We were all rejoicing pulling into our campground on Wednesday night, knowing it would have showers and WiFi.  The campground (Yosemite Lakes) was huge and had nice facilities, but if you wanted WiFi, you had to go hang around the laundry facilities for a connection.  The kids turned out to be all too happy to volunteer to do the laundry while we were there for a few days so that they could hang out and be connected to the wider world.  The lack of WiFi for the last several days of being in remote parts of California has really put me behind in being able to get my posts up, but the disconnectedness has also been a blessing!

Yosemite was our goal for the next couple of days, and we decided to visit Yosemite Valley first.  Wow! 

We were not prepared for the amount of people in Yosemite Valley and really struggled to find a parking place.  We did a bit of driving around in the valley, had a picnic, watched a film at the museum, wandered around their displays, purchased our trinkets at the visitor center, and got the heck out of there!  It was waaaay to busy for our liking. 

We were trying to find something to get out and do that wasn’t so busy, so we found a spot called Glacier Point that involved a small amount of hiking and gave us some great views.

The next day we debated between some hikes up in the Tuolemne area and going to the southwestern side of the park to see the sequoia grove there.  When the kids heard that the Tuolemne area had lots of bugs flying around at this time of year, they decided they wanted to see more sequoia trees! 

On the way to Mariposa Grove, we stopped to see the Wawona history center.  There we were able to meet the last of Yosemite’s stagecoach drivers. 

He talked to us some about growing up in the area and suggested we check out a swinging bridge that was just down the road.  This wasn’t listed in the Yosemite brochures that we had been given, so we were grateful for the tip. 

It was a nice, easy hike back to the swinging bridge.  The people who were there taking advantage of the swimming hole left soon after we got there (hopefully we didn’t run them off).  And then we had the area to ourselves for a little while – that was definitely more our speed!  Kids were going back and forth over the swinging bridge, jumping around on the rocks, and getting their feet wet in the river. 

I found myself this perfect little shady nook in the rocks overlooking the river.  I wished so much for a book to just sit down and read while enjoying the sounds of the rushing river and the kids playing.  Since I hadn’t brought a book on the hike in with me, I settled for just watching and listening.  It was perfect. 

Next we made it to the Mariposa Grove and took a couple mile hike around the sequoia trees.  The first half of the hike was full of people, but since we took the longer route back to the base of the hike, we enjoyed next to no people on the second half of the hike. 

One of our biggest disappointments has been how little large wildlife we have seen since being in Rocky Mountain National Park.  Here in Yosemite, we did finally see a few deer in the Mariposa Grove.  And on our two hour drive back through the park to our campground, we spotted a black bear in a meadow.  That was definitely a treat.

While Yosemite was beautiful, it most definitely was not one of our favorite parks – just too many people.  When talking to the kids about where their favorite parks have been, we have usually seen a consistency in that no one loves the really busy parks.  Here’s a summary of AnaClaire’s favorite parks and why (although this was written a little while ago, so it doesn’t even include the more recent parks.)

My favorite place we have gone so far has been Rocky Mountain National park. I loved seeing all of the different views at the Rocky Mountains. I loved seeing all of the moose. I loved seeing the glaciers and the snow. I enjoyed having a snowball fight with my siblings. 

Bryce Canyon is my second favorite place we have gone so far. I loved the view and seeing the animals. I loved hiking and going down into the canyon. I liked learning the history about the Native Americans. I love taking pictures of the beautiful things I have been seeing, but unfortunately I forgot to take it on the hike at Bryce Canyon. 

My third favorite place is Mesa Verde. I loved seeing all of the different treehouses. I loved learning about all 21 tribes that lived there. One of the things I learned was the different tribes never went into each other’s houses and if they did they felt like they were going to die. 

-AnaClaire