The mountains are calling and I must go....

Yosemite National Park

We left San Francisco and traveled 3.5 hours to Yosemite National Park. This park requires a timed entrance pass in the summer or a reservation for accommodations within the park to enter. This park receives around 2 million visitors every summer and is one of the most visited National Parks.

The Ahwahnee Hotel

For this leg of the journey, we splurged and stayed at The Ahwahnee Hotel in the heart of the Yosemite Valley. The hotel itself is a tourist destination. It was built in the 1920's and has lodged Presidents, celebrities, and Queen Elizabeth, who stayed here in 1983.

The Ahwahnee Hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark. It is also famous for the appearance of the hotel's lobby, elevators, and Great Lounge in Stephen King's 1980 movie, The Shining.

Upstairs sitting area

The Great Lounge

The Hall to our room

The Upper Yosemite Fall Trail

This hike was not easy! With a 2,700 gain in elevation, and 7.5 miles round trip, we sure did get our workout! It was also a hot day and we each went through all our water. The up close views of Yosemite's Upper Falls were worth it!

View of Half Dome from Columbia Rock

View of Yosemite Valley from Columbia Rock

Upper Falls

Lower Yosemite Fall

This is a relatively easy hike leaving from parking lot 4 near Yosemite Village. We strolled along the path until we came to the base of Lower Yosemite Fall. This area was very crowded but allowed for climbing over rocks, which made Brodey very happy. This whole area is inaccessible in the winter because a lot more water travels over the falls and fills the trail area.

We came upon this black bear on our short walk to The Lower Fall.

This whole area fills with water in the winter

Brodey climbed up near the falls to get this unique view!

The Valley

From the entrance to Yosemite NP, it is 28 miles to The Ahwahnee Hotel. We stopped along the way to take pictures. We also went out another day to travel along the valley to get up close pictures of the massive rock formations. The road to Glacier Point was closed for the summer due to road construction. Also, parts of the park were closed due to forest fires but they didn't affect where we were. Although a few weeks later the park was evacuated for a few days due to the fires. The smoke at times did make the park hazy at times while we were there.