Vacation - Part Two, Yosemite

Yosemite really is a beautiful and awe inspiring spot! There were no fires anywhere in the area this year, so the air was crystal clear, and the river and waterfalls were bursting with water, due to a large snow pack. David and I went, along with the De Harts, David's brother Tom and his wife Mary, my sister Gretchen and her husband Kirk, and their son Phil and his wife Abigail. Each night a different family made dinner for everyone. It was a great time of relaxing, hiking, biking, playing and enjoying being together.

Tom, Phil, Abigail and Kirk climbed Half Dome! It's an 18 mile round trip hike.

This buck was just wandering along the bike trail. We had another doe that came through our Housekeeping campsite just about every day, too.

A view of Yosemite Falls.

Sam and Abby kickin' back at dinner time...

Grandpa bought a treat for anyone who wanted to come to the pool at the Lodge in the afternoon. Sam helped carry things.

Whenever we're at Yosemite we like to have breakfast at the Ahwanee Hotel, one of the great Lodges of the West. The hotel is massive and is made with stones, logs, concrete and lots of style. See the pictures below of the lobby...

We took plenty of books and had fun sitting by the river, reading.

Squirrels and blue jays were busy keeping the whole place cleared of edible trash.

Here's the crew, getting dinner instructions from Aunt Gretchen.

Fun at the pool for Madeline and Heidi.

Sam really enjoyed Great Uncle (Gruncle) Tom Cox!

Here I am, reading and watching David throw a line in the river. Our Housekeeping cabin was a short distance from this spot.

Uncle Kirk (Gruncle Kirk) let Sam cast a line several times!

Sisters take a walk to the bottom of Lower Yosemite Falls.

This is a classic picture of Gretchen, taking a picture of something beautiful!

Sam used some of his vacation money to buy this souvenir. He really used it a lot and later shared it with Anders and Garrett in Flagstaff.

Madeline and I bought playing cards as souvenirs. They loved playing cards in the evenings with the uncles and aunts!

William, Aunt Mary and Abby roasting marshmallows.

Bike riding is my favorite thing to do in Yosemite! The trails take you everywhere! Can you see the doe off to the left? It kept walking closer and closer to us.

Passing out a little vacation money to the kids... they had fun spending it carefully. We had fun watching. We had a lovely time!