Thursday, June 21, 2007

Yosemite


Or as Nick would say ... Yo Smity!


We just got back from a quick two day trip to Yosemite. We left at 6am on Wednesday and got home tonight (Thursday) at about 8:30pm. The drive from Yosemite Valley is roughly 4 hours. Long but tolerable.

We stayed just outside the park at a place called Americas Best Value Inn!! It was ok, reasonably priced and given that we made the reservations pretty late - AVAILABLE! Given how large the park is - the drive from the hotel was about an hour. Fifteen minutes to the park entrance and then another forty-five to the valley.


We decided to walk around the valley on the first day and take a bunch of pictures. In total, we must have walked for about four hours. We saw all of the spectacular sites that you would expect such as Yosemite Falls, El Capitan (where we could see climbers!) and Half Dome.

We then checked out the visitors center, Ansel Adams gallery, the theater (where both Julie and I fell asleep), the stores and Yosemite Lodge. We then ate at the Mountain Room (at Yosemite Lodge) where we had an awesome view of the mountains through their wall of windows.

After that we made our way to the Curry Village. We got some coffee and ice cream and checked out this area. Took the shuttle back to our car and drove to the hotel.

The next morning we ate at a small place close to the hotel and were back in the valley in time for the bus that Nick and I took to the Glacier Point. This was about an hour and a half ride to over 8000 feet where we departed for a 8.5 mile hike. At the same time Julie went to an art class where she would do some water color painting and sketching.


The hike that Nick and I took allow us to see great views of the mountains as well as four falls: Illiluoette; Bridal Veil; Nevada; and Vernal. Because of where we started, it was mostly down hill, with the exception of at least one up hill climb of a bit more than a mile. We enjoyed our lunch with our feet dangling in the river feeding Nevada calls. As Nick said - best place in the WORLD to have lunch:)


We got back to the bottom at around 3:30, met up with Julie who had been sketching, painting and doing a bit of shopping since we left. We grabbed some food, headed to the car and were on our way by 4:30.

Notice no Anthony in the pictures. He stayed home to attend practice (check out my last blog entry).

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