Yosemite (Day 3)

We enjoyed another great day in Yosemite! We started in Mariposa Grove this morning to see the giant sequoia trees. We only hiked the first mile or so, since we had a lot on our agenda, but we saw plenty of the gorgeous trees!



On our way back to the Yosemite Valley, we saw some cars parked along the side of the road. I pulled over to ask what was going on, and discovered some bears! We jumped out to get a good look at the Mama bear and baby cub!

Our next stop was the old Yosemite chapel, the oldest building in the valley. I LOVE old churches and try to find them whenever we travel. This was one was adorable!



We found a great parking spot in Curry Village and walked to Happy Isles Nature Center. Mimi stayed and walked around there for a bit, while the kids and I hiked up to the Vernal Falls footbridge.
The views from this VERY steep hike were amazing! Here is the back side of Half Dome...


The kids really wanted to hike all the way to the top, but the trail gets pretty treacherous beyond this point, and I didn't want to risk it. Plus we didn't want to leave Mimi waiting too long! After lunch at the Yosemite Lodge, and some souvenir shopping, we headed out for another hike towards Mirror Lake.
Normally at this time of year there isn't much water, and the lake becomes a dry meadow, but due to the high amount of snowfall this year, we lucked out. We didn't even make it all the way to lake, the kids were ready to get wet at the base of the lake down the river.

Once again, they were begging to go into the water. We should have brought bathing suits along, but didn't think of it in the morning. I told them that if they REALLY wanted to go in, they could go in their underpants, and put on their dry clothes when they got out. They thought about it for a second, and were ready to jump in! Luckily, I had an extra t-shirt in my backpack, so Zoe was able to keep her shirt on.

They spent hours swimming, climbing up the river shoot, and jumping off rocks. This was one of the highlights of their trip!

Walking back to the car, a couple of deer came running out in front of us. We saw them several times and they came close!

We were exhausted after another very long day! We drove back to the hotel, and had a quick pizza dinner before hitting the sack. We were sad that it was our last night, and had to head home in the morning.

It sure was a fantastic trip, filled with lots of fun and good memories!! Thank you Mimi...now we need to come up with a new adventure for next year!