We have made it to day 3, woohoo! Today is one of my favorites by far. We explored Yosemite National Park and all it has to offer. Yosemite is a vast national forest like our second-day blog post of Sequoia Park but has a little different scenery as you go along. There are so many different kinds of trees, waterfalls, and rock like mountains to view. The drive alone was similar to the other forest and quite windy as well. I feel like there is so much more to see here at this park than the one yesterday, but that is just my opinion. We didn’t eat anywhere special for breakfast but a nearby Jack In The Box – living the life. Ha!
Our first stop of the day was to view the Bridalveil Waterfall, El Captain, and Half Dome. The viewpoint was packed with people, but we got super lucky and found a spot super quick. In the photos below you can see all three places and the roads to get there were super cool mountain tunnels. Not your city tunnels with concrete but made of actual rock. It was pretty neat to see and the kids really enjoyed that part. El Captain is 3,000 vertical feet of granite rock, and hikers from all over come to Yosemite to challenge the climb. The next stop was Bridalveil Waterfall, and it is stunning. There is a stop along the way for the waterfall that you park and walk to go closer. The hike isn’t too bad, and the view is incredible. The hike leads you to rocks that you can climb up to get even closer, but the stones are super slippery and scary to climb. There was a lot of people that didn’t mind, but the signs all around suggested not to do so, and people have died from the climb. Half Dome, we didn’t make it all the way up and just saw it from that viewpoint showed below.
Yosemite Falls was our next stop along the way through the park. It was super packed with visitors that we were not able to get out and walk around Yosemite Valley. The parking lots were all the way full, but we got some excellent shots from driving around. It was so pretty, and the pictures turned out fantastic if I say so myself. We were disappointed but kept on going on our journey to see more. We stopped along the way at a nearby creek to eat some lunch and soak in the view before we head out to find a camping spot. We had no luck the entire day of securing a place as most campgrounds were full. As we were getting ready to give up, we found a spot at a campsite called ” Diamond O Campground.” That’s what I call LUCK.
The campgrounds were awesome. They had a spot for a tent, a box for food to store, stove, bathrooms, water for drinking if need be, and picnic table. We got set up for the night and hung out until it got dark. We decided not even to try to have a fire and went to bed semi-early so we could get up and go Tuesday morning. We brought along freeze-dried packets from REI, and they tasted pretty darn good. You open the package, add two cups of boiling water, and wait 9 minutes… then you got a meal. This is the first time we have tried these meals, but everyone enjoyed them. Corbyn and Caiden both ate lasagna packets while Travis & I ate chicken & noodles. I also ate a breakfast meal made by the same company called granola with blueberries. It was pretty good and it warmed me up since it was chilly in the morning. I am not a huge fan of camping, and the kids were a little bummed to have no wifi the entire day, but we survived. The campsite turned out to be worth it and we are ready to take on our next adventure. Stay tuned for tomorrow!
