Time in Yosemite

After another couple of hours of kids hanging out the window on twisty, winding roads, we arrived in Yosemite National Park. The granite cliffs are incredibly dramatic with shear rock faces going up hundreds of feet. When we checked in at our "cabin", we were given a long set of instructions on how to store all of our food, toiletries, and anything else with any kind of smell whatsoever in special bear-proof containers. Nothing at all can be left in the car. If you are caught leaving food in the car or around the campsite, you can be evicted and/or fined. So, we were a little surprised to see our accommodations. The "cabin" had 3 concrete sides and basically a shower curtain for the front wall. With all the bear stories, you can be darn sure we weren't going to take any kind of food with us to bed.



The kids look all very relaxed in this photo, but Campbell just about had a heart attack in the middle of the night when a racoon wandered into the cabin, under the bed, and then wandered back outside again. He armed himself with various stones for ammunition for the next night. Not sure that was the best move, but thankfully he didn't need to use any.


As you can see, some of the wildlife isn't particularly wild. There were deer and huge squirrels everywhere. This guy didn't seem to be very concerned that Dean was just about touching him.


This was the bridge we crossed to get from the village to our cabin and from our cabin to the "beach". It was absolutely beautiful. The deer just wandered back and forth through the water.


This was our "camping" area. Dean cooked up a wonderful dinner that we fought off the squirrels to eat. And then we cleaned everything up like I haven't cleaned before in an attempt to keep the not-so-wild animals out of our campsite. Mission accomplished and we had a quiet night.