Yosemite Valley, Here We Come! (week 546)

It was an awesome week in Yosemite Valley with many of my friends from Patrick Henry and the Carfax neighborhood.  We biked, hiked, played the game of Sorry, and swam (at least a little bit because the Merced River was closed due to high tides and fast currents), and had a fantastic time. The weather was just about as perfect as you can get in the low 80s during the day and the 60s at night.  There weren't many bugs, but there were bears, deer, birds, raccoons, and squirrels everywhere trying to steal our food!  One of my favorite parts was to watch our own tent-squirrel try many different routes to get into our eating area to try and steal snacks.  We threw water at him, clapped our hands, and yelled; but, he just kept coming back!

This year we stayed in Housekeeping with the Dahduls, Hubers, Ranshaws, Armstrongs, Hodgsons, and many more new friends from the El Dorado Park Estates and Carfax neighborhoods.  We played a ton of baseball under the trees, built rock towers, and went back-and-forth from the camp store to get treats with money we could win or persuade our parents to give us.  We didn't shower much (I think once in 6 days), but it was a super great time and we were sad to leave on Saturday.   We also made the big hike to the top of Vernal Falls along the Mist Trail.  This was a big deal because Chris made it all the way at age 7, which is sooner than I did it at age 8 with Jackson a few years ago.  

It was a wonderful trip because we got to ride bikes on trails we never visited before.  In the mornings, I would ride with mom or dad to get coffee, newspapers, or to just explore the Valley.  The only drawback was that we all had restless sleep at night (even though we were tired) because there were so many animals in the park trying to break into food containers and tents.

The good news is that we will be back in three weeks!  This year, we scheduled two trips to Yosemite; or, at least one trip to the Valley in June to stay in Housekeeping with friends; and, one trip to Summerdale in July to stay with family.