Back from the Mountains

Thanks for hanging in there with me while I was gone in Yosemite with my family and my uncle and aunt. The hotel where we were staying did not have local dial-up service and the "high-speed" wireless was for shit (my uncle bought it and I tried it), especially since they were charging $10/day. So, I barely got to check any e-mail, let alone make any blog posts.

Getting to Yosemite on Sunday was a breeze. No LA traffic to contend with and we didn't get stuck behind any trucks on the way up the mountain. So, we made the 280 mile trip (with a lunch stop) in about 4 hours and 15 minutes. Earlier in the day my aunt and uncle made the obligatory stops in the valley floor (Glacier Point, Bridalveil Falls, Lower Yosemite Falls, etc) so we met them at the hotel in the afternoon. Being a trooper on the way earned the HB some pool time and my uncle and I got to hike to a waterfall behind the hotel. This was our first indication that the drought in LA extended to the Sierra Nevada in that there wasn't nearly as much water in the creek as last year. We went to a decent local place for Mexican food and stopped in a market for some food basics for the next few days.

The next day we headed out on Highway 120 (Tioga Pass) to the north part of the valley. We hadn't been that way before and we didn't feel any great need to battle the crowds in the valley. We saw redwoods in Tuolumne Grove then went to Olmsted Point. Needless to say, this was spectacular.



The next day, my uncle and I went on the BIG HIKE to the top of Chilnualna Falls. We chose a hike on this side of the valley rather than the other because when he and my aunt were at Glacier Point they said that the falls were better on that side. It was a great day for hiking and the journey was almost a great as the destination. When we got to the top we found what I would like to think was a Miwok jacuzzi.




And, some spectacular vistas.




When we got back from the hike we had some great news. The HB had lost a tooth!




We didn't have big plans the last day, but my wife had the shits and bad stomach (that continued our sex drought when we got back). She was feeling so crummy that we got a late check out so the imodium had a chance to work for the drive home.

But, everyone had a good time and my uncle wants to hike the eastern portion of the park in the fall. We'll see.