Sunday, August 23, 2009

Day 61: Sacramento to Yosemite National Park

Our hotel room was so comfortable, we had a bit of trouble motivating this morning. We weren't too terribly lazy, though, as we made it to Yosemite National Park around lunchtime. After eating lunch and setting up our campsite in Crane Flat, we hit the road to check out the park.

Our first stop was the Tuolomne Giant Sequoia Grove. I think we all agreed that the sequoia grove wasn't as impressive as the redwood groves we visited in Northern CA. We also agreed that the 1+ mile hike back up to the car wasn't terribly fun. My legs were still a bit sore and the 6,500 feet of elevation was more than my lungs could easily handle. Ron definitely worked the most as he was a softy and carried Elli on his shoulders for at least half the climb.

We then headed for a driving tour of Yosemite Valley which did not disappoint in the least. To the contrary, we wished we had spent more time in the Valley and skipped the sequoia grove. The views of El Capitan and Half Dome and all the other granite monoliths were incredibly majestic and breathtaking. As Ron said, it was like seeing one Devil's Tower after another. Simply astounding.

After we finally picked up our jaws from the floor, we drove back to our campground and prepared dinner. We made up for Jonah's backpacking culinary disappointment and roasted hot dogs on the fire and cooked macaroni cheese. Elli abstained from the hot dogs as she was having a vegetarian day (except for the turkey lunch meat she ate earlier in the day). I think the kids favorite part of the evening was lying on their backs looking at all the stars. We have a pretty spectacular night sky in the Berkshires, but it pales in comparison to Yosemite's. Jonah kept pointing out different constellations to Elli which was pretty cute. If I'd paid any attention in my college astronomy course, I could've even told him if he was right.

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