To celebrate our anniversary each year, we take a trip.
We celebrated our first anniversary in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
We celebrated our second anniversary in Luxembourg.
We celebrated our third anniversary in Baden Baden.
This year, Nathan surprised me with a trip to Yosemite National Park.
Friday morning, we packed up and left. While in the car, Nathan told me we were going to the town of Mariposa, which is an old Californian mining town. My thoughts: Cool! Then, he told me it was located right outside Yosemite. My thoughts: Yes! I have wanted to go to Yosemite! After driving a few hours, we checked into Miner's Inn, where we were staying one night. We thought this room wasn't going to be that nice, so when we walked in and saw not only was it nice, but that it had an in-room two-person jacuzzi, we were happy. Maybe we're just easily pleased, but we thought that was awesome. We grabbed pizza on the main street and then stopped in at a wine store, where we bought a bottle of wine. We then made the 45-minute drive to Yosemite. I didn't really know what to expect of the park and didn't know the must-see sights at all, so it was amazing to see El Capitan and the waterfalls and everything. We drove/walked around for an hour or so, then when we got turned around trying to get to Bridalveil Fall, we decided to park and sit down by the river instead. While there, Nathan walked down the river a ways and while coming back, thought he might have gone through some poison ivy. He practically took a bath in the cold water to try and get all the oil off of him. That night, we ate dinner at the restaurant across from our hotel. It was a cool place, decorated like an old roadhouse diner.
the main street in Mariposa
El Capitan
On Saturday, we stopped for smoothies, then went back to the park and made the short hike up to Bridal Veil Falls. It was a little disappointing because it was almost dried up. So much so that the wind kept carrying the water away as it came over the cliff. On our way to Mariposa Grove to see the Sequoia trees, we stopped at Tunnel View to see El Capitan, Half Dome & Bridalveil Fall on either sides of the valley. Such a beautiful view! At Mariposa Grove, we took an hour and a half open-air tram ride through the Upper & Lower Groves. It was really cool to see such huge trees and learn about their environment and how they grow. The trees were really impressive; not just because they were big, but because so many had survived multiple forest fires and humans cutting holes in their trunks. We left the park in the early evening, checked into our new hotel, Mariposa Hotel Inn, and then went to dinner down the street at Savoury's. The food and service there were awesome.
Is this Texas?!
One of its branches is 7 feet in diameter!
A tunnel big enough to allow stagecoaches to pass through was cut into this tree.
We saw other neat Sequoias we didn't get pictures of. The Faithful Couple are two trees that grew so close together, their trunks fused together at the base. The Bachelor and Three Graces are four trees, with three of them growing very close together and the fourth a little distant. If one of the four trees was to fall, they would probably all go down because their roots are intertwined. The Telescope Tree has been completely hollowed out due to forest fires, but it still lives.
Nathan got up super early on Sunday morning to watch the hummingbirds on the back porch of our hotel before we checked out. We did some window shopping along the main street before eating a great lunch at Charles Street Dinner House and then driving home.
We really want to go back to Yosemite sometime to see Mirror Lake.
We've heard the park is beautiful in fall, winter and spring too.
1 comments:
The hummingbird photos are phenomenal! :) It looks like a wonderful trip! Happy anniversary!
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