The only national park that we had to revisit was Yosemite. Jason fell in love with it last year as soon as we entered into The Valley and he saw El Capitan standing tall above the meadows. Then he set a goal to get back and hike Half-Dome this year. I won't go into that too much because he wants to tell you all about it. For now, I will share the rest of our visit to Yosemite.
This time around, we had secured our campsites well in advance so there would be no funny business with purchasing from another individual or waiting for the daily lottery.
We pulled in to the North Pine Campground which was across the Merced River opposite from where we camped last summer. The site was a little tight with our cargo trailer but we wanted to keep our bikes, etc. close by. We barely had room to open the slides and the stairs but whose complaining. After all, we were in Yosemite! The boys quickly made their way to the river while we got camp set up. All of my photos of that afternoon were lost due to a bad SD card. Thanks goodness the store in the Yosemite Valley had another card so I could quickly rode over and grabbed one for the next day.
While Jason went on his long awaited hike the next day, we explored Yosemite Village and Curry Village by bike. This was the best way to get around without riding the bus which could take an hour to go a couple of miles because of all of the stopping in between. Grand mommy was getting used to this mode of transportation and even talked about buying one when she got home.
We did a little shopping and bought some souvenirs. I also had to mail a package back to Tampa so we got to see inside the old post office. We visited the native American museum and also grabbed some lunch. After everyone was thoroughly exhausted, we rode back to camp and went for a swim.
As we relaxed by the beautiful river, I tried to re-create the lost photos from the night before. Finally, Big Jason came back from his hike and we were all relieved that he was safe. A few more hours of outside fun and then I could get the sun setting on Half-Dome.
Our third day at Yosemite was mostly traveling to Tuolumne Meadows which was Northeast of Yosemite Valley. It was a long and narrow trek through the mountains. Along the way, we passed many beautiful things like Tenaya Lake.
Finally, we reached this part of the park which was so foreign to us.
Tuolumne Meadows was just as breathtaking as Yosemite Valley but very different. It had domes but not quite as large. The meadow was the focal point here.
We needed a few groceries and there was only one convenience store here next to the campground. Wow, the prices were inflated but they knew that people would pay because it saved them hours of driving! After feeling robbed, we made our way to the campground and checked in with the ranger on duty. Our site was primitive as were all national parks but we were just content to be there. We wandered over to the river and found an amazing view of water cascading over fields of granite. The boys were ready to get in! After some searching, we found a spot that was deep enough to jump into. Nathan also found a waterslide but was a little unsure due to the boulder waiting directly at the bottom left of the slide.
The next morning we set out to hike around Lembert Dome. The guide said it was a moderate level hike and only a few miles. Apparently we started on the wrong path or something because it was very strenuous. Mom and I turned back after a few miles and left Jason to take the boys the rest of the way. They actually went all the way to the top of Lembert Dome. Jason had to keep the boys corralled since there were no ropes, fences or anything else to keep them from falling to their deaths.
We even got to see a deer doing his business in the campground. That's something you don't see every day!
