A Week in Yosemite National Park

We don't get to take mega-vacations very often. By "mega" I mean a trip lasting longer than three or four days. This time we were gone for 8 days, which is just short of a miracle since it's so difficult for Jason to take that much time off at once. In fact, I'm pretty certain this is the longest trip we've ever taken as a family. So this was an exciting, mega-vacation adventure!

And, I suppose I should correct myself when I called it a "vacation." A friend of mine wisely said these should be called "family trips" when small children are involved and I wholeheartedly agree. There is not much "vacationing" going on when children are punching each other in the backseat of the car, or when they're fighting over the last marshmallow around the campfire, or when they go to bed at midnight and wake up at 6am because they're so excited to play with their cousins, or when they're covered head to toe in dirt three minutes after their bathtime. No, it's not a vacation for Mom and Dad but I suppose that's the adventure of having a young family. Someday I'll wonder how they all got so big and why I didn't enjoy these times more.

We spent a week in Yosemite National Park in California and it was a fitting place for our first mega-vacation. Why not go to a place where everything is mega-huge and mega-beautiful? Honestly, Yosemite is one of the grandest, most awesome places we have ever been. We hope to return someday because even a week was not enough time to really explore all the beauty of the park. We spent most of our time in Yosemite Valley, which is full of the most well-known monuments of Yosemite--Half Dome, El Capitan, Yosemite Falls, etc.



Our campsite was in Housekeeping Camp and consisted of a three-sided concrete "cabin" with the fourth wall and ceiling made of canvas. There was a concrete floor, a table, and cooking area--even an electrical outlet, you know, for a microwave or something (wink to Sarah!). And we musn't forget the bear boxes for the food, and I mean ALL of the food. Since black bears are so prominent in the area, the park strictly enforces their policy of having all food and scented items in the food storage boxes at all times. They'll even wake you in the middle of the night to force you to comply with the standard, as my brother and sister-in-law discovered! The policy may seem over the top until you hear bears rummaging around the campsite in the middle of the night, as we did on at least two occasions. All I could think about was that Grant was sleeping six inches from the opening of our cabin and how easy it would be for a bear to grab him by the hair and run. Not a good thought for a mom.

Mariah and I did see a bear one morning as we were on our way to ride horses through the park. It was the first time I had ever seen a bear in the wild and it was amazing. They are such beautiful creatures.


We camped in a prime location next to the Merced River which was great for the kids. We spent plenty of time cooling off and splashing around. It proved a bit tricky to keep Grant from getting his cast wet. How do you keep a very active and adventurous five-year-old boy from the water and rocks? He did take a spill head-on into the river, cast and all, and I was worried it wouldn't dry out. Luckily, the weather was warm and it was fine by the next day--notwithstanding the dirt, grime, and sand inside!

(I'm not sure who's in charge here...they each have an oar and thinks they're the captain!)

We hiked to the top of Vernal Falls, which was very beautiful. It was quite the climb up steep stone steps--gave my legs a workout!


The kids climbed and explored rocks and domes. They thought they were true adventurers!




Mariah and I went on a 2-hour mule ride through Tenaya Canyon. Mariah was in complete and utter bliss. She is so horse crazy and this was the first time she got to ride by herself. That morning she was giddy with excitement, nervous when she had to take the reigns herself, and then all smiles the rest of the ride. Mariah's mule's name was Edith; mine was Devon. They were good mules, although mine kept getting kicked by the mule in front of me because Devon wouldn't back off. I had to hold her back the whole time. I think she thought she should be on the race track, not on the trail!


We also visited a sequoia tree grove which had amazingly beautiful, huge trees (and pinecones!).


The squirrels in the park are abundant, to say the least. They will gobble up any food left out in a matter of seconds, which makes it unnecessary to sweep under the table after a meal. Jason and the kids thought they'd try to outsmart them with his trap...




...but the squirrels won.

And we took endless showers, foot soaks, face wipe-downs, dips in the river, etc, to keep the dust from consuming the children. Even then their dirty faces were a permanent fixture during the week. I drove myself crazy trying to keep them clean and finally gave in to the fact the dirt was going to win.



Waterfalls, horses, rock cliffs, rivers, dirt, squirrels, bears and all, we had a wonderful adventure! We thoroughly enjoyed our time with family amidst the best of atmospheres. Now, where to visit next year?