I scheduled our return from California with a few days to adjust to East Coast time before we had to head back to work and school started up again. I set the alarm for 7AM the day after we returned and it was a rough start for all of us.
“I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living my baby you’ll be.”
I was all excited because Ian was out of his room but when I went downstairs to check up on him, he was asleep on the playroom couch with the television on. It looked like he fell asleep waiting for his game to load. LOL I wish I had a picture of that. 🙂
It took probably 2 weeks before Mike and I felt completely adjusted back to our time zone but the boys seemed to adjust more quickly. I was glad since I wanted them to be okay when school started.
Our last day+ of vacation was going to be a long one. We had to pack, check out, drive ~2.5 hours back to Fresno, and make the 3 flight journey home to Buffalo.
FRIDAY:
The day started out….bizarrely? We woke to the sound of a very rude and inconsiderate hotel neighbor chanting out on his patio. As it was summer time and the hotel did not have air-conditioning, we (and I’d guess everyone else in the building) had their windows open. It woke us from a dead sleep and based upon the other hotel guests looking out their patio doors at the rude person, it woke nearly everyone in our building. Thankfully, we have a pretty good sense of humor about such things. LOL
http://youtu.be/HA9n49QMXyI
“meow meowering gay cow meow meowering gay cow”
That went on for 45 minutes. LOL
After everyone was up, we turned on the TV and got ready for the day. While we packed our belongings, we saw a mom and baby deer out in the meadow outside of our room.
Right above the balcony railing/at the base on the evergreen tree.
Momma walking away…
Little baby between the bars of the railing…
Check out time was 10AM so we got on the road shortly after that and headed back to Fresno.
Pulling out of the hotel parking lot
Leaving the park
It was a quiet ride to Fresno. We were all pretty tired. You know it has been a long vacation when Ian naps in the car. LOL
After we got to Fresno, we drove around trying to find someplace for lunch. We caved and took the kids to Olive Garden. So much for one last Californian meal. LOL While we ate lunch, we strategized what we would do for the rest of the day. Our flight wasn’t scheduled to leave Fresno until about 8pm so we had about 8 hours to blow. We initially thought about taking the kids mini-golfing but it was about 105 degrees out so we had to figure something out on the fly. We finally decided to take the kids to see How to Train a Dragon 2 at a local theater. After that, we took them to a mall and wandered around a bit.
Hanging out in an indoor go-kart place at the mall to keep cool and blow time. LOL
With about 4+ hours to go before our flight left, we decided to just drop off our rental car and check in at the airport. The boys were really good at the airport and kept themselves occupied with the cars from Downtown Disney, video games, and a book for Ian.
Reading at the airport
Unfortunately, things got a little crazy at this point. Our incoming flight was delayed and having mechanical problems. United started delaying our flight but not until after the Fresno airport was completely closed up (our flight was the last of the day). Because there were no other flights leaving that day, all of the restaurants closed up and we weren’t able to get food for dinner. We had planned to eat dinner during our 2 hour layover in San Francisco but it started looking like that wasn’t going to be a possibility.
Eventually our plane arrived but they decided they weren’t going to fly the plane to San Francisco due to mechanical issues. The airport staff had to call United headquarters to get approval to use another plane at the next gate. Eventually that got approved and we boarded quickly. Unfortunately, our flight left so late we were in danger of missing our red-eye, cross-country connection.
Boarding our Fresno flight. Praying we make our connection.
What initially was going to be a 2 hour layover in San Francisco turned into an absolute sprint across 2 terminals to make our connection. I still can’t believe we made it in time.
Literally the last ones on the plane. Ian and Matthew were amused by the running. Mike and I? Not so much.
Happy to be in our seats. Not so happy to not have time to eat dinner.
Soon our flight was in the air and we were heading back to the East coast.
Mike, mid-flight, lit by the electronic devices.
I was worried about how the boys would handle the red-eye. I worried for nothing. Both boys went to sleep pretty easily and slept until the flight crew turned the lights on right before landing. Neither Mike nor I slept much but the time passed quickly with iPads and television shows on the seat back in front of us.
SATURDAY:
Soon we began our descent into Washington DC.
(Funny story: as we began our descent in San Diego at the start of our vacation, Ian kept exclaiming “we’re going down!” in response to the decrease in altitude. Mental note: tell your children that saying “we’re going down!” in an airplane is not the best way to express their excitement about landing. LOL)
Lights up! 2 sleeping kids and 1 daddy pillow.
Soon we were on the ground, taking the shuttles to another terminal, and sitting at another gate. Yay for no running!
Can you believe how perky those boys look with having not eaten since lunch the prior day and having only slept about 5 hours on our flight?
Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to get through a fast food line at the Dulles airport so we had to wait even longer for food.
The worst part of our Dulles layover was listening to CNN on the television over our heads. They did a lengthy segment on the 2 Malaysian Airlines plane crashes which was super awesome. Grrrrr.
Soon we were boarding again!
Only one flight to go!
Happy to be almost home!
Soon we were back in Buffalo and home. It was a great trip and we all had a ball!
Our last full day in Yosemite was a bit of a mixture. We had a few more “must sees” on our list but we were also starting to feel the effects of our long vacation. It had been a long trip and we were getting tired. LOL
The first thing on our list was heading up to Glacier Point before all of the crowds arrived.
“People have been coming to Glacier Point for generations to see one of the most spectacular views on earth. For a panoramic vista of Yosemite Valley, walk along the trail to Glacier Point, located 1/4 mile from where you’re now standing.”
The view of Yosemite was beautiful as the sun rose and burned off the fog that covered the mountains.
It was pretty darn cold up there – 40s maybe?
While we stood at Glacier Point taking pictures, a news crew was off to the side filming a segment about the big Yosemite Rim Fire that occurred in August 2013. That fire was the largest wildfire on record in the Sierra Nevada and was the third largest wildfire in California’s history.
We were very thankful to be in Yosemite and not experience a wildfire.
Within days of leaving Yosemite, a meadow fire in Little Yosemite Valley started by lightening and burned nearly 4,800 acres before it was contained almost a month later. Here is a time lapse of that fire:
The boys enjoyed spotting and chasing these little salamander-y things around. I have no idea what they really were. Maybe a gecko?
“From this vantage point, you can see about one-quarter of Yosemite National Park. The pointed peaks in the distance were unglaciated. Although glaciers quarried rocks from their sides, they never rode over their tops (the peaks would be smooth and rounded if they had). At the height of the Ice Age, which spanned some 2 million years, ice filled Yosemite Valley and reached a height of 700 feet above where you are standing. The shape of the valley below you is a result of the carving action of those ancient ice fields.”
“As glaciers retreated from the Valley, they left piles of rock and gravel debris (called moraines) in their path. Behind the moraines, the waters of the Merced River collected, creating the ancient Lake Yosemite. The lake gradually filled with river-carried sediment leaving behind the flat Valley floor. Yosemite Guardian Galen Clark, and other residents, dynamited the moraine in 1890 to lower the water table. As the ground became less saturated, more trees grew and the Valley meadows began to shrink. Ancient Yosemite Creek cascaded thousands of feet into a deep, V-shaped canyon carved by the Merced River. During the Ice Age, glaciers gouged out the canyon into an even steeper U-shape with vertical walls. Yosemite Creek was left hanging 2,600 feet above the valley floor. The creek now plummets over the precipice as Yosemite Falls. When the winter’s snowmelt disappears, usually by late summer, Yosemite Falls dwindle and often dry up completely.”
It’s hard to see in the picture above but Overhanging Rock jutted out over the Valley below.
This 1901 photo, compliments of the Library of Congress, captures the rock much better than my angle. LOL
President Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir posed together on the rock in 1903 with Yosemite Falls in the background (Library of Congress). “Muir was able to convince both Roosevelt and California Governor George Pardee, on that excursion, to recede the state grant and make the Valley and the Mariposa Grove part of Yosemite National Park. This joining together of the 1864 state grant lands with the 1890 national park lands occurred during Roosevelt’s presidency in 1906.”
After checking out Glacier Point, we began the hour drive back down the mountains to the Valley Floor.
http://youtu.be/_HS4voqPAN4
This video shows us driving through the Wawona Tunnel and driving past the Tunnel View overlook:
http://youtu.be/uWnTQ-lDqgM
We pulled off to hike to the base of the Bridalveil Falls.
The waterfall was down to a trickle.
http://youtu.be/oZAWnf9XyYc
Some people were climbing the rocks to get right to the base of the Falls. Ian and Matthew weren’t very happy about not being allowed out there but the rocks were so smooth and slippery that some people were climbing barefooted. Ugh, I don’t think so. LOL
After Bridalveil Falls, we decided to stop at Swinging Bridge (which is wooden and does not swing) to let the boys play in the Merced River.
Can you imagine what a sight this would be if Yosemite Falls wasn’t dry?
http://youtu.be/u91uIHd_C4w
On one side of swinging bridge was a wooded area with picnic trees, a bathroom area, and small parking lot. The other side was this: bike/walking path, meadow, trees, and insanely steep rock walls.
After all of our adventures, we grabbed some lunch then took the boys swimming for like 3-4 hours. We wrapped the day up by beginning to pack, having dinner at the restaurant at our hotel, and then doing a kids educational program at our hotel (they took a walk about the hotel and learned about the various trees in Yosemite).
Out of all the souvenirs we bought this vacation, I think Mike’s tshirt was one of my favorites. 🙂
The next day we began our journey back to Buffalo….
Our first day in Yosemite started a little slow. After several days of being on vacation and NOT swimming in a pool, the kids pretty much were on vacation-strike until we went swimming again. Since we had talked about the fact that this hotel had a pool with a view of Yosemite Falls, there was no way we were doing anything prior to taking them swimming. LOL
Unfortunately, the pool didn’t open until 10AM and the first hour was for lap swimming only. We hadn’t really intended to start swimming at 11AM so we had a lot of time to blow before we could swim. To pass the time, we ate breakfast, purchased some Dramamine, browsed in the gift shop, booked a tour for later that day, figured out our game plan for the day, etc.
When we did eventually get to the pool, the water was freezing so I pretty much immediately got out. The boys had a ball though and I took pictures of my view from the pool chair. 😉
view from the pool area
My view of Sentinel Rock from the pool
Yosemite Falls was still impressive despite being dry
Mike and the boys were the only ones in the water
We let the boys swim for about an hour and then we had to hustle. We needed to grab lunch, all get showered/dressed, and back to the registration building by 1pm for our Yosemite Valley tour.
Ready for our Valley Floor tour!
My view of Yosemite Falls from the last row of the tram
The park ranger teased us about sitting in the last row but I was able to get pictures of stuff behind us so it all worked according to plan! LOL
The 2-hour tour was a really great experience. The ranger gave us some background over how the valley was formed, named rock formations, discussed rock climbing history, and the background behind the National Park Service and the birth of the National Park movement in the US. It was a great way for us to see many different areas of the valley without having to drive and navigate on our own.
Sentinel Rock
Cathedral Rocks
In many areas the rock walls were so high, it was difficult to get the valley floor and the top of the rocks in the same frame.
El Capitan – We sat and looked at the rocks for a while in the hopes of seeing climbers on the rocks. We weren’t ever able to see anyone.
El Capitan is the largest monolith of granite in the world and rises more than 3,000 feet about the Valley floor.
Bridalveil Falls was down to a trickle when we saw it. The water flowing over the edge turning to mist. They say that it thunders in the spring time.
Bridalveil Falls in the background with the very dry Merced River in the foreground.
Our next stop was Valley View. In hindsight, Valley View was a lot more pretty to photograph than the more famous Tunnel View and I wish I spent more time taking pictures there. Tunnel View was unbelievably stunning to see in person but I don’t think it translated as well in photographs. (Valley View = prettier in pictures, Tunnel View = more stunning sight in person)
Valley View gave us a gorgeous view of El Capitan (left) and Sentinel Rock, Cathedral Rocks, and Bridalveil Falls (right). Half Dome and Cloud’s Rest are further back in the middle but blocked by the trees. In the foreground is Bridalveil Meadow and the Merced River.
Our chariot waiting to take us to our next stop
Next up was Tunnel View. Tunnel View is a lookout point right past the Wawona Tunnel.
Pulling into the Tunnel View parking lot. The Wawona Tunnel was bored through solid granite bedrock and is located on one of the three main roads providing access to Yosemite Valley. At 4,233 feet long Wawona Tunnel is the longest highway tunnel in California.
The most iconic vista in Yosemite National Park: Tunnel View
Photographs just don’t do this justice. The size and scale of the view is completely lost in photographs.
Here is the same picture with quick some labels. To get an idea of scale, our hotel would be near the base of Yosemite Falls and right across from Sentinel Rock. Again, the top of El Capitan is more than 3,000 feet above the Valley Floor (more than 2x taller than the Empire State Building). There are hotel buildings, employee dorms, parking lots, cars, buses, campsites, museums, shops, restaurants, meadow clearings, hiking paths, bridges, river, etc in that forrest of trees on the Valley Floor.
There was a pretty sheer drop on the other side of that stone wall. Mike was pretty freaked out when any of us got close to it. LOL
“Tunnel View: Rededicated October 24, 2008 through a landmark public-private partnership, the Centennial Challenge, commemorating the centennial of the National Park Service.”
This was really cool!
Click HERE to see the full size version of the picture above.
Please note how far he’s standing from the wall. 🙂
One last view of the parking lot and Wawona Tunnel before leaving
This is the view that made me gasp “OMG!” as we drove past the prior day.
After that, we headed back down into the Valley.
Matthew fell asleep at this point. It was deep into nap time but we’d also given him Dramamine to fight any potential car (tram?) sickness he might encounter during our tour. I’m not sure if the medicine made him drowsy but he slept on Mike’s arm for probably 45 minutes. LOL
This rock formation is called the Three Brothers but you can really only see 2 peaks through the trees: Eagle Peak on the left, nearly obscured by the trees on the left side of the opening, and Middle Brother, the peak you can see clearly. Lower Brother is behind the trees on the right of the gap.
Sentinel Rock
You can see the scarring from Yosemite Falls on the rocks on the left. I can only imagine how impressive the Falls are with water running over the rocks.
Yosemite Falls, one of the world’s tallest, is actually made up of three separate falls: Upper Yosemite Fall (1,430 feet), the middle cascades (675 feet), and Lower Yosemite Fall (320 feet). The total 2,425 feet from the top of the upper fall to the base of the lower fall qualifies Yosemite Falls as the seventh highest waterfall in the world. For my family in Buffalo, Niagara Falls is a mere 167 feet in comparison. Niagara Falls has the highest water flow rate in the world so it can still hold it’s own against Yosemite Falls. 😉
North Dome can be seen on the right.
….aaaaand, still sleeping….
Half Dome through the trees!
North Dome and the Royal Arches (curved arches on the rock wall) on the left. Half Dome on the right.
North Dome and the Royal Arches
Half Dome
Glacier Point
Glacier Point was a little too difficult to photograph because it was so tall and we had to look into the sun. So I figured another Half Dome photo was appropriate. 😉
Deer! We saw so many deer during the days we spent in Yosemite.
Our ranger was not very happy to see this man so close to this deer. He warned us to give the wildlife plenty of room.
“Down through the middle of the Valley flows the crystal Merced, River of Mercy, peacefully quiet, reflecting lilies and trees and the onlooking rocks; things frail and fleeting and types of endurance meeting here and blending in countless forms, as if into this one mountain mansion Nature had gathered her choicest treasures, to draw her lovers into close and confiding communion with her.” ― John Muir
Shortly after that, our tour wrapped up and we got dropped off at the hotel registration building. We took a break for drinks and then caught a tour bus to the Yosemite Visitor Center. We planned to look around there for a bit and then head to Mirror Lake for a hike.
After exploring the Yosemite Visitor Center and surrounding area, we took a shuttle bus to the Mirror Lake shuttle stop. Mirror Lake was billed as an easy hike with a mountain-reflecting lake at the end. Perfect destination on a warm summer day! We got off with a bunch of people and looked forward to splashing around in the water at the end of our hike.
Sooooo, our hike to Mirror Lake. How do I describe this train-wreck of an experience? LOL The trailhead had 2 paths: a blacktop-paved path that kind of looked like a street and a dirt path in the woods. There were no markers and a bunch of people took the dirt path so we decided to follow them (safety in numbers, yo!). Turns out, the path we took was the path that horse-back riders take on their tours. It was hard to climb, absolutely covered in horse poop, and a distinctly unpleasant experience. And the boys complained the ENTIRE way. LOL
We had promised them that they could splash in the lake water when we got there so imagine their DELIGHT when we arrived to this:
Yep! That’s right. A bone dry lake bed! AWESOME!!!
Needless to say, the kids were NOT happy campers.
If only the water hadn’t dried up and we hadn’t hiked in horse manure for an hour. We may have appreciated this view more. LOL
We rested up and cooled off in the shade.
Pretend there was water there. Wouldn’t it have been really pretty? Please note that the boys are posing with super fake smiles. LOL
We took the paved, ridiculously easy path back to the shuttle stop. I don’t know if it really was a lot shorter or if it was all due to the amount of exertion in comparison to the horseback path but the return hike seemed half as long. LOL
Bear trap!
We heard a commotion out in the forrest during our hike back (dogs barking up a storm) and I told Matthew to stay close because it might be mountain lions. Turns out, it was a small family of black bears! After we caught our shuttle, the driver said bears had been spotted in the woods. Sure enough, we saw them walking in the trees on our way to the next shuttle stop. Unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of the bus and it was too dark to get a good picture in the trees. But yay for seeing bears in a completely safe, non-life-threatening way!!! It almost (ALMOST) made up for the Mirror Lake Hiking Train-Wreck of 2014. LOL
After our hike, we intended to try a new restaurant and then go to a family-friendly campfire in another spot. It just wasn’t our day because the restaurant had already closed by the time we got there so we had to catch another shuttle, go alllll the way back to our hotel, eat dinner, catch a shuttle in the other direction, and hike to the campfire spot. It turned out to be a comically frustrating experience and we got to the campfires about 10 minutes before it ended. AAAAHHHHHH!!! LOL
We did get there in time to see and hold a Sugar Pine pine cone. The cones were huge.
After that, we decided we had enough fun for one day so we headed back to the hotel and went to bed.
Stay tuned! There are more adventures to come!
Our next adventure of the day was to head to Yosemite National Park with a slight detour to see one more giant sequoia along the way.
We left Sequoia National Park and immediately drove into Kings Canyon National Park. It was very convenient that the grove of sequoias was on our way.
The Grant Grove parking lot was surrounded by giants. I don’t think I’d ever get tired of seeing those trees.
I mean, seriously! Can you believe this tree?!?!
“Life after Death – Even after they fall sequoias endure. These trees resist decay, sometimes lasting for hundreds or even thousands of years on the forest floor. Compare the Fallen Monarch in front of you with this photograph from 1900. It looks nearly the same today as it did over a century ago. Like the Gamlin Cabin on this trail, the Fallen Monarch sheltered some of the park’s early visitors. Construction crews such as this one camped here, sleeping in beds inside the hollow log. The cavalry kept their horses in it (note the mounted cavalryman in this photograph).”
Fallen Monarch
Fallen Monarch
Inside Fallen Monarch – the tree is hollowed out and being used as a sort of tunnel to get to a hiking path.
Continuing down the Fallen Monarch tunnel
Fallen Monarch exit
Due to the hiking path mistake in Giant Forest, our main focus was seeing the General Grant Tree and then getting back on the road in order to get to Yosemite at a reasonable time. We had already been on the road about an hour and we had about 4 more hours of driving ahead of us.
“The General Grant Tree – The General Grant Tree’s massive trunk makes it the third-largest tree in the world, by volume. And at 40 feet in diameter at ground level, it is the world’s widest-known sequoia. But it is not nearly the oldest. In fact, it is 1,500 years *younger* than the oldest-known sequoia. Location, not age, is the key to a sequoia’s size. In places with the best combination of moisture, sunlight, and nutrients, they outgrow older sequoias rooted in less prime locations. Apparently conditions here are ideal, considering how quickly the General Grant Tree has grown so large.”
Statistics-
- Volume: 46,608 cubic ft,
- Height: 268 feet,
- Age: ~1,700 years old,
- Weight: ~1,254 tons,
- Circumference: 107 feet,
- Diameter: 40 feet,
- Largest Branch (diameter): 4.5 feet,
- First Branch (height): 129 feet
The harsh sunlight on the trunk and the surrounding shade made taking photos a little challenging.
Fun Facts – If the trunk of the General Grant Tree was a gas tank on a car that got 25 miles per gallon, you could drive around the earth 350 times without refueling.
Fun Fact – The General Grant Tree is so wide it would take about twenty people holding hands to make a complete circle around the base.
Fun Fact – If the General Grant Tree’s trunk could be filled with sports equipment, it could hold 159,000 basketballs, or more than 37 million ping-pong balls.
Fun Fact – President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the General Grant Tree to be the Nation’s Christmas Tree in 1926. In 1956 President Dwight D. Eisenhower designated it as a National Shrine, a living memorial to those who have given their lives for their country.
Taking a hiking break
The Robert E. Lee tree, eleventh largest tree in the world
Heading back to the car
We got back on the road and continued the journey to Yosemite National Park. Thankfully the ride out of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks was way less twisty-turny when compared to the drive into Sequoia National Park. Unfortunately, we soon encountered more crazy mountain roads. 😉
During our drive we saw hours of this: brown rolling hills.
As we got closer to Yosemite, we started seeing little tourist trap towns. It reminded me of the area around Niagara Falls. LOL
I saw smoke and wondered whether it was a fire in the park (smoke along the tree line in the right of the pictures). There was a very large forest fire in Yosemite about a week after we left. I was glad we missed the “fun”.
We arrived (yay!!!) but didn’t get our entrance fee waived. LOL
I didn’t take many pictures of our drive into Yosemite. The twisty-turny roads were back again and we had some, uh, car sickness issues with two of my most favorite people in the world. Needless to say, we were desperately trying to get to the hotel before we had an issues…which, unfortunately, did not happen.
We had to pull off into the Bridalveil Falls parking lot to do an emergency clean up and I took some pictures. LOL
I believe this was the only waterfall with water and it was nearly a trickle. The water actually turned to mist as it came over the rocks. It didn’t photograph well but it created a small rainbow. 🙂
El Capitan through the trees at the Bridalveil Falls parking lot
El Capitan
Yosemite Valley was unbelievably beautiful. The valley is roughly 7.5 miles long, averages a width of 1 mile, and has forest, large open meadows, and the Merced River. Looming around the outside of the valley are enormous granite rock formations that rise 3,000 to 4,000 feet above the valley floor.
I believe the rounded rock on the right is North Dome.
Not entirely sure what this is. It looks like a dry waterfall to the left. Maybe Ribbon Fall on the west side of El Capitan? Maybe Yosemite Falls?
Thankfully the rest of the drive from Bridalveil Falls to our hotel was mostly flat and vomit-free. We checked in, found our building and hotel room, unpacked the car, and got more cleaned up.
This was literally the view from our hotel bed. Stunning! I believe the granite peaks in the middle of the picture is Sentinel Rock.
After that, we went to dinner, tried to contact our family at home on the terrible internet, and had an early night. We had lots of sight-seeing to do the next day.