Yosemite 2009

 

I love our family tradition of going to Yosemite the weekend before Memorial Day. It's not yet too hot or too crowded, but it is warm enough and the waterfalls are always perfect. We always meet up with 6-10 other families and stay in the Housekeeping 'tent cabins'. It is the best of both worlds because it's comfortable camping with electricity and toilets, but not a hotel.

 

 

There was a guy in front of El Capitan that let us look in his telescope at the climbers that were on day 3 of a 7 day climb to the top. He gave us so much information -- from the way climbers get all of their gear up, to how they sleep, and yes, he even told us how they go to the bathroom! I think I prefer a port-a-potty.

 

If you click on the picture you can zoom in and see three climbers. Scary! Last year we only brought Ryan's little bike and rented bikes for the rest of us. He decided it was too hard and I ended up carrying his bike WHILE riding mine! This year we brought all of our bikes for the first time and rode a 7+ mile loop around the valley floor and this time, Ryan was out in front of us all. It was so fun to watch all of the kids and realize that we have "arrived" at a point where we can all do things like this together.

 

We always have a potluck on Saturday night and eat all together. Alaina took this picture of me with flaming buttocks. What can I say, it is still hot after all these years :)!