Sorry for the delay in update but a lot has been going on.
We recently packed up everything in Livermore California. our life is 100% back in boxes.
We decided since Yosemite National Park was originally on our list of places to stop on our way to our new home maybe we should visit it before we leave town and head north to Portland.
So we packed up the car on September 13th and took the 3 hour drive to Yosemite National Park. we left Livermore around 11 am. Since it is still a popular season there we couldn't get an advanced campsite reservation. The drive to Yosemite was interesting. There isn't much heading east from Livermore. Lots of Big Dry hills waiting to catch fire. A little farther down the road was nothing but Farms of every sort. Artichoke farms, Tomato farms, Corn Farms, Almond , Peach, and even Avocado Farms. I think we even past a Rock Farm. Farther down the road we had to go up huge mountains of dry grass and no trees which were a little scary. California does not believe in guard rails but loves building roads hugging the tall mountains with huge drop off and tight sharp curves. After going up the mountain we finally started seeing huge ever green trees and lots of granite. We pulled up to the Main entrance off 120 into the park. We paid our $20 entrance fee and off to the rangers station. upon walking in the ranger was telling a young european couple there were no campsites available in the valley. they walked away bummed out. So i walked up and asked if there were any campsites available anywhere else. She smiled and said there was an open campsite across from the main entrance in the park. I said sold. we just wanted to stay in the park. We paid an additional $20 for the site and off we went. We got to the site at about 4pm and set up our tent and made friends with a 7 year old child who was protecting his families camp from ninja squirrels . The 7yr old was very social and wanted to be our friend. upon chatting with the child we put all of our food and smelly good stuff like chap stick and bubble gum and sun screen and other goodies into the ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A BEAR BOX. This time i was able to figure out the bear box. Score 1 for me score 0 for the bears. Soon after the sound of Thunder rang thru out the park and dark clouds started moving in. We still had to drive 8 miles to get fire wood from the general store before 5 PM. On our drive i past the general store turn off by mistake and stumbled upon a great view of Half Dome off in the distance. The lighting show off in the distance started to get intense then came the rain. Talk about having my parade rained on. Back to the car and in a rush in the pouring rain to get our fire wood. To our surprise The general store was reasonable priced and $8.00 got us a huge cardboard box of fire wood and kindling. Back off to the campsite as the rain started to let up. Upon getting back to camp the little boy was in his tent with his family and we saw a old man looking around in the empty campsite next to us. All tent sites here were on a hill. He seemed disappointed but we started chatting with him. he decided to stay and we became friends. He was a retired senior citizen who was traveling to quite a few national parks across the country with the golden age park pass. He shared stories of his favorite parks and told us how he was from Ohio and was sad that his grand children were all grown up and couldn't travel with him anymore. We enjoyed hours of amazing conversation with him. he shared chicken wings with us and we shared our fire with him. Some time around 11pm we all decided it was bed time and we were sick of being drizzled on. So off to our tents we went.
The next morning we woke to nicer weather and packed up camp. we said our good byes to our new friend and off we went to explore and see all the sights Yosemite had to offer. The first sight we drove to was Bridalvail Falls , Then we got an amazing view of El Capitian. The idea of people climbing the face of that giant mass of granite is Crazy to me. But they do. Farther down the road we got a glimpse of a different view of half dome, Yosemite Falls, The three brothers and many other amazing landmarks that the park has to offer. we took a few small hikes from the road to the different view points. some a mile some 2 and some just 0.5 miles. but i enjoyed every second of being with brian at this stunning national park. We headed over to The Ahwahnee Lodge and the Yosemite Lodge near Yosemite Lower Falls. We Grabbed Lunch in the Valley and enjoyed wandering around curry village. I highly enjoyed our visit to the Ansel Adams Gallery in the Park. As well as the Serria Clubs Library I must say it was an amazing Photo filled day. Just then we were considering leaving the park but realized there was still a whole other half of yosemite that we had yet to explore. So we headed back to where the road teed past the sad sad fire damaged forrest back to the junction. And up in elevation we went. Heading towards the PCT and the John Muir Trail. The views left me speechless and even my camera did it no justice. I took some video that i will post once i get a minute to upload it. Some pictures will appear in the side box slide show. if you click on it you can pick and choose which pictures enlarge for your viewing enjoyment. Once we reached the PCT Trail Head the sky opened up and the rain came down. On our drive back we saw a very confused hiker so i pulled over and asked if he needed help. He said he was looking for a bite to eat and had been hiking the john muir trail. I told him to hop in our car and get out of the rain and i proceeded to give him a ride to the general store at upper Yosemite. He seemed beyond grateful. Upon dropping him off we began our drive back thru the park towards the exit and due to the rain there were mini waterfalls coming off the giant rocks and across the road it was a bit scary. But we survived. It was a sad moment when we left the park cause you really need a few days at this park to enjoy it to its fullest And we noticed we were low on gas and Regular Gas was priced at $4.75 a gallon. But that aside Yosemite is by far is one of my favorite parks And i am grateful to both John Muir and Ansel Adams for starting the movement to preserve its beauty. Im beyond excited that i was able to share the beauty and experience of this park with Brian. I hope to return here one day soon again.
Due to the price of gas we pushed the car as far as possible and finally found a gas station that was under $4 a gallon. We fueled up and off we went back to livermore to Build our life back into pallets to get shipped north.
The drive home was Quiet due to the anticipation of the insanity of moving again. But that story is for another day. Thank you for reading. Expect another update tomorrow Of our Adventure From the bay area north to Crater lake and up to portland.
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