Yosemite National Park, CA

WE ARE HERE! I have wanted to visit Yosemite for a long time and finally I'm here! The views are just unbelievable. We entered the park from the south entrance of Wawona . . . not one single car in line. I had read how crazy long the wait to just pay the fee to enter can be in the summer and not one single car! Of course that will change but it took 10 seconds to flash my America the Beautiful Pass, grab the map, and off to explore. We stopped at the information center to get Colin the Junior Ranger book to earn another badge and were off to Glacier Point . . .
A photo of Half Dome which we did not hike!

. . figured it was on our way and would give us a view from above . . . WOW! So glad we stopped because it was breath taking and probably the best view! And I will say it again . . . photos don't do justice!

Of course someone was trying to give me a heart attack by running from rock to rock just because he saw other kids doing it . . . I told him those other kids did not have parents that were concerned and did not mind if their kid fell and died. He was careful but you never know what could happen . . . there have been 3 (maybe 4) deaths in Yosemite this summer alone.

You are not to feed the animals but of course some do not follow the rules . . . there were hundreds of chipmunks every where we went . . . so adorable and so super fast too! It took me three days to actually catch one still enough to take a photo.

Our hotel is at the bottom on the waterfall you see in the photo . . .
. . . we stayed in The Lodge at Yosemite Falls. A view from our balcony . . .
Not too shabby if I might say so. It took us a bit to get back down to the Yosemite Valley area . . . yep we found the traffic. Along the way we did pass this sign . . .
. . . when you see them they mark the spot where a bear was hit by a car and killed. We saw a sign dated 7-28-2011 so just a few days before we arrived. And people do drive WAY too fast in the area. Several times we were almost hit head on because the on coming car's driver was looking off at the scenery . . . it was very scary at times! As I said we found the traffic but mainly just people trying to exit the park which of course is the way we needed to go to check into our hotel. I will always try to stay at the lodges inside the park from now on; so easy and right there but of course way overpriced too. It was 4:30 and our room wasn't ready (check-in is at 5pm which is crazy late to me) so we grabbed our swimsuit and headed to the pool. Wouldn't you know it that I don't have my camera and there was a deer with her two adorable fawns eating grass next to the walking path . . . they were so cute and did not get scared or run off when we passed them. It amazed me that the animals seemed so tame and calm, but I sure don't want to cross paths with a bear! The pool reminded me of one you would see at summer camp or on the movie Dirty Dancing . . . it was old, huge, had lifeguards, and a snack bar too! The water was heated to 68 degrees and only my big toe entered the pool because it was freezing cold! Of course Colin thought it was just fine. I let him swim an hour and headed to dinner at the Mountain Room Restaurant. The food was good but the view is what you really go there for . . .
. . . not the best photo but top row, second and third section is the massive waterfall . . . this was taken from my seat. Our belly was full so we stopped by the store to buy a quick breakfast for the morning and head back to our room. Tomorrow is going to be fun and busy!