Yosemite National Park {w/ The Moys}

Now that we're back in the U.S. of A., it's time to show our country some love and start visiting some of it's National Forests. Scotland has really made us love and appreciate the outdoors and the beautiful works of Mother Nature! Lucky for us, we didn't have to do any planning for our first visit to a US National Park {I don't think I've ever visited one?}!

Our friends, David and Nicola, whom we met in Aberdeen {David works at Chevron}, come out to California every other year to visit Nicola's parents, who live in San Jose. Being the geo-nerd that David is {he's a geologist}, they always try to make a trip out to Yosemite for a weekend so that David can get his rock fix. Nicola's dad just happens to have a friend that owns a cabin out in Groveland, so our accommodations were set, we had a private tour guide {David}, and all we had to do was drive the four hours there, so we did. We took the 99 to Merced then cut up to the 59 and over to the 120 East into Groveland. The drive up was pretty easy besides one winding area closer to Groveland that luckily wasn't icy so we were okay. There was some frost on the ground and a few patches of ice/snow inside of Groveland, but nothing the Q5 couldn't handle! We bought snow chains just in case, but didn't have to end up using it. Yay!



We arrived late afternoon, caught up with each other, had a few beers and then went out for some pizza! Afterwards, we played Left, Right, Center and Catch Phrase before calling it a night. I love good 'ole game nights =) It was nice to get to know Nicola's family and spend some time with our British friends in the States. I love how they were the visitors and were showing us around...haha.

The next morning, we decided to skip a long walk and just do a few shorter ones so we could get an overview of Yosemite. The parents stayed home so it was just us, and Nicola's sister, Jessica that went out. David was guiding us along the way, telling us how the rocks formed and showing us little things in the rocks, here and there. It was quite informative, but I forgot everything already...oops. We started off at the top with a view of Half Dome, where it was bright and sunny! It was actually very warm up here.

We drove in a little bit more, the sun was gone and there were blankets of snow on the trees and river. It was time to put on our hiking boots and have a few photo ops. The Q5 got in on some of the action as well =) As you can tell, I love this car and felt it should get some love on the blog too...hehe.

Afterwards, we headed toward Bridalveil Falls, where I slipped on ice and busted my ass! Luckily, my camera broke my fall without any damage and I came out of it okay, besides I think a sprained wrist. My right wrist still feels a bit funny but I think it's okay for the most part.

We drove past El Capitan and then over towards a bridge that looked towards Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls. Too bad none of the falls were running very hard this time of the year. We could barely see any water, but the views were still beautiful.

It was running close to lunch time so we parked towards Mirror Lake and did a walk out there to get a backside view of Half Dome, have lunch, make snow angels and have a snow ball fight! It was so fun to just let loose and act like a kid in the snow. Mirror Lake was no where to be found as it was covered in snow, I suppose, but it was a nice walk.

We still had energy for one more walk before the sun set so we went to Victoria Falls bridge, which was a bit of a work out, uphill, on the edge and slippery in some parts, but again, amazing views! However, when we got to the falls, there wasn't much of it! Oh wells, we just have to come back one day.

This was pretty much us for the day! We stopped at Yosemite Village to grab a coffee, visit the souvenir shop and the Ansel Adams studio. I seriously can't believe how much some of his prints were! 

As we were driving out of the park, we stopped at two places for some amazing sunset views and then called it a day! Thank you to Dave and Nicola for inviting us for a great weekend in Yosemite!