Yosemite Park in California is now one of my all-time favorite places in the world. We are so lucky to have this wonderful park so close by. We went with 2 other couples and made sort of last-minute arrangements, so we had to stay at a motel 60 minutes outside the park, but it was still worth the driving. We flew in to a small airport in Mariposa, CA, about 5 minutes from out hotel.
There are lots of short hikes that take you to breath-taking vantage points. Most hikes were from 1 to 3 miles each way. I would recommend shelling out the $25 or so to take what they call the 'tram' ride through the valley floor with a ranger who points things out and tells you the history of Yosemite. This takes roughly 2 hours. There are also free shuttle buses to get you around as well. One day we went around and came in thru the south entrance and drove to the trailhead leading to a fantastic grove of giant sequoias. We met up with a nice young ranger and went with him on his tour of these huge, old trees. We had a nice lunch at the historic Wawona Hotel.
We plan to go back next year and take more of our family. We were lucky because due to all of the snow and rain this year the park looked like it was April instead of August. The waterfalls were all still going and there were fields with thousands of lupine flowers which were about 2 feet tall. If you haven't been there I would HIGHLY recommend it. We spent 3 full days and could have used another.
There are lots of short hikes that take you to breath-taking vantage points. Most hikes were from 1 to 3 miles each way. I would recommend shelling out the $25 or so to take what they call the 'tram' ride through the valley floor with a ranger who points things out and tells you the history of Yosemite. This takes roughly 2 hours. There are also free shuttle buses to get you around as well. One day we went around and came in thru the south entrance and drove to the trailhead leading to a fantastic grove of giant sequoias. We met up with a nice young ranger and went with him on his tour of these huge, old trees. We had a nice lunch at the historic Wawona Hotel.
You have fun pictures that bring good memories of times we were there...in the fall once on a beautiful balmy day that I can still feel. When Mike and I were first married we slept out on the ground with no tent after making somores and a bear rumbled in to finish off the fixings we left on the table. (dumb) We were just glad he didn't want us after.
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