Errands and Yosemite…

We said goodbye to Jen this morning as we headed began our trip back to the east coast. Before we left Redwood city, we took care of some errands, including an oil change, some grocery shopping, and a Starbucks run. After that, we hit the road and headed to Yosemite National Park.

On the way, we stopped for lunch at the Priest Station Cafe in Big Oak Flat, California. I had a turkey sandwich and Kendra got the french dip. The food was good, but the panoramic views of the mountains around us were incredible! We ate outside, watching hummingbirds buzz by, and enjoyed the peaceful surroundings.

Despite not having campsite reservations at Yosemite, we managed to snag a beautiful site at the White Wolf Campground on Tioga Road. After setting up our tent, we headed down to Yosemite Valley. We stopped to make a quick hike to Bridalveil Falls, and then played in the mud at the Swinging Bridge picnic grounds. Addison tried to catch the ducks!

Because it was getting late, we quickly stopped in the Visitor’s Center for a trail map, ate some pizza and salad at Yosemite Village, and headed back to our campsite. It was a beautiful 50 minute ride as we watched the sun setting over the valley and the stars begin to pop into the sky.

We were absolutely shocked when we returned to our site and found an RV parked there! Because we had not put our payment stub onto the campsite marker, a ranger had told a family from Quebec that they could take our site, even though our tent was set up and we’d already paid. Luckily, they were friendly, and we agreed to share the site for two nights as we all had plenty of room. Tomorrow we are getting up early to hike!