We drove Sunday after church 8 1/2 hours, stayed in a hotel, and drove Monday 4 or so more hours to finally be HERE! This is Mariposa Grove - a grove of Sequoia trees. It's hard to tell at first, but if you'll compare the ginormous red tree to the skinny winny trees next to it, those are normal forest size trees. These things were HUGE! The girls did NOT want to "hike" because it was lame and boring (hence Megan's 'thumbs down') but really it was because they were terrified we'd be eaten by a bear. We DID hike for a while, maybe 2 or 3 miles round trip, mostly all flat, to see some more of the big sequoia's before we drove the rest of the way into Yosemite Ntnl. Park.
Still in Mariposa Grove - this tree is called the Fallen Monarch. Fell over 300 years ago. It's ginormous.
The roots of the Fallen Monarch. They were big too.
Give the kid a stick and he goes all ninja on ya.
Thousands of rings - this one had falled and they put varnish on it to preserve it.
I know I keep saying it, but this one was REALLLLLY huge. This is the Grizzly Giant. It looks like a monster. One of it's limbs (upper right side) is bigger around than any other non-sequoia tree in the surrounding forest. The limb itself was 7 ft. in diameter.
The IN-famous California Tunnel Tree. Still alive and well, even with it's trunk cut through.
One of these girls is sick and tired of hiking.
First view of Yosemite Valley. Breathtaking. Bridalveil falls spray is as wide as the fall is tall almost.
El Capitan
Bridalveil Falls - closer up.
And even closer...
And even though we are still a good distance from the base of the falls, we are getting absolutely DRENCHED from the spray. It was pouring like rain - it was incredible. And the wind coming off of it, it was extremely powerful and it was very obvious how people can die up here!
Checking out our tent cabin. The kids were literally, bouncing off the beds and the walls.
We brought bikes - it was totally awesome to be able to just hop on and ride around places.
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