Yosemite National Park (Thurs. July 15)

We woke up thinking we would head to Yosemite and do the Yosemite Valley today and then do the Marisposa Grove tomorrow on our way south to LA. On the way after more discussion we decided to do it all in one day so the drive tomorrow would not be so bad. It was the smartest decision that we ever made. We did not know that there was a ton of construction going on in the park and the entire road down to the Mariposa Grove was pretty much torn up. Doing it with only the van was bad enough I can't imagine dragging the camper through that.

So we headed into the park. Made a quick stop at a viewing spot for Bridalveil Falls and then took the wonderful trip down to the Grove. It is a loooooong way to go to see a couple of big trees but well worth it. (There were many more trees we could have seen but it would have been a major hike on a really hot day when we were trying to fit the whole park in the one day so we saw a couple of the biggest, most major ones and then headed back up towards Yosemite Valley.

On the way back to the valley we pulled over at a viewing area where we got an awesome view of El Capitan, Bridalveil Falls and Half Dome. We hoped we would see climbers on El Capitan but no luck. I am sure it is too hot to be hanging on the side of that big rock in the middle of the summer.

In Yosemite Valley we spent a good amount of time at Yosemite Falls where you can get right in and climb around in the pool below the falls or hike up along the edge really close to the falls. Colin and I settled for wading in the pool, Pedro opted for sitting on a bench and just watching the falls while Conor made the trek up the side to get really close to the falls.

After the falls we headed off to Curry Village for dinner where they have an all you can eat buffet. A good place to stop with three teenage boys!!

On the way home it was dark and there was a gazillion stars in the sky. Conor wondered out loud what it would be like if we stopped in a dark area, shut off our car lights and looked at the stars. So that is what we did. We hung in a pull of spot that was just about pitch black for about 10 minutes and watched stars. I managed to see one shooting star. Unfortunately no pictures came out of the beautiful view and I am sure the cars that drove by us were asking themselves "what in the &%$@ are those people doing???"