Tiffany and Rob - Trip to Yosemite CA and San Francisco
Tiffany and I took our first vacation together to California.
We went to Yosemite for the first 4 or 5 days and spent the last 3 in San Francisco.
Here are some pictures we took.
You can click on the pictures to see the original version (larger).
Day #1 - Yosemite
Welcome to Yosemite!
This is the road we drove in on
This is the first 'good view' that we saw on the way in
We thought it was a good view, but they got a LOT better :)
There was a big fallen tree that I decided to climb up on
Tiffany then decided to try as well...
Well, she is kind of on....
Ahh, now she is fully on.
This was the first tall cool looking big tree we saw
We soon found our first waterfall. Not too big.
Here is a picture of it looking downstream from the bridge
The same waterfall, this time looking upstream from the bridge
We saw some people had climbed down underneath the bridge on to the rocks
So we decided to do the same. Here is what it looks like from down on the rocks
Here is a picture of me, down on the rocks, that Tiffany took
One of Tiffany
After a bit more driving, we came across our first 'true' view of Yosemite
I believe that is Half Dome back there?
We decided to zoom in a bit more while looking through the trees.
Then decided to take one from another angle.
We also saw a part of Yosemite that had burned at one point
Here is another picture of the burned trees
And another picture of the burned trees
This is a view of the river valley. I believe it's the merced river
Tiffany wanted to try out the 'extreme zoom' of her camera on the river, so she did
We soon arrived to the view that Yosemite is famous for. The 'Tunnel' view.
We took another angle of the tunnel view
Plenty of people were around to take a picture of us together at the Tunnel view
This angle of the tunnel view turned out pretty well
We continued to drive, and saw a turn-off to see Bridalveil falls.
It wasn't too specatular, but here is a picture that we took of it
We then decided to drive up to Glacier Point. 10,000+ feet.
I *think* that these pictures are from up there. Half Dome (or El Capitain?) I believe is in the picture here.
A more zoomed in view of what I think is Half Dome (or El Capitain?)
A pulled out view, that includes two waterfalls. Nevada Falls and Vernal Falls.
Another view of Nevada and Vernal falls.
Keep in mind how Vernal falls (the lower one) looks from here. We will be hiking up to it later this week.
Later that day we parked and decided to do some hiking on some trails that are not too busy
Our destination was Taft's point. Along the way we only saw maybe 10 people or so.
Tiffany saw some rocks early on and decided to climb up on them
Shortly after that we needed to cross a bit of water and Tiffany snapped a picture of me
It appears that when a tree falls onto the path, the park service just cuts right through it
As we approached Taft's point it became more rocky.
We started seeing more lizards and we decided to take a picture of one
When we turned the corner, we saw that we were close to our destination, Taft's Point
As we continued hiking, I snapped a picture of Tiffany
It's a long way down...
Way up there on the left is the tip of Taft's point
Pretty good views around here
There were only about 6 other people out here.
The human figure on the right, in the pink, is Tiffany
After staying at Taft's point for a bit, we decided to continue on.
Our next destination is Sentinel Dome.
As we left Tiffany snapped another picture of me on the trail
The trail we were on was even less traveled and more difficult.
We only saw 4 people in total on this trail. Sad that not many walk it
It has some great views, like this one
And this one
And here is a view of the valley floor from the trail
After soaking in some views, and stopping to eat some Sour Patch Kids, we saw some deer
We then came up upon another great view, this time of Yosemite Falls is clearly visible
A third and final view before we continued on
Tiffany is getting a little worried at this point
The trail we are following seems to be a LOT smaller and a LOT more difficult
I'm not worried yet, and soon we spot another great view
Now the trail has gotten really treacherous and we are walking up
very steep inclines right on the side of the mountains.
We have clearly lost our original path and I'm starting to get a little nervous as well
Regardless, it's still presenting some amazing views
Even though we were a bit worried, we still had happy spirits.
Although please be careful when hiking steep mountain trails. You might fall!!!!
After a bit more hiking though, we ended up meeting our original path to Sentinel Dome
After more hiking we finally started climbing up to the top of Sentinel Dome
Along the way I accidently snapped this picture
Here we are. Sentinel dome. Over 1.5 miles high. 360 degree view of everything.
It really is an AMAZING and breathtaking sight. Only two other people were up here.
They were nice enough to take our picture. We decided to climb up on some rocks at the very top
Here we are on the very top. Very tired, but very happy.
Such amazing views.
We decided to wait an hour for the sun to set. It was FREEZING up there.
We hid under a blanket and Tiffany thought we must look pretty silly.
So I decided to set the timer on my camera and snap a picture of us both under the blanket
The sun has finally started to set!
A line between light and night streaks across the terrain
Another view of the sunset
Tiffany decided to snap a picture of me while the sun was setting
The sun finally set, but it wasn't that impressive.
It was still amazing to be where we were though.
Day #2 - Yosemite
We hiked down the mountain, got in our car, and drove to our inn for the evening.
It was a nice place called 'The Narrow Gauge Inn'. Here is from the morning when we woke up
It even had an old fashion fire truck
The next day it was rainy, dark and cold. It was sleeting/hailing in portions of the park.
We didn't do a whole lot that day, but we did see some cool 'cloud action' amongst the trees
The cloud just descends right down the mountain.
It was really cool to see
Although the views are not quite as good. They are still kind of neat though :)
The weather cleared a bit later that evening
We decided to go to the Mariposa Grove of Trees
Here we found really big trees, including this one that fell over
A super cool looking tree called 'Grizzly' here are some pictures of it
Tiffany poses with the Grizzly tree
We hiked up to a tree they used to drive horses and old cars through
On the way out we saw some deer
That night we stayed in a very old fashion Inn called the Wawona Hotel
Another picture of the Wawona hotel
Day #3 - Yosemite
Our third and final day was much nicer than the second and we finally drove into the Valley floor
It ended up having some nice views as well.
This is another view from the valley floor
Including a nice view of Yosemite falls
While at the valley floor, we saw the river a bit and took some pictures of it
Parts of the river had some intense rapids
More views of the rapids
Here is a larger view of the river
Our next destination is to hike up to the top of Vernal Falls
Here is how it looked downriver about 1/3 way up
It is a wet and intense climb
The mist produced some pretty rainbows
We ended up not going to the very top, because once we saw this view, we were happy.
On the way down I decided to try and get a squirrel to eat out of my hand.
We didn't want to use actual food, so I just pretended the leaf I was holding was food.
The squirrel totally fell for it! I was really pleased with myself.
Road to San Francisco
Well we were all done with Yosemite, so we drove back to San Francisco
There was a MASSIVE traffic jam. Bumper to bumper under 10 MPH for 2 or more hours
We got bored on the way and we got the camera out. Here is a picture of a tire!
I took one of Tiffany looking pretty happy
I asked her to make a funny face.... and well... she did :)
She took one of me making a funny face as well.
After a VERY VERY long drive, we finally arrived in San Francisco
We swung by the MythBusters place
Shortly after taking this picture Jamie and Adam actually walked by us.
I said to them 'Hey cool! We just took our picture out front!'
I didn't bother them further though, I figured they were pretty busy
San Francisco has some steep streets
At least they give you stairs to climb up some of them
Once you get to the top of some of them though, you find some good views
I believe that is Alcatraz there in the distance
Tiffany got her picture of Lombard street
We also rode the street cars. Not just for fun, but to actually go places.
Finally, on our last day just before heading to the airport.
This is Chloe, a friend of Tiffany's. She is super cool and let us stay in an apartment below hers.
Here is another picture of the three of us
fin.
