The Butterpats

California Vacation 2013 - Day 13

Goodbye California! We had a great vacation. Thank you to everyone who prayed for us and commented on our pictures!

California Vacation 2013 - Day 12

Today we sadly said goodbye to Yosemite Valley. We drove north across the park to see half dome from the other side, and found some snow in the high passes! The Sierra Nevadas then made an impassable wall on our right for hours as we travelled south toward Los Angeles. We had lunch in a little town called Bishop. We stopped at the ---- Eric Bakery and bought some bread for the plane ride tomorrow. By the time we got to our hotel in Ventura, we were worn out. Tomorrow we say goodbye to California!

We said a sad goodbye to our little camp site

Farewell to the Yosemite Valley!

We saw lots of these little fellows

Travelling East on the Tioga Road through the Yosemite wilderness

Mama loved Tenaya Lake

We finally saw the north side of Half Dome!

We ran into snow around 8000 feet elevation

The icy Tioga Lake

And yes, snowballs began to fly immediately after this photo was taken!

The road down from the Sierras was a testimony to great engineering

We finally reached the valley!

Eric Schat's Bakery in Bishop was huge and wonderful!

We saw these sheep on the way out of Bishop

The Sierras made an impenetrable, 150 mile wall to our west as we traveled down Highway 395.

We finally reached the end of the Sierra range! This is Mt. Whitney. the highest mountain in the lower 48 states at 14,505 feet.

Goodbye Sierras!

And hello, civilization! We ate dinner at Tony's Mexican Grill in Sherman Oaks, then went to our hotel to pack for tomorrow's flight.

California Vacation 2013 - Day 11

We slept so well last night! We are getting very accustomed to tent camping. Today was our day to see waterfalls! This morning we hiked two and a half miles past Vernal falls to the top of Nevada falls. The water was so powerful! It was an incredibly steep climb - an elevation change of more than 2000 feet! We then circled around to our camp. After a rest we did some more exploring and saw the lower Yosemite falls. We're a little sad that we don't have time to hike to the top of the gigantic upper Yosemite falls, but we're leaving tomorrow morning. Daddy wants to come back and spend two weeks here. We are really worn out, and tonight our can of Beefaroni tasted like a steak dinner!

Arwen does her best Ansel Adams impersonation with the above photo

The Vernal Falls dropped only 317 feet, but it was our favorite!

Mama and Daddy in front of the Nevada Fall

Nevada Fall by a huge dome. Half Dome is in the background

Even the tiny waterfalls were beautiful!

Ok Grammy, you'd better sit down. These next three photos are just for you!

Looking down the Nevada Falls

This footbridge crossed the top of the Nevada Falls

Climbing to the Falls

The Silver Apron was a huge water slide that ran into the Emerald Pool.

A video of the Silver Apron

Another look at Bridalveil Fall

Yosemite Falls

California Vacation 2013 - Day 10

After breakfast at the ranch house, we crossed the national park boundary into Yosemite. It was unspectacular at first. We had seen plenty of trees so we skipped the sequoia groves and went straight up to Glacier Point. Through the trees at the top we caught our first glimpse of half dome, and realized that we were someplace very special. After staring at the best mountaintop views we have ever seen, we drove down into the valley itself. Everything here is beautiful. Every where you look seems like a postcard. We set camp and hiked up to Mirror Lake before sunset.

Complimentary breakfast at the Sierra Sky Ranch!

Our first view of Half Dome!

Daddy's beard is getting longer...

Half Dome on the left, Nevada Falls on the right

We made a friend!

The Merced River: Nevada Falls is 594 feet high. Below it, the Vernal Falls drops 317 feet.

On the eastern end of the valley it the Yosemite Falls. It falls a total of 2424 feet, the fifth highest in the world. Upper Yosemite falls itself is 1430 feet.