YOSEMITE

A few things we learned... #1 Dramamine apparently actually works and we made it into the valley with no sickness - YAY, #2 - it can snow in California in June too, #3 we can certainly have bad luck but know how to make the most of it.

The weather report for Saturday was 50% chance of showers and for Sunday 70% chance of thunderstorms so we decided to make the most of our day Saturday despite the constant drizzle before the storms rolled in.

It had snowed in the ridge the night before we arrived and we had heard that the waterfalls were flowing the most they have in 50 years due to the amount of snow in the mountains. Just past the tunnel of the ride in, we made it to one of the first viewing areas of the valley. Madi and Drew were AMAZED and COLD! I really thought San Francisco would be the coolest portion of our trip and packed according to that. Yosemite was warm each time we went the summer we lived in California... who knew it would be 46 degrees -- add the constant rain and dampness to that and we were downright chilled!

Our first stop was a very short hike to Bridalveil Falls. As we neared the Falls, you couldn't see anything, the water coming off of it was so heavy, we were getting soaked and couldn't see. The pictures we took do not do this waterfall justice but we know it is there!

Madi, Drew and Marty as close to the Falls as they could get...

All of us wih the Falls in the background... it is really hard to see as we are off the base of it quite a bit.

Further into the valley, we were able to see Upper Yosemite Falls... we told the kids we went to the top of that one the last time we were here. They were glad we weren't planning to go again!

A view back in the other direction.

After lunch, we were in the area where you could see both Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls... Upper Yosemite is hidden behind a cloud in this picture but it is behind there somewhere!

The big one for the day... Mist Trail to the top of Vernal Falls. 3 miles round trip with a climb of 1000 feet!

At the bridge about half way up... we were already slightly tired and the hard part was yet to come... After this bridge came over 600 uneven, steep, and very wet steps...

Making our way up some of the easier steps when my attention could be diverted for a few kodak moments!

We were pretty soaked by this point! The waterfall was spraying so much, it put the constant rain shower to shame!

We made it!!!!! Madi hiked the entire way up by herself without being carried. Drew had to do the hard part by himself as the rocks are not safe to be carried on! Seriously very proud of both of the for sticking it out -- so many people told them how impressed they were on the way back down! The total trip took up two and a half hours which seemed like really good time!

Coming back down was quite challenging as the rocks were extremely slippery... We made it with very few minor slips while being completely drenched while walking that was -- for some reason when we went to wring out Drew's socks a bit, I had a problem not slipping while standing still! Leave it to me!

Since we were already soaked, we decided to catch the shuttle at the base of the trail and head to the Mirror Lake trail... a much less intensive 2 mile hike to a place we thought would look beautiful. We tredged our sopping wet, freezing cold selves all the way to this....

DISAPPOINTMENT!

There was nothing exciting about Mirror Lake... maybe it was just the weather but it was so not worth the hour hike to it in the misting rain... Most people kept standing there asking if that was the spot -- apparently we were not the only disappointed ones.

After the way back... we ventured back to the gift shop to buy dry sweatshirts. As much as we wanted to continue on, we were completely chilled and ready to get into the heat of the car and soak ourselves in the hot tub back at the hotel!

Heading to Yosemite

Much to my delight, the best route to the Yosemite area out of San Francisco was over the Bay Bridge. In case anyone desires to know... that bridge is really long and really high and I really, really dislike being on bridges!!! The drive was pretty eventless heading into the middle of nowhere! Poor Madi ended up sick about 35 minutes from Tenaya Lodge where we were staying. If she had waited about 5 more minutes she could have graced the same parking lot with her heaving as I did after our first Yosemite trip but she didn't quite hold out that long! I don't understand how we never quite remember how windy the roads are when we go places. Our forgetful memory is always at Madi's expense.

We arrived at the Tenaya Lodge to a wood burning campfire outside the lobby -- it smelled great and very fitting , the area was very scenic and the hotel had a very woodsy feel to it, got checked in to our room, ordered Room Service and went out into the chilly air to visit the pool and hot tub. After the hot tub, we visited the gift shop for Dramamine -- we had smartened up a bit in preparation of the ride the next day.

Leaving San Francisco

So we managed to do most everything we wanted in San Francisco. The cable cars were in for repair so we missed out on that. After swimming in the morning and then checking out, we headed out to the wharf and pier 39 for a little longer and then we hit the road for Yosemite....

The ever so famous Fisherman's Wharf sign...

Heading to Pier 39 to see the sea lions again (they were feistier in the afternoon with fights breaking out all over!), crepes (again... we are creatures of habit) and a few more shops.

Our own cute sea lions.

Side note: Drew was really excited to show off his San Francisco Giants "gear" from t-ball. He was really proud to show people and excited when they noticed it!

Busy Day in San Francisco

We had an ambitious day planned in San Francisco. We were going to turn these small city kids into big city kids by introducing them to the art of walking everywhere! We took off from the hotel headed to Coit Tower.

This was about 6 blocks into our journey with Coit Tower in the background. The hills in San Francisco made the walking a little more challenging but it would prove to be good training for Yosemite hikes...
These were the final steps leading up to Coit Tower and this would be where Drew spent most of his walking time.

The view from the Coit Tower parking area. There were some great views of the city from there and up in Coit Tower too. Of course, it started to rain up in the tower so we didn't pull out the camera.

Fortunately the rain had subsided by the time we made it back down and we caught a couple more pictures before leaving for Chinatown.

We walked to the Chinatown entrance, getting souviniers along the way and more on the way back with a few snacks mixed in the middle.

From Chinatown we took a walk to the bottom of Lombard Street. Despite heading to the bottom of the street there was quite a bit of uphill trekking. Madi was such a trooper -- she was cruising along even when I was ready to take a break. We had fun watching the cars come down the windy road and the kids couldn't wait to drive down it themselves.
Fortunately the hotel was not far from Lombard Street and mostly downhill. We made our way back, went for a swim and then off again to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge. Though it would be cool to walk across the bridge, I am too terrified of that so we drove which pretty much is nervewracking for me as well.

Across the bridge, it was FREEZING as usual and WINDY as usual! We didn't last long...

Back over the bridge and our turn to drive down the winding Lombard Street. They made me stand out the sunroof of the car for these pictures. Pretty sure everyone around probably thought I was crazy... Hope the pictures turned out better for my efforts!

After parking the car back at the hotel, we left for some more fun down by the Wharf and Pier 39. Marty wanted street vendor food so we headed there first. Madi couldn't handle the seafood smell so I tried to keep her in open air... We sat to eat and then a sea lion came to visit the fishing boat nearby in search of some fish. No luck for him from the fisherman but we had some "fried" treats for him and the seagulls. From the wharf, we went to visit the Pier 39 sea lions. They must have been tired and pretty much laid around sleeping. Off to some shopping, crepes and hot chocolate before heading to the aquarium. After taking our time through the 2 tunnels, we headed to the exciting part... the touch pools. The kiddos enjoyed touching the sharks, bat rays, star fish and anemones.

The final thing Marty wanted out of the day was a charcoal drawn picture of Madi and Drew... After almost giving up, we found someone on the side of the street. After patient sitting, the drawing was complete and it was off to Rainforest Cafe for dinner. Don't worry -- even after stuffing ourselves there we of course managed to get our ice cream at the Chocolate Shoppe next door so we could shiver a little more on our walk home. We are creatures of habit you know?!

San Francisco

The drive to San Francisco didn't take too long but after the long flight, the kiddos were ready to get some energy out. We checked in and went straight to the pool. Madi and Drew had a blast swimming and hanging out in the hot tub. It was a chilly 50 degree day -- thank goodness the pool was heated!
After playing in the pool for awhile. We headed out for dinner. Our hotel was just a couple of blocks from Fisherman's Wharf so we headed out for a walk to find dinner. We decided to be nostalgic and eat dinner at Tarantino's which is the very first place we ever ate in San Francisco. We were able to watch the sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge from our table and had a view of the "Bush Man" to entertain us. The "Bush Man" entertained us and Marty's dad many a year ago in the same spot -- it is good to know some things never change.

After dinner, we hit the Chocolate Shoppe and had some homemade ice cream that we ate and shivered with on the way back to our room.

First Vacation of the Summer...

Our first vacation of the summer is being coupled with Marty's conference for work in San Jose, CA. Since San Jose was home for us 11 years ago, we decided to head out a few days early and catch some of the places we remember visiting long ago. We flew into San Jose and were so excited to be back near the mountain and welcomed the cooler air in California. First stop for vacation... Target apparently! Most of our travel within the US is to Wisconsin where my parents keep car seats for the kiddos. Totally forgot to bring car seats out here and it was somewhat a necessity. It was about half the cost to purchase the car seats than it was to rent them so off to Target we went to pick up a couple of car seats and a few other random things while we were there! Then it was off to San Francisco where the air temperature just got cooler....

Addicted to Wii...

Saying that Drew loves the Wii is somewhat of an understatement at times. He usually goes in waves where he is addicted to a game on the Wii and wants to play the minute he walks into the house. This was during one of those waves where he wanted to play from morning til night. He was on the Mario Sports Mix kick and he totally was playing this in his sleep. This picture does not do justice the buttons and movements he was still making with the remote after he drifted off to sleep.