Yosemite Update Part II

We had car troubles today and instead of heading to the Grand Canyon we decided to stop over in Flagstaff to have a mechanic check everything out tomorrow.  We spent some time today praying to make it where we were going and praising God that we made!  Fortunately, we are pretty sure that the car trouble will be a fairly easy (and inexpensive) fix... for some reason the RV didn't really appreciate driving in the 110 degree heat, up hill!

So, here we are in Flagstaff at a KOA with internet so I thought since it wasn't so late and I had a little more patience tonight I'd give uploading pictures another try :)

So, here's a little re-cap of our last week:

Day 1 Friday

We left home and headed towards Mt. Shasta for the night. 

Interestingly, while we were on I-5 we caught up to the group from Dayton CC and Adventure CC on their way to Mexico.  They were supposed to have left two hours before we did but I don't think we were driving that fast so they must have gotten a late start.

Day 2 Saturday

Saturday morning we got up and took what would be our last shower for the next five days!!!  

We went to Adventure Christian Church in California on Saturday night and then finished off the night with burgers at Red Robin.  After dinner we drove a really windy, narrow road to some little town near Yosemite and camped over-night in a Wal-Mart parking lot.

Day 3 Sunday

We made out way to the Dimond O campground just outside of Yosemite.  My parents joined us that night.

Day 4 Monday

Thankfully, my parents brought their van so we all piled in and drove down into Yosemite to do some exploring.  We decided to hike a 3 mile round trip to Mirror Lake.  Well, we saw several signs for the lake but somehow ended up on the wrong trail and started hiking up and up and up.  We realized we were hiking up to the view point for Vernal Falls.  Once we got there Sadie was pretty pooped out so she and Grandma hiked back down to go play cards.  Erik, Curtis, my dad and I continued to hike to the top of the falls.  The trail was actually not too long in miles but it was really steep and mostly just stair stepped stones 12-18 inches high.  It was pretty hard and we are choosing to blame how tired and worn out we felt on the fact that we live at 350 ft. elevation and the falls was over 3,300 ft. elevation.  Once we got to the top the view was really pretty and we were all glad we went.

 

While at Yosemite Erik and I had really wanted to get permits to climb Half Dome.  We had previously applied for the lottery to get permits but didn't get them.  We were going to try to get permits the day of but, that initial hike up to Vernal falls made me realize I really wasn't in good enough shape to do something as major as Half Dome.  

Day 5 Tuesday

Today we just hung out at the campground, enjoyed the river and played games.

Sadie loved the game "Curses"... here she is pretending to swat mosquitos and scratch her armpit like an ape at the same time. Each player had to do some crazy stuff on their turn or even in between turns.  My mom ended up talking like a witch for most of the game, Curtis had to talk like Scooby Doo but with a french accent and I had to use sign language and rhyme all my words.

Day 6 Wednesday

Hiked around the Reservoir at Hetch Hetchy.  This is a major water source for most of San Francisco so the water was only for looking... no swimming!  On the five mile hike we found signs of bear (another hiker saw two), ate the berries that bears eat (a ranger showed us the right ones) and had a picnic by a small waterfall.

This was also the Fourth of July so we bbq'd hot dogs but couldn't celebrate with fireworks.  :(

Day 7 Thursday

We drove back down into the Yosemite Valley and hiked lots of little hikes.  We saw Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite Falls and Mirror Lake (which turned out to be Mirror Meadow).  The best part of the day is that we all paid $5 each to go swimming and then take showers.  That was probably the best $5 ever!  To top the day off we sat in an air conditioned restaurant for ice cream.  

Thursday morning Erik suggested we all re-write Psalms 103 in our own words.  To finish off the day we sat around the fire and read our own versions of that Psalms.  It was neat to see how the six of us all had different takes on that chapter.

Day 8 Friday

My parents left and we packed up to get ready to leave bright and early the next morning.

Day 9

We drove the RV down through Yosemite on our way to Las Vegas.  We were hot and tired when we arrived in Vegas.  But, we had the promise of showers and dinner at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill.  Unfortunately, the RV was having issues so we canceled our reservations and started making other plans.  Then, after a call with a friend of Erik's dad he got the RV back on the road, made reservations again and barely made it to dinner by 8:00.  Dinner was amazing!  After leaving the restaurant we stepped outside right as the delayed 4th of July fireworks show started.  I've seen a lot of fireworks but I don't think I've ever seen one that huge.  It was pretty neat.  

And, that pretty much wrapped up our night in Vegas.  We headed back to the RV to watch movies and do laundry.  Good times!

Day 10

We went to Canyon Ridge Church in Las Vegas and then headed out of Nevada into Arizona.  The KOA is our home for the night.  We are watching episodes of Psyche and baking chocolate chip cookies. 

Next Stop -- Grand Canyon.