Day 3 - Breathtaking Yosemite

VM:  I get Ansel Adams now.  Yosemite is simply awesome.  Unbelievable vistas and amazing animals. And surprisingly, not too crazy crowded. Couldn’t ask for anything more.  We were so awed by it that we got there at 9:30am and didn’t leave until 8:30pm which for this “unactive” family is really incredible. 

As with other national parks, we sought out the Junior Ranger program soon after arrival.  We have done these programs before at spots like Alcatraz & Muir Woods & found them to be excellent.  They engage the girls in a fun way and provide a great “map” of things to do with them. 

The program is so incentivizing that Emma walked around most of the day carrying a bag of garbage as one of her “tasks” was helping keep the park clean. 

World's fattest squirrels at Yosemite.

We met Zoey & Toby at Yosemite.  Too cute!

Classic view of Yosemite made famous by Ansel Adams.

The highlight of Yosemite’s Junior Ranger program was a meeting with a park ranger.  And the girls particularly lucked out, cause they were the only ones on the hike with Ranger Laura.  She made talking about “animal adaptation” fun between games where spoons and popsicle sticks simulated birds’ beaks & a version of hide n’ seek type game called Predator & Prey.

We ended the day at Mariposa Grove with Sequoias that they say are thousands of years old.

After a full day of hiking, we were thrilled to reach our bed and breakfast for the evening.  Right outside of Yosemite, in a spot called Oakhurst, our innkeepers converted part of the their home into a respite for weary travelers.  Girls too tired to write tonight.  More later.

Added thrill!!!! Mule deer eating their dinner.