March 9, 2014

Yosemite National Park

What a fantastic weekend at Yosemite National Park! I haven't been to Yosemite since I was a kid and have almost no recollection of even being there. But now that I'm in the Bay Area and it's just a few hours away, I jumped at the chance to go! It took longer than expected to arrive in Yosemite because of traffic and a bunny incident but we made it! We stayed two nights at Curry Village and I was so thankful for the heated tents.

The next morning we hiked the Upper Yosemite Falls trail. The hardest hike I've ever done was a few years back in Maine and while that's still the case, the Upper Falls hike was not easy. The hike was an uphill climb and there were moments when I didn't think I could make it all the way up! The hot weather also threw me for a loop because I had thought it would be super cold so I wore too many layers. After around 3 hours, we finally made it to the top and the view up top was definitely worth the blood, sweat, and tears. We went a little further to check out Yosemite Point and then made the 3 hour hike down the mountain.

Upper Yosemite Falls Lookout
Yosemite Point
After making it back down, we celebrated with dinner at the Mountain Room Restaurant. All I wanted during the hike was an ice cold beer so I guzzled a Coronoa and ordered the Braised Lamb & Gnocchi Sauté with root vegetables. It was very rich and delicious. Afterwards, we relaxed in the Curry Village Lodge, played Dixit, and fell asleep super early. Fun!

Braised Lamb & Gnocchi Sauté with carrots and parsnips

The next morning we got breakfast at the food court and kept it low-key. We saw the Lower Yosemite Falls and did a walk through the John Muir Trail to reach Mirror Lake.


We made good time coming back into San Francisco and it was all around a great trip. I'm so happy I went because it was nice to be outdoors all weekend and I'm thankful for the good weather.