Despite last year’s pinky promise to not return to Yosemite
for our annual camping trip, unless we had big winter rains to ensure strong
waterfall and river flow, we made our way back to the (now very dry) valley floor
this week. What can I say – the place has puullll. Several winters of light rains have really begun to take its toll on our state, but despite the lack of
brilliant, natural water features, there were still some great highlights – our adventure included friends (a first), we
celebrated the now nine-year-old’s birthday, and we took in a great play. We also mixed things up quite a bit by opting to camp in Curry Village, something we will not do again. More on that in my next post.
Above, some of our party took a rest under a rock that would normally be underwater if Yosemite Falls was in full force. You can see it was nothing but a wet wall in the background.
Thankfully there was still a little life left in parts of the Merced, but we had to shelf our plans to raft until next year...or the following. The whole rafting business was completely closed down. The water only went a couple feet deep which actually worked great for the little kids.
One of our greatest Yosemite memories was this day, on Mirror Lake, two years ago. We haven't seen it filled with water since. This week, the lake was nothing more than a puddle, and the lower lake, a desert. The six kids made the most of it. When all else fails, a good game of Zombie Apocalypse can keep them running for hours!
You can't go to Yosemite without stopping for a drink or meal at the Ahwahnee Hotel. We barely got our tired selves there for lunch on our last day, but once we did it was so worth the effort and cost. To accommodate our large party of ten, the restaurant's management gave us TWO tables - kids at one, adults at the other. For over an hour we had total calm, cool air, well-behaved children and delicious, warm food.