It has taken a bit, but I finally am getting to this blog. It was hard to decide on which pictures to include so there are a bunch. The pictures, however, don't do justice to how beautiful it was last weekend.
We took Moria's car which was a good thing. There is no way we would have able to fit all of our camping gear, firewood, and food into the trunk of our car. Here is Moria trying to rearrange things so she could actually see out of the rear view mirror.
We've decided to make it a tradition to stop at the Sonic in Tracy on the way to Yosemite. Gotta love that Happy Hour.
We made it to our campsite in plenty of time to set up camp before dark. We stayed in
Hodgdon Meadow which was right by the entrance to the park about 25 miles from the valley. We weren't able to get reservations in the valley, but we ended up being really happy with the campsite.
Everyone made fun of my tiny lantern, but they all ended up being impressed by the amount of light it put off and we used it quite a bit.
Since we had a bear locker we weren't as confined to the amount of food we could bring. We ate in style with spaghetti, green beans, and garlic bread heated over the fire. For dessert we naturally had
s'mores. We got up fairly early on Saturday to fix breakfast so we could get to the valley to start our hike. For breakfast we had a delicious meal of bacon, eggs, toast and coffee. It is moments like these that I really enjoy car camping.
After lathering up with sunscreen we headed to the valley on our quest for waterfalls. We were in luck because it had warmed up and it was a high melt weekend.
Here is the first waterfall we saw while driving into the valley.
A beautiful view.
Here we are on our way up Happy Isles Trail towards Mist Trail and Vernal Falls.
Here we are on the steps going up Mist Trail
Vernal Falls!! It was gorgeous! I love this picture with the rainbow.
We quickly found out why they call it mist trail. The mist felt pretty good after hiking, but it was pretty cold!! Our layers went on and off quite a bit.
Here is a view of the top of Vernal Falls.
We decided this would be a good place to stop for lunch. We enjoyed the classic PB&J, beef jerky, trail mix, and apples.
Next we continued on the trail to go and see Nevada Falls which was the main inspiration for the trip. Brian has had an Ansel Adams poster of Nevada Falls in his apartment for the last couple of years and we've been dying to try and find the same place where the photo was taken.
Before making it there though Kevin wanted to give us a "senior picture" type of photo. I hope you crack up as much as I did!!
Kevin decided to take a "short cut" up the the next part of the trail, but unfortunately he got stuck on one part. He really didn't want to climb back down so we formed a human chain to get him up the last part.
Finally we made it to Nevada Falls. Words can't really describe how beautiful it was.
We did our best to try and a picture from the same spot as Ansel Adams, but after looking back at the poster we still didn't quite nail it. Oh well....
We decided to not hike up to the top of the waterfall. It would have taken us a little while and we thought it would be more fun just to head closer to the falls and goof around for a bit. With the mist and green everywhere it truly was other worldly.
You can see Kevin heading up to get even closer. His goal was to be able to touch the waterfall. I thought it would be fun to do so we made our way up closer.
We were able to get pretty close. We didn't get to touch it, but then we decided since we were covered in mist we technically had touced the waterfall. This appeased Kevin. I had a picture from even closer, but there is so much mist Kevin is blocking half of the shot to keep the mist from soaking the camera.
After we'd had our fill of Nevada Falls we headed back down. We did manage to catch a glimpse of Yosemite Falls on the way.
Once we made it down to the valley we stopped in Curry Village to take advantage of the fact there are showers there. Not bathing is the one thing I don't like about camping so I encouraged a stop in the village. It felt great to get cleaned up. There is also a small grocery store there so we grabbed some more bacon for Sunday breakfast.
Once we made it back to our campsite we got the fire going again so we could get dinner ready. That night it was
Hot dogs and Sausages, beans, rice, and more
s'mores. We mad friends with the guy camping next to us. He was camping solo while his wife and daughter were out of town. He'd been camping by himself for a few nights so I think he enjoyed the human conversation. Justin stayed for awhile so we must have been okay. When he went to bed (he was getting up early to head to Tahoe the next morning) we found out that he snores REALLY loud. Probably as much as Joseph Kent does :) We were amazed by how loud he was and had a good laugh about it. It was a good thing we met him before that or we may have been slightly annoyed. Luckily for me I found a set of earplugs in my backpack from studying days so I didn't have any trouble falling asleep.
Sunday morning was
wonderful! More coffee, bacon, breakfast sausages, and PANCAKES!! We bought the
Bisquick jug that you just add water to. It was really
convenient and tasty!!
Our camping stove we bought worked fantastic and we will definitely be using it again.
We had to make a pit stop at one of the vista points on the way home for one last group shot. It is a little crooked, but I didn't my best balancing the camera on the hood of the car.
We stopped once again in a small town (Oakdale possibly) to eat at this pizza place that we ate at on the way back from last trip. Mountain Mike's. I like the traditions we've started and I look forward to visiting Yosemite again. The waterfalls were amazing and I couldn't have asked for a better trip!
Here he is actually smiling again. On the left is James and the on the right Dennis. They are both first year graduate students and Kevin plays a lot of intramural sports with these guys. Right now they are doing softball and soccer. 
Although several of us were planning on going to the formal, it was Whitney who got emails out and suggested we all go together. She also reminded people to buy tickets before the prices went up. The night was SOOOO much fun...thanks Whitney!!
They offered free pictures which made the night seem even more prom like. I liked our picture (except the backdrop) so I thought I'd throw it in. 
