sunday yosemite

6:43am – left guy smiley¹
8am – ate “breakfast” at jack in the box in some city whose name i don’t remember
10:30am – paid the few dollars it takes to enter Yosemite national park
11am – first stop: bridalveil falls. huge roaring! got pretty wet when we hiked up there. said hi to the rock we took a picture on last year, but there was no way we could clamber onto it this year–it was totally wet and the wind was too strong.
11:30am – parked in the day use parking lot, got on the free hybrid bus. it’s remarkably quiet, new, clean, and has great air-conditioning. it was also always packed.
11:55am – got off at vernal falls. went up. i don’t know how long it took to get to the bridge, but it was about a 1.8mi uphill hike through forest and dirt. the view of vernal falls from the bridge is spectacular! the bridge goes across the river at some distance from the base of the falls. Mist Trail, which starts near the bridge, leads up to the top of vernal falls. the last 0.3 mi of that trail is extremely difficult. there were steps cut into the granite, and you walk right alongside the falls, and get completely soaked. not even joking. you turn a corner and all of a sudden it’s like you’re swimming through the air and there’s a small river flowing down the steps, and you pass by everybody and scream in delight and exclaim that we’re all crazy. it’s so much fun. my dad didn’t want to go, but i dragged him. the whole way up he said “don’t go hiking with judy, she’ll make you do crazy things!” when we got up to the top, it was dry and sunny–it was a beautiful day, there was one cloud in the sky, and when you weren’t being poured on by waterfall mist it was pretty balmy–you could see emerald lake, the pool just before the waterfall, and you could go right up to where the water rushes over the precipice. there were railings like 2 feet from the edge–it’s truly a wonder to behold. my jeans were completely soaked from mist trail and remained so for the next six hours. at the top, there’s a big sloping piece of granite to sun yourself on, so your hair dries off and stuff, but it’s futile because you know you’re going to get completely drenched again on the way down. it’s so much fun, though. what a fun hike.
3ish pm – got on the bus to go to yosemite lodge (not village). lodge is the one pretty close to yosemite falls, and is the one with the cafeteria.
4pm – ate food. annie had spaghetti (which is what all four of us got last year). dad and i both got a salmon burger (which was cheap because it was really small) and ray got a grilled chicken burger. i put ice in my hydration pack.
4:30ish – walked from the lodge to yosemite falls. hiked up to the base of yosemite falls. very pretty. lots of rushing water. stood alone at the bridge across the river at the base and leaned into the wind (it was very strong) and mist (it was also very strong). at the end, clambered up to that rock that you always have to climb up at the beginning of the trail. you know what i’m talking about.
can’t remember, but probably around 5 or 5:30 – got back on the bus to go back to the day use parking lot. it was a long way because the bus route loops through everything before going back to the village (which is where we got off to walk the short distance to the day use parking lot). behind us was a guy in a suit and a salmon-colored tie who was going to his best friend’s wedding out on the lawn near ahwanee hotel, with yosemite falls in the background. it must have been beautiful. he said it was a $30,000 wedding cuz they had to put up the older relatives for $500 a night in the ahwanee and stuff, and they were from around monterey/pacifica. what a place to have a wedding!
around 6? – started driving home. we skipped glacier point this time cuz my dad was dead tired. we also skipped stopping at el cap to watch the climbers, though we did see others standing in the field pointing up at the massive granite face.
around 8? – ate at kfc in some town. my dad said “i’ve been eating healthy for so long… and today, i’m eating kfc??? sigh” hehe
around 10 – stuck in traffic on 120. looooots of traffic. at around 11 we passed the road construction that made our four-line side of the highway into a 2-laner. sad. but we did go through a bunch of movie soundtracks. we love movie soundtracks. we ended with my sister’s simon and garfunkel compilation cds.
11:55 – got back home. when we were getting off the car ray said “we better get in the house quick–five minutes ’til this isn’t a one-day trip anymore!”

=)

¹We call our house guy smiley, after the occasional sesame street character (i believe he was a news anchor), because once when my brother was like 5, he said “bye guy smiley!” to our house as we were leaving for some kind of road trip.