First trip to Yosemite...many more to come!

 We love living here in Nor Cal.  

 We feel like we’ve seen a good portion of the major sites and also the less trodden areas as well.  For some reason we waited way too long to get to Yosemite.  Too long.  So even though it was going to be a quick trip, we decided that with the water at record level highs we would not let another summer pass by without a visit.  We invited my parents to come and were thrilled that they’d make the long drive for the weekend.  We stayed in our timeshare in Angel’s Camp and left at 7:30 a.m. which put us into the park at 9:00. Here was our first view...wow!!

We spent the day hiking to beautiful waterfalls and enjoying all that the Yosemite valley has to offer.  Our first stop was the gorgeous Bridal Veil Falls.  Here is what it looks like from the road.  

Then you begin a short hike up to it and you discover quickly you're going to be very wet!

 There was water running down the paved paths and before we’d even reached the falls our socks and shoes were soaked to our ankles!  Then as we reached the falls the spray coming off was incredible!

It almost looks dark, with all that mist!

MANY, many beautiful spots along the way.

 This particular bridge had a gorgeous viewpoint!  I wished we would have had more time here (very small, very full parking lot so we took turns getting out) because I love, love this view of Yosemite Falls.  The rushing water was so high it was almost touching the bridge.

Another beautiful hike with raging water!!

 We are so glad my parents were able to join us.

This is a beautiful view of Half Dome from the valley floor. Tyler wants to climb it someday.  The whole idea of holding cables to climb to the top, may keep me cheering from the bottom.

 The kids had a great time climbing this branch for almost 45 minutes while waiting for Grandpa to find a parking spot.  Yes, it was that busy.

We loved the hike to Lower Yosemite (have to do Upper another day with older kidos) and again were amazed at the spray coming off the falls.  In fact, it was almost windy.  One ranger told us that this spot almost has it's own weather.

Just beautiful...

The kids became Yosemite Junior Rangers which included a requirement for attending a Ranger-led lecture.  They loved this hands-on lecture because it was on all the small animals in the park.

The visitor center is awesome, with some great information, plus an incredible setting.

One last shot as we were leaving.  Yosemite, good bye for now...we will be back!