July 21, 2013 - Sunday

Today, we woke up a little after 6 AM to get to Yosemite. The owner of this KOA told us if you wait until 8:30 or 9 AM, you might as well forget it, because it will be near impossible to find a spot. We got there at a good time. Chris and I just wanted to check out the park today to decide where we'd spend more time tomorrow. He and I ended up at the Mariposa Sequoia Grove first. This ended in a five mile walk to see a bunch of sequoias, two of which were sequoias with tunnels for cars to drive through years ago. Some of these trees are about 2,000 years old. They are resistant to fire and bugs because of their thick bark and the tannins in the bark that is yucky for termites/ants/etc.

These trees are part of the Redwood family. However, they are chunkier Redwoods. They have a redder bark and some can be 15-20 feet in diameter. I still feel the Redwoods were more impressive. Chris and I felt like ants in a forest next to the Redwoods. We decided the reason for this was because there were many more Redwoods in a row. There was a prescribed Sequoia fire here in 2000 and many of the smaller trees are just taking off now. Regardless, these trees were impressive, and this was not even the "real" Sequoia forest. The walk to the top was steep, but good exercise for the two of us!

By the time we got back to our car, the parking lot was mobbed and there were shuttles taking people places and returning them to their cars. We decided to see the visitor's center in Yosemite Valley and grab lunch at the deli there. Looking at the glacial formations like, Glacier Point, El Capitan and many others, left us in awe. The pictures don't really explain what we saw. The slabs of vertical granite rock were mesmerizing. What did the first settlers think of this area? Lunch was good, the view of the rock formations was beautiful and the squirrels were very friendly as they waited for a morsel of food to drop. We went to the visitor's center, which was neat, but wasn't as impressive as some. We browsed the Ansel Adams Center and saw some of his prints; they were breathtaking shots.

We were both tired and ready to leave. The temperature reached triple digits again today. Leftover pizza was on the menu for dinner. We got some more laundry done-again, no free dryers. Our camper makes a pretty nice clothes hanging area. :) We went to the pool for an hour or so as the air cooled down. We signed up to go on a Glacier Point 4 hour tour tomorrow-that should be pretty cool!