Yosemite: part 1

Update 5.13: Okay, I'm so mad. Blogger has been "down" for the last day or so and it appears that although I posted this with photos, and it was up as posted yesterday, today it has reverted to an earlier draft. Grrrrr. I might be able to fix it after I return from our weekend sojourn to see Nana.

Since Grace's birthday fell on Mother's Day and Steve has been working insanely much, we thought it would be the ideal weekend to head to Yosemite. Steve and Grace had been talking about the trip for weeks, and Grace was ready to see "wafaws!" (waterfalls, not be confused with wafos which are waffles), but didn't want to see any "beeers" (bears).

We headed up Saturday morning, and Grace was a trooper about the four hour car trip. Steve and I had been there only once before, camping in the snow in March, and while I remembered being amazed, I had forgotten how overwhelming that first view of the valley is. We parked and headed up to Lower Yosemite Falls. My ankle had been sore in anticipation of the weekend, and going back almost to the scene of the "walk it off" incident only increased the pain (I broke my ankle on the Upper Falls trail in 2006, leading to a second break a few months later and the bad summer of crutches and fall of PT). Eventually we made it, around an hour and half a mile later because Grace needed to inspect every insect and twig and didn't believe in staying on the path at all. So chilly and windy at the base of the falls that we couldn't even get any pictures (the spray will soak you). But an otherwise gorgeous day.

After a picnic we headed up the trail to Vernal and Nevada Falls. We hadn't been to that part of the park before, and although the trail was packed, it was really incredible. Nevada Falls comes out of the side of a rock face. Grace slept for 20 minutes and woke up way too soon, but she loved hiking down herself, spotting squirrels, climbing on rocks and learning about tree skin (bark). It was in the 70s, so after the hike we trekked over to Curry Village for Grace's first popsicle. She was totally a fan.

We headed south on to Wawona where we were staying. By the time we got there, it was an hour to bedtime and a 45 minute wait for the only restaurant, the fine dining room in the hotel. Against our better judgment, we decided to risk it since we were hungry (restaurants, especially linen tablecloth, candlelight restaurants are not currently part of our repertoire). But, despite only a 20 minute nap, Grace was perfect. She learned to drink from a goblet, enjoyed an early birthday book, and ate a giant bowl of fries. She was an angel and you would think she dined in high style every night for her behavior. We were thrilled and amazed and holding our breaths the whole time. We headed over to our cozy room and crashed.

All the pictures here.