THE WEST TRIP (Continued):
From San Francisco, we took the drive to Yosemite National Park, which might have been my favorite place from the trip. Our hotel was by far the nicest hotel yet, and the scenery, views, and hiking were just spectacular. When we arrived, we took the evening to drive into Yosemite and visit Mariposa Grove, the area where many giant Sequoia trees ("Redwoods") are located. The trees are just unbelievably huge.....the biggest I have ever seen, and probably ever will see. We took some time hiking through that part of Yosemite before heading back to the hotel for the night. I spent a lot of the hiking time walking several yards behind my little sister and parents in hopes of getting some good pics of them being absolutely silly with their walking sticks.....that and doing some weird walk thingy.....yeah, you had to be there.
The next day started bright and early as we headed back into Yosemite to our first destination, Glacier Point, where pretty much the entire park can be seen from one point. It was breath-taking.....we could see several waterfalls and domes from up there. Just beautiful. From there, we drove to a trailhead and hiked to Taft Point, another less-populated but almost just as beautiful point as Glacier Point. It's less popular mostly because you can't drive to it....it must be hiked to. There, I learned what "fissures" are.....cracks or spaces. In this case, between large rocks near cliffs.....meaning that on the way to Taft Point, if you aren't careful, you can be walking along and then all of a sudden fall down a very very steep crack in the rocks. It was cool and scary at the same time. If I went up to the edge of one, I got that sick weakly feeling that most people get when they look over the edge of something really high. After taking in Taft Point, we hiked to Sentinel Dome, which was quite an accomplishment. At the top, there was snow and a cold breeze, and it was nice to just take it all in.
While in Yosemite, we also visited the valley basin, where we got up close and personal with Bridalveil Falls...enough to get wet. It was pretty sweet.
The last stop with the fam was in Lake Tahoe, which is a gorgeous place.....a blue lake surrounded by snow-topped mountains. My favorite thing to do there was go out on the pier and watch the sunset. The one thing about Lake Tahoe that I didn't really like was the commercialism on the south end (where we stayed). It's always a little sad when something so beautiful is turned into a party-touristy place. But, we got to visit other areas that were much more natural, and so that helped me get over all of the restaurants and shops and things. Also, if you ever visit South Lake Tahoe, make sure you eat at Freshies. It was AMAZING!
Anyway, I will make blog III about the solo part of the trip, which might have to end up being two posts. So, stay tuned. :) And I hope to get some pics on here sometime soon, too.
From San Francisco, we took the drive to Yosemite National Park, which might have been my favorite place from the trip. Our hotel was by far the nicest hotel yet, and the scenery, views, and hiking were just spectacular. When we arrived, we took the evening to drive into Yosemite and visit Mariposa Grove, the area where many giant Sequoia trees ("Redwoods") are located. The trees are just unbelievably huge.....the biggest I have ever seen, and probably ever will see. We took some time hiking through that part of Yosemite before heading back to the hotel for the night. I spent a lot of the hiking time walking several yards behind my little sister and parents in hopes of getting some good pics of them being absolutely silly with their walking sticks.....that and doing some weird walk thingy.....yeah, you had to be there.
The next day started bright and early as we headed back into Yosemite to our first destination, Glacier Point, where pretty much the entire park can be seen from one point. It was breath-taking.....we could see several waterfalls and domes from up there. Just beautiful. From there, we drove to a trailhead and hiked to Taft Point, another less-populated but almost just as beautiful point as Glacier Point. It's less popular mostly because you can't drive to it....it must be hiked to. There, I learned what "fissures" are.....cracks or spaces. In this case, between large rocks near cliffs.....meaning that on the way to Taft Point, if you aren't careful, you can be walking along and then all of a sudden fall down a very very steep crack in the rocks. It was cool and scary at the same time. If I went up to the edge of one, I got that sick weakly feeling that most people get when they look over the edge of something really high. After taking in Taft Point, we hiked to Sentinel Dome, which was quite an accomplishment. At the top, there was snow and a cold breeze, and it was nice to just take it all in.
While in Yosemite, we also visited the valley basin, where we got up close and personal with Bridalveil Falls...enough to get wet. It was pretty sweet.
The last stop with the fam was in Lake Tahoe, which is a gorgeous place.....a blue lake surrounded by snow-topped mountains. My favorite thing to do there was go out on the pier and watch the sunset. The one thing about Lake Tahoe that I didn't really like was the commercialism on the south end (where we stayed). It's always a little sad when something so beautiful is turned into a party-touristy place. But, we got to visit other areas that were much more natural, and so that helped me get over all of the restaurants and shops and things. Also, if you ever visit South Lake Tahoe, make sure you eat at Freshies. It was AMAZING!
Anyway, I will make blog III about the solo part of the trip, which might have to end up being two posts. So, stay tuned. :) And I hope to get some pics on here sometime soon, too.
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