Tahoe/Yellowstone Trip
Day 1: Drive to Reno
We stopped at the salt flats a couple times. Fascinating!
Met up with two of my siblings' families for pizza and fireworks. We shared sparklers and pop-its with cousins to help kill time after dinner and before fireworks.
Fun camera lighting effects
Da group ready for fireworks
Fireworks off the top of The Nugget Hotel
Day 2: Drive to Tahoe & Fun on Rocks
Beautiful wildflowers in a mountain meadow on drive from Reno to Tahoe
Prairie Dogs in meadow!!
Beauty, eh
We found a rock beach where we played after a picnic lunch. The water was so cold and we each swam a small way across to get to some big boulders but also spent a bit of time just chillin in the shallows too.
Big J somehow talked our daughter into jumping off a boulder you can see behind them--about 12 feet off the water. Bold. She is much like her father that way.
Beautiful scenery, beautiful water, beautiful family
We left from here to get groceries for our night to cook the next evening and met up with everyone to get settled at our lodgings for the week--The Hodge Podge Lodge which was.....interesting but had plenty of room and offered fun things to do inside.
Day 3: Climbing/Settling In
Big J had found us a climbing area supposedly 20 minutes drive from Tahoe. It ended up being 1 1/2 hours from Tahoe (1/2 hour extra for lots of traffic in the city for the holiday) but everyone still had fun and we drove home early afternoon tired and hungry.
Big boulders were fun to goof off on
My sister could be Santa Claus (going up that chimney)
This was a popular climb and B made it no problem
The kids loved climbing up the rocks. Luckily no one got hurt. Except most of us encountered rather mean, large biting flies.
Miss long legs shows off her moves
My family!! (19 of us; just missing one family that couldn't make it)
Day 4: Church & Hanging out
Not many pictures from this day so I thought I'd add a pic of this guy. We saw lots and lots of stellar's jays on the whole trip. This pic we caught on the drive from Tahoe to Yosemite at a nice stream/road-side park where we stopped for lunch. There were TONS of them there!
I believe this was also the night of the pool tournament between the adults. After quite a few matches we got down to the final two couples--us and my older brother and his wife. We played best of 3 games. We lost the first, won the second and the third came down to just the 8 ball on the table. We got lucky sinking it first and became the official pool champions. It was epic. Many once-in-a-lifetime shots were made, not all of them necessarily sinking, or even hitting, a ball at all. Haha.
Day 5: Nevada Beach!
We had so much fun in the sun today. We played in the water, threw the frisbee and buried each other alive.
Fun with cousins
I got in on the action too. The very coarse sand hurt so I didn't last long.
Braving the cold water that turned some of the smaller ones purple
Catching some waves
Obligatory sand feet shot with me & my sister-in-law
Sand people
Day 5: Emerald Bay
This was my favorite day. I loved every minute of it. This is why.
My family is so fun! We all help each other and tease each other and enjoy being outdoors and active and when that is all put into a gorgeous setting there is nothing to get in the way of pure happiness.
We had read that Emerald Bay was gorgeous but being there is really quite breathtaking.
Once we found out Emerald Bay had enough kayaks for all of us it sealed the deal of us going to that beach. I am super glad we did. It was perfect. Nice sand and plenty of shore to explore by kayak.
We first explored a little inlet of water while we waited for everyone to get in their kayaks. That's where we spotted these cool Merganser ducks.
We kayaked out to Fannette island in Emerald Bay and hiked to the top of it to this little tea hut that was built in the late 1920s for a wealthy citizen to entertain her guests.
Our family
You can really see how beautifully clear the water is. Simply gorgeous.
Kayaking around was really fun. Just before we got to the island I realized that I didn't have any glucose with me so I had to zip back to shore once we left the island and exchange my camera for my glucose tablets in the semi-protective camera case. After heading back out I joined everyone right about where my hubs found some rocks to jump off. So, most of us parked our kayaks and jumped in. I was wishing I had my camera but it was still awesome to see even the younger kids jumping off the rocks. Little J even jumped once or twice off a rock about 3 feet off the water. We dried off quickly, especially as we had to book it getting back to shore so we wouldn't go over our rented time. After a picnic lunch we spent a couple hours just relaxing and watching the cousins play on the beach.
Day 6: Goodbyes and Yosemite
Behind the scenes were lots of fun at the lodge where we stayed: the three boy cousins spent lots of time with the air hockey table, lots of games were played by all, the pool table was in near-constant use, our girls loved having a little A-frame room with two twin beds, families preparing and cleaning up dinner, a cousin hot tub experience, ice cream and s'mores, an ab workout, running groups, minute-to win-it games, family home evening, hugs for everyone every night, wedding planning for my brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law, toenails painted and general down-to-earth family time. We said goodbye's to everyone after packing up in the morning and headed off to Yosemite.
Heading up Pothole Dome just west of Tuolomne Meadows in Yosemite National Park
Hey there Mr. Photog
Lovely
This dome offered a nice view all around, but we were still too far away to see some of the main draws like El Capitan and Half Dome.
Heading down the trail to the scenic overlook of Half Dome from Olmstead Point
Pic of the hubs before his attempt to trail run to our campsite in Yosemite Valley in 2 hours.
Little did he know that he'd end up at this same point 5 hours later and have to hitch hike to our site. He learned that the trails in this area are not well marked and he should have at least grabbed a granola bar as I had suggested and also perhaps not hike alone in an unfamiliar territory. He ended up in the infamous Tenaya Canyon with a waterfall being the only way down. He knew the only way out was to hike back up, perhaps a couple thousand feet up and that we would worry at his tardiness. I know that hiking is not always predictable so when we got to camp a half hour late ourselves I had a first twinge of worry but felt okay about giving it some time. I made the kids and I dinner, expecting to see him coming around the corner any minute. With dinner over and still no hubs I began to wonder if I should alert someone before it turned dark, which was fast approaching. I knew he had no lights, no food, only a camelback for water, no topo map, no communication and no warm clothing. Our neighbors happened to be from St. George and must have noticed me hesitating putting up our tent. They came over and offered to help set it up. I debated letting them know of our situation but noticed it appeared to be a nice family there possibly for a reunion and decided to semi-trust them. There were two brothers who were trying to figure out exactly what trail he was suppose to be on and assured me that trail running in Yosemite is very different from running and even hiking. Their father-in-law who'd been going to Yosemite for years said the same. There were 10 miles between where he started the hike and our campsite. He thought he could cover that in 2 hours but they let on that it could be at least double. One of the wives came over and said she'd had to call rangers on her husband and his brother twice and helped me feel better about worrying when he was relatively not too far behind his target time, even if his target time was far off. So off we went to call the rangers. They simply said that I shouldn't expect to see him until about 10pm and to come back if he wasn't there by then. So, back to camp we headed and the neighbors came over to get an update and I let them help me set up the tent. I got the kids ready for bed, all the while trying to put on a strong face so they wouldn't worry--it was too early to really worry I kept telling myself--and we all prayed, again, that he'd be okay. I tried to busy myself waiting around for 9:45pm when I'd planned to leave to catch the rangers before they left but had a hard time concentrating. Before leaving I checked the tent and the kids were sound asleep. I had told them before bed that it was possible I would leave for about 30 min. if they were asleep but I was second-guessing whether I was okay leaving them there. B's been in charge before but this was different. I finally decided that they'd be fine and I'd be quick and headed out, afraid that it was Big J who needed the most help right then and he might be spending a chilly night in the wilderness. I pulled out of our site and started my way to the camp store to call the rangers. I hadn't gone 50 yards when a car behind me just coming into the loop started flashing it's lights at me. I first thought it was the bumps in the road but I had hope. The headlights kept flashing quickly and I stopped the van and hopped out. Sure enough it was him in a car with a nice couple who had gone a ways out of their way to help him out and had given him some snacks and such. I was a mix of emotions. He looked exhausted and remorseful so I felt bad for him and was glad he was okay but I was also mad at him that he'd put me through that after defying just about everything I'd warned him about the trip back when he first suggested it to denying the need of a granola bar just hours before. The story of what happened came out while I got him some dinner we'd saved for him. His hands were shaking and he put on a sweatshirt and I was pretty sure he was in a state of shock. I decided not to scold him--at least that night. haha. He was surprised I was as calm as I was but I told him about the calming effect the neighbors talking to me about the problems hiking in Yosemite had and that we'd already talked to the rangers once after he was two hours late and they didn't think that was long enough to warrant a search. He'd asked a ranger at Olmsted Point to alert me that he was okay and on his way but surprisingly no one ever did. I guess they figured he was close enough to camp (1+ hour away). He'd had a rough time scrambling back up and thought it possible that he wouldn't make it and had started calling for help about a mile before the point. Someone had called the rangers and that's why a ranger was even there. I know next time he'll be more prepared and hopefully listen to his wife not as a 'worrier' but someone who helps him remember that not everything goes as planned and it's good to be prepared for the worst, or at least some level of bad. Not that I didn't make mistakes--insisting on at least a granola bar, making sure I knew more details such as the name of the trail and demanding that he find out more about it before going. We could have benefited from reading this article too.
Day 7: Yosemite Valley
I did not sleep well at all the night before our day in Yosemite Valley. Lots of reasons: I was unwinding from the hiking ordeal, I had to visit the ladies room but was terrified of bears, finally did visit the ladies room about 2:30am after not a wink and got a big flapper on my big toe that throbbed all night and I worried about a bear clawing through our tent to get my glucose pills that I decided to take in with me. The next night they were safely in the bear box and I hoped I didn't have a low low enough to not be able to get to them in time. So, I did not have that energetic of a day after I figured maybe 3 hours of sleep but we still managed to have fun as a whole.
We all hiked to Lower Yosemite Falls and then scrambled over big boulders to get to the pool at the very bottom of the falls. Beautiful.
Us at the bottom of the falls. Not much water running at this time of year.
Love this! My big toe throbbed so bad after this hike that I didn't even go on the short hike to Bridal Veil Falls with everyone else. I napped in the car while they went. They weren't very impressed by the falls since there was not much water falling.
We headed back to camp for lunch and then went to find a spot on the river to play in the water.
We found a nice little spot to play with a stunning view of El Cap and cooled off. I laid down to relax with the intent to sleep but amazingly I could never quite get asleep. (I slept so good later tonight.)
So instead I took pics and videos of these two again finding big rocks to jump off. B did it twice and then took a long break but went back later and went over and over again.
These two.
Little J came up with his own version of jumping into the water that was more his style. You may not be able to tell from the picture but there was a fairly steep decline into the water so he would take off from the top of the decline and land in the water a couple feet out and down.
That evening we had dinner at Curry Village and then I was the only one desperate enough for a shower to pay $5 for one. Meanwhile Big J and kids saw deer in the meadow, checked out the gift shop and took this nice photo of Half Dome.
Day 8: Unexpected Drive Home
We packed up and left early morning for Great Basin National Park since we were afraid the first come first serve camp may get full before we got there 8+ hours later.
We stopped by south Mono Lake to check out the tufa towers. We got there just in time to catch a volunteer with a spotting scope pointed at an osprey nest with 3 baby chicks. Cool! In fact we I.D.ed several birds at this lake and a birding tour was there from San Fran for just that specific purpose.
Tufa kids
Seriously, the road from Mono Lake through nowhere Nevada to Great Basin is a roller coaster of a road. You can only sorta tell from the pic but it was a wild ride!
Great Basin ended up looking quite stormy the closer we got to it with another dark rainband on the way. We figured we were 3 hours or so from home and the kids were doing remarkably well so we decided to just skip it. We'll just have to go to Great Basin another time. We weren't sure we'd even get a camp spot, we didn't really want to set up tents in the rain or try to cook dinner in the rain with no shelter and our car brakes were sounding funny so we didn't want to go 3-4K feet up and back down again. (good thing btw, once home we had the brakes looked at and they were in bad shape). We stopped at the closest restaurant (90 miles away!) and little bug lost a tooth!!
So, that was our trip. It was really fun and really tiring and quite an adventure all in all. We loved it!
