Awesome Yosemite

Immediately after our cousins came for their spring break it was Paul's first official spring break. Guess where we went?

Welcome to Yosemite valley: El Capitan on your left,
Bridalveil Falls on your right, Half Dome off in the distance.

Things I love about visiting National Parks with my family:

1. Watching my kids grow to enjoy them, even if they aren't as enthusiastic about it as I am.
2. Hearing a dozen different languages spoken every day. It tells me that people from all over the world recognize these places as treasures.
3. There are so many things to see and do and all for a very minimal admission fee, especially if you can camp!

If I could do this trip again, this is what I'd do differently:

1. Bikes. I would bring bikes. There are terrific bike paths all around Yosemite Valley and it is pretty darn flat. It never occurred to me before going, but take it from me: you want to see Yosemite Valley by bike.
2. Winter storms downed trees in Half Dome Village, the tent-cabin we booked damaged and our reservation got cancelled shortly before our trip. I had to re-book at various hotels to make up the difference. It was a wonderful trip, but I'd like to give Half Dome Village another try someday.

Photo by Paul. He said silly faces, but Laszlo missed the memo.

Yosemite Falls: The tallest waterfall in North America.

The best photo you can get in Yosemite is at Mirror Lake in the spring. Closely followed by Tunnel View (check out the photo at the top of this post!)

Mirror Lake is seasonal, so you can only snap a photo like this is the spring!

We drove up to Hetch Hetchy to give Laszlo a chance to nap. The views were well worth it. There are some more challenging hikes up there that our kids were not going to be able to do, so we contented ourselves with a scenic drive and walking across the damn.

Three waterfalls flowing into the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir

The Damn at the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. 

We take in the view, including our little adventure-mobile.

Shortly before this photo was taken, Paul said, "Best. Day. Ever!" Shortly after this photo was taken, Paul said, "Worse. Day. EVER!" And we though the trail had unexpected ups and downs...

Cutest Paul moment: Singing the Wheels on the Bus while we were on the bus. The driver joined in singing with him, including honking the horn for the "horn on the bus" verse.
Cutest Laszlo minute: All of them. When someone asked the bus driver to open the back door, Laszlo said, "thank you, bus!" very loudly.

Bridal Veil Falls, close enough for the water to dot the camera lens.

El Capitan. Paul refused to get out of the car for this stop.

Paul and Laszlo meet John Muir.

We took our ease at the Big Trees Lodge in Wawona, Paul enjoyed playing "chest" and we hiked around the Sequoias at Mariposa grove. There were some lovely trees, but they were younger and far fewer than you find in Sequoia National Park, so that park still ranks as my favorite.

If Yosemite is on your bucket list, here is some information that might be useful to you: Yosemite gets 5 million visitors annually. Most of them come in the Summertime. Many of the incredible waterfalls that Yosemite is known for dry up by July or August. Many of the higher elevation roads (Tioga Pass, Glacier Point) do not open until May when the snow melts. April worked out great for us, but it seems like May is probably the perfect month to visit. 

There was a pioneer village in Wawona so we stuck our kids in jail, like they deserve.

Lastly, the photos of animals we spotted. I could have gotten closer to the blue jay if Laszlo hadn't been so determined to chase it away.

Two of the many deer we saw.

This coyote was not at all scared of people and we saw him scavenging in several places around the Yosemite Valley Lodge. I think he just liked the attention lavished on him by humans with cameras.

It was an adventure, and I hope we can do as well on future spring breaks as we did this time around. The beauty of Yosemite was worth listening to Paul and Laszlo say "are we there yet?" over and over.

Staycation 2019: Mouse Style

We had a great visit from the Johnston clan for their spring break. We absolutely wore everyone out and had a great time. Can you guess where we went? That's right, the La Brea Tar Pits!

Weston, Cooper, Grace, and Laszlo meet Sid the Sloth.

Yes, the tar pits smell exactly like you think they do.

Not what you were expecting me to say? Visiting La Brea was on my L.A. bucket list, and the first Tuesday of the month is free admission day! The cousins couldn't have timed their visit better. The tar pits are spread through out a grassy park with information and ice age creature statues. In addition to the official, fenced off tar pits, you may find tar oozing out of the ground in the grass, in the parking lot...watch your step or your shoes may get a little stickier than you anticipated!

This tar pit still has many bones in it.

Becky, Kimball, and Noelle and a Mammoth.

There is also an indoor museum with exhibits displaying hundreds of specimens found in these pits, and I do mean hundreds. It's shocking how many animals met their fate stuck in tar.

Those are all Direwolf skulls. They've apparently found hundreds of them in the tar pits.

Don't worry, Cooper, those are extinct.

Noelle got jealous whenever Kimball gave attention to Laszlo.

After the tar pits and lunch, Laszlo took a nap and the rest of us hit the beach. It was windy and not terribly warm, but we played in the sand and saw pelicans and dolphins.

Paul begged to buried in sand, he truly asked for this.

Paul always insists that he doesn't like the beach and doesn't want to go. Then I make him go, and he has a great time. We spend hours there and he doesn't want to leave. Why must I force you to have fun?

And then came the three day Disneyland marathon. We had days full of fun, everyone was exhausted by the end of each one--or before the end in some cases--Laszlo fell asleep on shoulder rides with more than one set of shoulders. In no particular order, here are some highlights:

We found Pocahontas!

Paul and Noelle each had an autograph book, Paul drew pictures of each character who autographed his book. He came back and showed Pocahontas the picture he drew of her and she was very sweet about it.

A duck attacked Cooper. Or, rather, the duck was trying to attack another duck and managed to run into the side of his head instead. The ducks bill clipped Cooper's ear badly enough that it bled and now Cooper is scared of ducks.

Noelle and Paul are now best cousin friends.

Paul: (singing) A very unhappy birthday to you, to you!

Claire: The words actually say a very merry unbirthday.

Paul: (getting angry) No, it's a very unhappy birthday because all they got was a stupid tea party!

The joy of making it to the front of the line.

 Paul's favorite rides: Radiator Springs Racers, Thunder "Canyon" Railroad, and Pirates of the "Parrigean." He thought the Haunted Mansion was too scary and Space Mountain was "a little fun and a little scary."

Laszlo is a serious fan of trains. He just wanted to ride things that look like trains. So we road the Disneyland R. R. (totally forgot about the animatronic dinosaurs!) and we rode the monorail, and we sat on a stationary Jolly Trolley, and he even rode Casey Jr. (AKA the slowest line in Disneyland). He is a 2 year old theme park veteran with more experience than most adults.

We did a character lunch on our last day, it wasn't a crowded so we got lots of attention. Paul seemed to feel a strong bond to Minnie Mouse because she helped him get an ice cream cone, they had a little dance party and he made sure to dance with her the whole time.

Meeting Star Wars characters was a highlight for Weston and Kimball, does it show?

Spidey was very impressed with Cooper's sketch of him in Noelle's autograph book,

Becky was going to take Noelle and Paul on one last ride on the final night, and they both fell asleep in the stroller on the way to the ride. That is how you know you've stayed too late.

I'm glad we managed to get to Disneyland while living here in Torrance, especially before the madness of Galaxy's Edge opening. Paul is already asking when we can go to Disneyland again, I've told him we can go again when he is tall enough to ride everything. That should buy us a few years to travel elsewhere in the mean time!