Two weeks ago I went to one of my favorite places in the world. My kids all wanted to go on a family camping trip together, so we met in Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite. Tuolumne Meadows is the first place Larry and I ever vacationed together, and we would take our kids camping there almost every summer. I hadn't been there in a very long time. It was wonderful.
My alarm clock the first morning was someone banging on the bear box (a big metal box with a bear-proof lock that we kept our food in) and shouting. My daughter and her boyfriend had caught a bear getting into a bag we had overlooked when we locked up our food the night before. The bear went straight up the nearest tree. I went back to sleep :) , but they made a fire and watched the bear up in the tree for about an hour. That same bear made an appearance every day we were there, usually preceeded by lots of banging and shouting. I was never quick enough (or awake enough) to take her picture. I did get a shot of the claw marks she left on the tree.
We hiked along the river.
And found our favorite swimming hole.
The friends they brought along were Yosemite rookies, so we drove down to the Valley and hiked up to Vernal Falls. I don't remember the hike being so hard--1.5 miles/1000 feet elevation gain one way (but then, as my doctor likes to tell me, I have a few more candles on my birthday cake). We trudged our way to the top and it was lots of fun.
We taught the two newbies how to play Nertz. Of course, they loved it and were soon beating us at OUR game.I got in a little bit of knitting, too!
We all had so much fun, we're planning to make it an annual trip!
Down on the Tuolumne,
down on the Tuolumne,
You will find,
you will find,
The rangers heat the water,
the rangers heat the water,
Ha, ha, ha,
Ha, ha, ha!
