Back in May we took a short trip to California to visit our friends Jon and Elaine and spend a little time exploring
Yosemite National Park. We both love national parks, and we didn't need
another lecture from a German backpacker about how we don't appreciate the National Park System, so it was unacceptable that we hadn't visited Yosemite yet! Before heading out to the park we spent a couple days in the Bay Area catching up with Jon, Elaine, and Gwyneth and eating some wonderful food.
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| Our first culinary treat, It's-Its! Yummy cookie ice cream sandwiches from San Francisco. |
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| Everyone loves ice cream! |
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| A starfish in the tide pools. |
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| Look, our food is in a boat! A BOAT! |
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| Yum! We've been to Ramen Shop a couple of times now. |
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| Can't talk now... ramen. |
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| After all that food Gwyneth and Uncle Ball (Gwyneth's word) needed a little nap. To be honest, Gwyneth was still awake and eating blueberries from a small cup she was holding. |
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| This is pretty much what Gwyneth always looks like, unless she's sleeping. |
After a few days around Oakland, we started our drive to Yosemite on a Friday afternoon. We reserved a cottage just outside of the park at
Yosemite Lakes RV Resort. We got a good deal and would recommend it if you're not able or interested in staying in the park, which books up months in advance. The cottage had no cell reception, but there was wifi down by the reception area.
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| Paul's ready for the trip! Lots of great local beer. |
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| Gwyneth is ready too! This kept her entertained for about 5 minutes. |
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| Elaine spotted this bakery from across a huge parking lot. She instantly knew it was a Filipino bakery based on the font. The font, people! |
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| Our cottage for two nights, just outside Yosemite. |
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| The tranquil view from our cottage area. |
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| Not spacious...but very cozy! |
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| Go home octopus, you're drunk! |
Since it was a late arrival Friday evening, we went to the park on Saturday morning. The weather was really great! It was cool and partly cloudy. We spent most of the day in the park, stopping for a picnic lunch at glacier point. We were lucky and saw lots of wildlife and the views and hikes were all amazing. It was fun to spend time with Jon, Elaine and Gwyneth. David had
just been to Utah with the crew so he was prepared for some of the challenges of traveling with a toddler... Paul took a bit of time to adjust. ^_^
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| We're here, you guys! |
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| The classic vista of Yosemite from Tunnel View. Beautiful! |
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| With Gwen at Tunnel View. Not pictured: the hordes of tourists all around us. Also, we felt a bit like we were Modern Family-ing Gwyneth in this picture! |
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| Hiking up to Sentinel Dome. |
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| Almost to the top! |
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| Incredible views from the top of Sentinel Dome. |
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| Gotta take a jumping picture. |
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| Us on Sentinel Dome. |
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| Hiking to Glacier Point. |
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| We shared lunch and a local beer at Glacier Point. Track 7 please contact us if you want to use this photo for your advertising! :) |
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| Gwenyth at Glacier Point. |
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| A coyote came very close to us. |
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| And then we saw some bear cubs! |
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| Mama bear with her cubs. |
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| There are a lot of beautiful waterfalls in Yosemite. |
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| Another wildlife encounter. |
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| Make way, deer coming through! |
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| We took a short hike to Mirror Lake. |
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| The view at sunset from Mirror Lake trail. |
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| Gwen and Elaine being goofy. |
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| Gwen wanted to take the shuttle bus! |
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| She was excited but cautious about horses. |
After visiting with the horses we went back to the cabin for the evening. Elaine had started some
adobo chicken in a crock-pot when we first woke up, so we were excited to come home to all that delicious food. After we successfully tricked Gwyneth into going to bed (hehe, toddlers), we sat up and drank some of Paul's cache of beer and called it a night.
