Monday, July 24, 2017

Yosemite!

 At 19 months, Seth finally decided to start sleeping through the night. I took away his pacifier one night. He slept great. I took away his white noise the next night. Still slept great. After about a week, I took away his bottle. He's been a champ. That was a lot less painful than I had anticipated. Thank goodness!!

Sleeping through the night + no white noises needed = time to go camping!!

Why does every random stranger stink at taking pictures?!
Thank goodness for self-timing cameras and a husband who knows how to use the focus.
Despite living in Northern California his whole life, Isaiah had never been to Yosemite, and neither had I, so we finally went and checked that off our bucket list. We camped right near the entrance to Yosemite Park on Tuesday night, and woke up early Wednesday to drive into the valley to sight-see and hike. There was a deer in the meadow behind our tent. We made peach cobbler in our dutch oven. Evan got a new mummy bag so Seth could use Evan's Planes sleeping bag. Seth chose not to use the sleeping bag, but rather just use a blanket. Dada took up more than his share of the tent so Mama was squished and didn't sleep well. We were all up sometime around 5:30.

Our first stop was Glacier Point, an overlook of the Yosemite Valley. There was almost nobody up there when we first arrived, and the view with the sun rising was awesome. 


Half-dome on the right
Yosemite Falls on the left
People, learn to focus a camera on the PEOPLE!!
Our first "hike" (1000 ft walk with a slight incline) was to Bridle Veil Falls. It was a little cold and misty at the photo op spot. We enjoyed people watching. Lots of Asians and selfie sticks blocking your view. Truthfully, though, it wasn't as crowded as we have been told it can get. We were lucky we could go mid-week and use handicap parking. I definitely recommend each of those whenever you go to a National Park. (By the way, we just got an access pass for Evan which gives him--or the car he's in--free access to all National Parks. Booyah Spina Bifida!)




We went to the visitor's center, museum, shops, and had some lunch. Then we took the stroller on another "hike" (a solid 1/2 mile this time) to Lower Yosemite Falls. We knew we'd be a little limited this time with kids and a stroller, so all the while Isaiah was plotting what hikes he wants to do when we go back without the kids (Upper Yosemite Falls, Half Dome...). On the way down the trail we stopped and took our shoes off to wade in the river and throw sticks and mud. Evan and I also stacked rocks in the goblin valley.



The kids slept on the way home and we were back before dinner. Seth's first camping trip is in the books! I'm ready to do it again.