R&R Part Dos!

Part two of our vacation took us to the Crown Jewel of the Sierra Nevadas, Yosemite National Park. I have spent a lot of my youth hiking around these mountains, but have never been to Yosemite. It contains all the beauty of each of the unique landscapes offered by the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

We love National Parks. We try to visit two a year. This year it was Yosemite National Park in California and Zion National Park in Utah. This makes 24 NPs for me and 13 for us since we have been married, almost nine years ago. We love to travel and visit other parts of the world, but I have always found it sad that there are actually more non-Americans these days in the NPs than there are Americans. Most have never visited the parks that are even closest to them. If this sounds like you, you are really missing out and need to make it a goal to visit America's National Parks.

The first thing we did is set up camp right next to this deep creek. This means only one thing to The Lou....her favorite past time....throwing rocks into water!

She is even more beautiful when surrounded by the beauty of this place.

Love those blue eyes!

Pooh was camera shy due to the camping aspect of the trip. You can tell she is less than enthusiastic to have her photo taken.

Scott getting ready for the day of hiking.

Nick, our "Royal Ranger", is happy to be in God's country.

One of the greatest aspects of this trip was just not being at work. This is both great and sad. Typically, I would say I am anxious to get back to work, but lately work has been stressful and this trip is just what the doctor ordered. This was my office for a week and it has no access to the internet and no phone service. I was really able to unwind.

Nick and The Lou had fire duty.

We really enjoyed our time with these two.

The Lou and Jeep Jeep

The Lou and Baby Grace. This was a hard pic to get. Grace loves to be moving at all times.

Nice face!

Did I mention we ate well?

Pooh chillin' by the fire

Cynthia capturing memories

Enjoying another great meal

Sabrina became The Lou's best friend ever. She really loves Sabrina.

The Lou in deep thought....will I have one s'more or two?

The Tuolumne River (pronounced To All A' Me)

The Lou and the batholith, El Capitan

Posing with John Muir

You can't visit a National Park without a posed photograph next to the sign!

We are excited for Scott and Cynthia to add to their clan another little girl in September.

Can life be any sweeter?!

This poor little monkey could only hike so far before she needed to be carried. She was a real trooper for the most part.

The waters were high this morning. In fact two hours earlier, they were a couple feet higher than this. We were lucky to only hike through a few inches of water.

Jeep Jeep in Yosemite

The Tuolumne and Half Dome. One of the interpretations of Tuolumne is "Straight Up Steep" by the Miwok Indians.

The Lou absolutely loves waterfalls and tunnels and Yosemite had lots of both! The Lou was in heaven and talked about both for days.

Yosemite Upper Falls

Yosemite Upper Falls Again. As I walked, I noticed another beautiful shot, only to realize I had already photographed it from another angle. Pictures truly cannot capture the beauty of this place. The only way it could be more beautiful would be if there were not so many tourists there. It is quite congested. It is my hope that they somehow implement the "no cars" policy that has helped to make Zion so much more beautiful.

We are a happy family!

What beauty

Crossing the Merced River.

Don't shoot! No hunting on Park Grounds!

Waiting for the tram

I don't know why we didn't bring The Lou's stroller. Here she is envying Graces ride.

Playing hide and seek in a tree stump

A Red Crested Wood Pecker

Upper Yosemite Falls

This would have been a great family shot, but The Lou would not vacate her spot in the photo!

The hand painted ceilings of the Awhanee Hotel.

Yosemite Upper and Lower Falls

Majestic Half Dome

In a place like this, how can you not take time to stop and smell the flowers?!

Lupin

Yosemite Valley

The Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point.

Half Dome

We had to take this hike separately due to The Lou napping in the Jeep

A coyote during the day only feet from us. Not typical. Most Coyotes I know of are frightened of humans and therefore are mostly nocturnal.

Bridal Veil Falls from Tunnel View

Nick and Sabrina overlooking Yosemite Valley

A big brown bear on the side of the road. Grunting like a dog and simply amazing to watch. He was quite annoyed with us as he wanted to get to the other side of the road and our photo gazing was causing a detour.

On a separate hike, Scott, Pooh and I had to retreat back to the car as Grace and The Lou had no interest in proceeding. Cynthia came back with the coolest pics of a Black Bear with cubs! Unfortunately, the Grizzly bear is extinct in Yosemite.

Half Dome as approached from Glacier Point.

Relaxing on Glacier Point

Half Dome, Ansel Adams style.

I don't know the name of these falls, but they were beautiful.

This is on the opposite side of the park which is only accessed by entrance in another spot, Hetchy Hetch Canyon. It is the equivalent of Kolob Canyon of Zion NP.

Sitting on the O'Shaughnessy dam of the Hetchy Hetch Reservoir.

We found a long tunnel that went through the granite to a trail on the other side. Leah loved it! Here she is yelling "Echo!"

This is totally a posed pointing pic

The Valley and river below make this very green scene. It totally looks like a golf course down there!

There was a great variety of flora and fauna in the park. I didn't have my macro lens, so I did not get many good shots.

This lake provides every drop of water for the inhabitants of San Francisco and does so entirely by gravity. It is unfiltered before entering the taps of San Franciscans so therefore there is no water activities allowed.

Scooter at the entrance of the tunnel.

The Lou wearing Dad's hat and checking out the flowers.

Lupin

After a week of camp food we simply had to have a nice meal. When I say nice meal, I don't mean tasty and filling. We ate fantastically on this trip. Really well! However, discovering new eateries and dining experiences has always been a fun time of our vacations, so we just had the itch to dine out.

We found this old lodge in the Hetchy Hetch canyon called Evergreen Lodge. They had a great restaurant

The Lou was not only cute, but very good at this restaurant which tells us she is growing up.

The food was amazing as was the service. I had a flat iron steak and Pooh had seared duck with German dumplings.

She was confused by the Duck that Pooh ordered. This is her confused face.

I am the most blessed man ever!

We finished off the trip with photos of The Lou and Grace in the dresses that Grandma gave them.

Of course taking their pictures proved to be the most difficult thing ever! One of them was always looking away or leaving or closing their eyes. We managed to get a couple good shots. In this pic Grace is showing how big she is and The Lou is showing how tall she is.

The End