Day 7 (Bonus) - Everything's Bigger in...

The trees in California beautifully huge!

And so are the creatures that crawl at night...

Day 2 - "Speeding Kills Bears"

We decided to get up early so we could enjoy a full day at Yosemite National Park. After an hour and a half drive, there it was...Half Dome and the beautiful valley of Yosemite. It turns out Yosemite is prepared for tourists as they have a camera post negating any car maneuvering for a home made tri-pod.

With the help of our personal tour guide, Andy Frank (from work), we drove up to Glacier Point and were treated to some spectacular views!

Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls

Eme soaking in God's beauty














Jon on top of the world



















"Reduced Speed Ahead"


After a great view of the valley we stopped at the Sentinal Dome/Taft Point trail head. We started off to the Sentinal Dome and took the long way around to Taft Point. They both offered spectacular views the valley and waterfalls. Sentinal Dome was a 360 degree panoramic view while Taft gives a high drop off view of the valley below. The picture on the left is us on top of Sentinal Dome (Yosemite Falls on the right).

Taft Point towards El Capitan

Thankfully some smart park rangers installed a steel railing at the edge of the rock as well as this geological marker (1906)!

After our 6 mile hike we stopped on the side of the road for a quick bite to eat and then continued on into the valley. Again offering spectacular views of the vistas, peaks, and waterfalls above! Actually, everywhere we turned there were magnificent views. I couldn't stop mentioning this (as I'm sure Eme was getting annoyed) everywhere we went. Absolutely amazing! God is much more creative than I am!


Anyway, we continued into the valley which was much warmer than the vistas above. We parked our car and walked to the Mist Trail head. We started climbing and quickly realized we were exhausted! So about half way up we decided to head back down and check into our Yosemite accommodations at The Little Valley Inn in Mariposa.

After freshening up, we headed out for dinner at Pop's Sportsman's Cafe. We then went back to our room and crashed!




Taft Point #1





Taft Point #2



That... was day 2.