Yosemite

Exactly one week ago today Jake and I were in Yosemite National Park. Jake had been wanting to go there for a while so our trip to California became the perfect opportunity to "swing" by. We camped there on Tuesday night and then saved up Wednesday to do some exploring. I'm not going to lie, it was a little more difficult to pack for our little camp out on top of the packing we were doing for the rest of the trip but we made it work. 

The view as we drove in

 

Yes, I like pictures of us kissing

 The temperature was a lot cooler then in the rest of the state and because of that we decided we would just sleep in the car. It seemed reasonable at the time and it did save us space in the car from not having to pack a tent but I don't know if it's something we would do again. We drove Jake's little Honda Civic so we put the backseat down and scrunched our feet into the trunk. It was an experience for sure and we had some good laughs as we tossed and turned trying to get comfortable. 

The BEFORE bed

The AFTER. As you can see, not the best nights sleep.

Thinking ahead I had zipped two sleeping bags together before we left SLC hoping that the body heat from both of us would help to keep us even warmer. I still believe it would have worked but unfortunately water from the cooler spilled all over one of the bags on the way there. We didn't discover the problem till we arrived in the park and with the sun setting I was worried it was going to be a disastrous night. As we were unpacking the car, and getting the fire going our neighbor to the left of us who was staying in a camper came out to greet us. After we chatted she said in a bit of a stern voice "If you are going to get cold you best tell me now. We have plenty of blankets but we go to bed quite early". She had no idea about our wet sleeping bag but her offer turned out to be an answer to prayer. With her warm "Sun" blanket as she called it, we actually did quite well on the warm front. We were so thankful for her offer to help two strangers whom she had never met. 

The next morning we woke up and finally got a glimpse of the beautiful river that we slept by. After taking these pictures we realized how creepy I look in my big black Sister missionary coat.

Creeper ?

Jake had wanted to hike to the top of half dome which is 14 miles round trip but they had taken the "chains" down a few weeks earlier since the seasons had gotten cooler. So we decided to hike instead to the top of Nevada Falls. It was perfect for me, and it gave us a chance to see a few more fun things in the park as well. I love my husband and I am so thankful for his love of National Parks. I had never been to Yosemite before but it is a trip we will definitely make again. It was beyond beautiful! 

On our way up the mountain. As you can see it was cold and yes I look a little funny wearing a beanie

Half way there. Beginning to see the falls

If you look close... How beautiful is that!

We found this beautiful lake at the top of our Hike. No one was around and the waters were so quite

The over look at the top of the falls

I was amazed by the majesty of the Sequoias. They were my favorite.
We hiked to a few before we left the Park.

Back in the days of the Model T, cars use to drive through this tree tunnel.

Fallen yet still magical

This was our favorite tree. We used Jake's fancy panoramic camera feature to capture the whole thing.

In the end we felt as if we had conquered the park.