can get married at this chapel.

Yosemite Falls again

Russell rents a room in a house in the valley.  This is the front of the house.  How nice would it be to step out into your front yard and look at Half Dome.

Or turn the other direction and look at Yosemite Falls.

We decided to hike up to the top of lower Yosemite Falls before lunch.  We went with Russell, his roommate Barry and Barry's two kids, Izzy and Waylen.  This was heaven for Cole.  I had no idea he was going to be able to hike up all by himself!  He is a total mountain goat!

It was a mad house at Lower Yosemite Falls.  It seriously looked like someone knocked over an ant hill.

View of Half Dome from the falls.

The top of Lower Yosemite Falls.

The swimming hole at the base of the falls.

Cole was in awe of the giant swimming hole.

Cole and his uncle Bub

Siena was so over being in the back pack.  She was seriously flipping out.

Cole learned his lesson about goofing around on the bus.  I warned him that he would fall if he didn't sit down and sure enough the bus comes to a fast stop and Cole flips out of the seat and slams into the isle.  I think he sat the rest of the time.  These two became buddies real fast. Waylen is 6 days older than Cole and Cole was a good 4-5 inches taller.

We spent $30 on tacos in Curry Village.  Good food but not worth $30.

Cole really wanted a picture with Siena in the teepee.  As you can see it was not an easy task.

We passed out that night and it felt good to go to bed early!  Stay tuned for Day 3!