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| Fresh Fruit from the local Fruit Stand (taken w/ cell phone) |
I thank God, the Universe, El Guero Chuy y todos los angelitos for allowing my Mini Me and I to relish in the beauty of Mother Nature along w/ thousands of other Yosemite treckers.
Day 1 (May 20):
As much as I'd planned on being up and out of the hotel by 6 a.m., it was a big fat happy FAIL. We arrived sometime after 11 pm the night before and had a tough time getting up the next morning. When I woke up, I was in so much pain. The entire flight was one of the most excruciating experiences I'd had with pain. It felt as if my left calf had split in half. The funny thing is that when I drove up to our hotel, I noticed that there was an Urgent Care right next door. It was closed, but figured if I really had to go then I'd go the following morning. It was so bad that I was wishing I had Vicodin (stuff prescribed to me after my C-section with my son). It took me a long time to get ready during the morning before finally realizing that I'd packed some Motrin. Duh! I popped in 2 pills and hoped for the best. By the time we'd gone down for breakfast, I felt zero pain. Nada. Zilch. I kept praying that I'd be pain free for the hike.
The happy part of the FAIL about us leaving late is that by the time we left the hotel (2.5 hours later than planned), the local farm fruit stands were open along highway 41. The pic on the right shows what we purchased for $6 and ate on our drive up to Yosemite. They were soooo gooooooood. Nom nom nom. If you miss this fruit stand on your way out of Fresno, you'll have another fruit stand available in Oakhurst, CA.
There are two little towns that we drove through that reminded me of Cloudcroft or Ruidoso, NM; Coarsegold and Oakhurst, CA. Oakhurst is about 1/2 an hour away from the southern Yosemite gate or ~1 hour from the Yosemite Valley.
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| Oakhurst on Highway 41 (taken w/ cell phone) |
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| Oakhurst on Highway 41 (taken w/ cell phone) |
I'd probably stay in Oakhurst the next time I visit Yosemite.... unless I stay in the valley. :)
For starters, the following photo depicts what I hauled around during our hike. My camera, camera backpack, 2 trail mix pks, beef steak nuggets (aka beef jerky), 2 water bottles, ponchos and hiking stick (not shown). My Mini Me had a Camelback which holds water in a form of a backpack. Also, not shown, is my bottle of Motrin. For me, personally, I should've also packed a belt! Will tell more about that later...
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| Hiking supplies (taken w/ cell phone) |
Initially I was hesitant to carry a hiking stick the entire way due to holding a camera in one hand most of the time, but it was one of the best ideas my son had! They came in handy during the Mist Trail hike.
The Yosemite park fee is $20 per personal auto and is good for 7 days. I made sure to keep my receipt to re-enter for day 2. If you live by the area, I'd guess that paying $40 a year for an annual pass is well worth it. Once you cross the gate, it's another 20 minutes or so before you start to really see photogs in the area. You pass through a tunnel.
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| Yosemite Tunnel |
Once you pass the tunnel, you'll see parking immediately on your right or left hand sides. Park! This is where you'll get to see an exceptional view of the valley.
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| Photogs taking pix of Yosemite's Valley view |
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| Ansel Adam's famous shot of the Yosemite Valley with my Mini Me in the forefront :) |
In another 5-10 minute drive towards the valley, you'll come across another pit stop: The Brideveil Falls. This is when you'll need a poncho (which I wasn't aware of and didn't walk over prepared with one). My Mini Me wasn't too happy about us turning away from the falling mist due to my camera. However, I was able to get a few shots of the mist the Brideveil Falls produced.
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| Mist falling off of Brideveil Falls |
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| My Mini Me observing the mist off of the Brideveil Falls |
Another 3-5 minute drive brings you into another pit stop where you'll see Yosemite Falls on the right and another waterfall on the left.
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| Yosemite Falls |
And across the street is:
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| Falls across the street from Yosemite Falls |
Another 3-5 minute drive onward on Highway 41, you'll finally come across Yosemite Valley. We headed towards the right seeking parking in Curry Village. The goal for the day was to hike up and down the Mist Trail leading up to the Vernal Falls. It was a high goal given the pain I'd been in. I popped 2 more Motrin before hitting the trail. Below are the photos I took along the way via Nikon D90 and Samsung Galaxy S cell phone (un-tagged w/ my watermark logo).
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| Trail leading from the Curry Village parking lot over into the Mist Trail |
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| Water run-off from the Vernal Falls |
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| My Mini Me and Myself. :D |
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| Beginning of the Mist Trail |
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| My favorite shot of my Mini Me on the Mist Trail |
Aside from walking up the inclined trail, there are these 600 steps leading up to the top of the Vernal Falls. Aside from the entire inclination, I had to hold up my pants manually or they would've fallen around my ankles! Grrrrr! **insert roaring laughter** :/
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| My Mini Me making his way up the slippery steps on the Mist Trail (taken w/ cell phone) |
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| The only place you'll have to go under a rock along the Mist Trail (taken w/ cell phone) |
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| Pretty rainbows reflecting off the mist from the Vernal Falls |
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| Vernal Falls :) |
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| This is the last portion of the Mist Trail.... and yeah... I was freaked out! (taken w/ cell phone) |
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| View from the top of the Vernal Falls |
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| Emerald Pool-- located on the same trail passed the Vernal Falls |
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| Nevada Falls-- found on the trail after the Vernal Falls |
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| The mist looked and felt amazing! (taken w/ cell phone) |
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| This is why the hiking sticks came in handy. My legs were shaking most of the way down. (taken w/ cell phone) |
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| Mountain Room Restaurant in the Yosemite Lodge -- where we had a delicious dinner ♥ (taken w/ cell phone) |
You can see the Yosemite Falls from the back windows. Very nice ending to an amazing day. :)
Day 2 (May 21):
This day also began later than expected.... about 3 hours later. Woops! We stopped by the same Fruit Stand on the way to Yosemite and this time added Oakhurst's Subway to grab some sandwiches to eat in the park. As we were driving, we suddenly came to an abrupt stop. It turns out that even MORE folks visit Yosemite on the weekend. See below:
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| Let's all go to Yosemite!! (taken w/ cell phone) |
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| Traffic behind me... (taken w/ cell phone) |
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| We spent around 30 minutes or so waiting to get into the southern entrance. (taken w/ cell phone) |
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| Despite all of the traffic, we got to rent bikes!! Woo hoo! (taken w/ cell phone) |
Renting bikes was my Mini Me's idea. I wasn't sure that we'd be able to rent bikes because they're available on a first come first served basis. With the traffic we ran into, it being a weekend and us leaving Fresno super late, I was a little worried. But as quickly as the worry arrived, the worry left when my Mini Me said, "Don't worry, mom. We'll be able to rent bikes. You'll see." :) We rode around all of the valley and got to see more than I had expected to see. One of our first bike stops was Mirror Lake.
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| On the way to Mirror Lake |
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| Mirror Lake |
Surprisingly, I was a little disappointed with this lake. I'd assumed it was much larger than it truly is.
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| Rock sculpture area found straight across from Mirror Lake |
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| Our bike rentals posed in front of the meadows. |
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| My Mini Me running through the Meadow :) |
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| My bike rental :) |
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| Ansel Adams Gallery |
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| The trail leading into the Lower Yosemite Falls |
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| The bridge full of photogs taking shots of the Lower Falls |
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| The Lower Yosemite Falls view from the bridge (You should wear your poncho or you'll get soaked) |
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| Oh dear... there were several deer roaming around |
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| By eavesdropping, I heard another photog say there was a hidden pond w/ a great reflection. Sure was! |
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| This..... is my favorite shot. :) |
On our way out of Yosemite, we headed over to the Mariposa Grove to see the tall, tall sequoia trees. This place is 2 miles from the southern gate. :)
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| Mariposa Grove..... pretty Sequoia trees |
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| My Mini Me was freezing at this point of the trip....... **chattering teeth** |
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| They were ginormous! |
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| I spy something tall and green! |
On my drive home (while my Mini Me was sleeping), I stopped at this bar-b-que place in Oakhurst for some dinner on the go. It wasn't too bad. ;)
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| Todd's Cookhouse Bar-b-que (taken w/ cell phone) |
Overall, the entire weekend I spent it pain free. I really thank whatever entity is out there watching over us. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had this amazing experience. I chose not to cancel the trip in hopes that all would go well and it did. Everything happens for a reason, right? My guess is that our late starts each morning were so that we could savor the local fresh fruit and possibly avoid a strange mishap along the way.
I'd love to go back to visit Yosemite someday. Mainly because another area of it (Glacier Point) was closed due to the snowfall they had the previous weekend. The Half Dome was also closed, but I'm not so sure I'd attempt that climb quite yet.
I truly recommend vising Yosemite. It's so much more majestic in person. Not to mention it smells wonderful! ♥
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
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