Tuesday, August 6, 2024

Trip to Yosemite National Park

Yosemite has always been on my bucket list, and a couple of months ago I was looking randomly for available rooms in the park and one day I saw a room with a king size bed available for August 6th and 7th which is when Wendy celebrates her birthday.  I booked the room which was located at the Yosemite Valley Lodge and planned the trip.  Yesterday, August 5th, we drove to Caz and Ashley's home to stay the night.  This morning we were up at 5:00 a.m. to drive to the airport.  We parked in the garage at the airport - which is probably the last time we will do that - too expensive!  We flew from Salt Lake City to San Jose, California on Delta arriving about 9:00 a.m.  We rented a car from Alamo and drove to Yosemite National Park.  Along the way we stopped for lunch in the city of Manteca, and we ate at Ono Hawaiian BBQ.  We picked up some chocolates at See's Candy before hitting the road again.  It was kind of a long drive, and the day was hot.  We stopped to admire the view of Don Pedro Reservoir and then the road made a dramatic steep climb up the mountain with several sharp switchbacks.  We drove through Groveland, which is a unique mountain town, and then stopped at the park entrance to take a picture.  Then we stopped at a view point on Big Oak Flat road for our first amazing view of El Capitan and Half Dome.  We stopped at El Capitan and Bridal Veil Falls before finding our way to Yosemite Valley Lodge.  We checked into our room and had dinner at the Lodge food court.  After dinner we drove up the valley towards Half Dome and then back to our room.  I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the place.

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