Yosemite, Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Mojave Desert, and Las Vegas - part 1

Day 1 - 2014-04-19 - Arrival

We arrived in Oakland bright and early in the morning, grabbed our rental car, and headed off to downtown Oakland to buy some food for me to eat during the first few days our vacation which overlapped with Passover.  (Tip: The Whole Foods in Oakland does not have a wide selection of Passover products, at least not in the middle of Passover when we were there.  They were, however, running a Matzo and Easter Egg hunt on Sunday, which seemed like an odd combination.)

From Oakland we took the 3.5 hour drive down to Wawona, at the southern entrance to Yosemite National Park.  After checking in and getting organized, we drove over to the Mariposa Grove, where we hiked around in the forest a bit, amid our first glimpses of giant Sequoias.

That night and the following night we stayed at the Wawona Hotel, an historic hotel that has been around since the early 1900s.  The room was small, but comfortable, and the staff were friendly.  The onsite restaurant had upscale prices, but according to David the food did not match the price (he had some sort of gnocci with shrimp, and the gnocci were hard.  I was eating Matzah with veggies in the room, so I cannot comment).  For breakfast, a continental breakfast is included with the price of the room, but they offer other hot options as well.

Day 2 - 2014-04-20 - Yosemite Valley

On our first full day at Yosemite, we headed out early(ish) in the morning to the Yosemite Valley.  The valley was relatively crowded, but there were ample opportunities for us to find ourselves alone.  Just before entering the valley, you go through a long tunnel, immediately after which you encounter the Tunnel Viewpoint - a rather breathtaking overlook of the entire valley, including a couple of waterfalls in the distance.

The next turnout on the road after the Tunnel Viewpoint is Bridalveil Fall.  A short hike up to a viewpoint just beneath the fall lends a good view of the fall - be forewarned that it's a little misty at the top, and if the sun's angle is just wrong (like it was for us), it's not the best spot for taking photos.  A short walk across the nearby pedestrian bridge, however, provides nice views of both the fall and the cliff opposite it.

Down in the valley itself there are meadows, waterfalls and hikes of varying difficulties.  There are a few large parking lots in the valley, and a free shuttle that comes around every 10 minutes or so and has some 21 or so stops around the valley.  The valley also has a few restaurants, a hotel, tent campsites, and a grocery.

We took a hike off of shuttle stop 17 called Mirror Lake.  The trail had quite a lot of horse manure on it, and though the views were nice, we're not sure we ever quite saw mirror lake.  Nor were we able to cross the river at any point, which we had been hoping to do, given the hike maps we had seen.  Nonetheless, it was quite beautiful, and, once we returned to the beginning of the trail, we took the opportunity to dip our feet in the (really REALLY cold) water.

After Mirror Lake, we went up to look at the Lower Yosemite falls, then headed back as the sun was setting, and catching some more wildlife on the side of the road.