Yosemite

Yosemite National Park, California is what mom had been looking forward to most for this vacation. When she was twenty three, she made a wild decision to move to Yosemite to work in the park, so the area had alot of memories for her.
The morning we left for Yosemite began very early as mom and dad arose at around 3 or 4 am. Deciding they would not fall back asleep they began driving the long drive into the park. They woke us up around seven o clock saying that we are at a forest with big trees and need to take a walk to get there. The "walk" was all downhill and chilly, but none of us let the fact that we just woke up, were cold and hungry, and were asked to go on a two mile up and downhill hike get us down. It was worth it in the end. The trees we went to see were Giant Sequoias and boy were they big, and well worth the hike.
This is a tree that fell a year before mom worked at Yosemite, or 27 years ago. It was really fun to climb in and on.
This is a famous "tunnel tree". The tree was dead of course.Next for that day we headed up to see if we can grab a campsite within the park. This would mean we could stay for two days in order to really enjoy Yosemite. Well, luck was with us as we found an excellent site in the Bridalviel Creek Campground.
After securing our spot we headed off to Glacier Point. This place was high up and overlooking Yosemite's famous "half Dome" mountain and the valley. The view was spectacular, including two waterfalls and various awesome cliffs.

Next we headed down to the valley to check out the valley and go on some hikes to the waterfalls. The trail we went on was lovely and took us to at least two signifigant waterfalls, but was treacherously difficult. The path was a steady uphill at first, but then got steeper and steeper.

Toward the end of the trail we were stepping up huge stairs and struggling to keep our composure. The strenuous hike was worth it, though, as the falls were spectacular. We were even delighted to see that we made it at the perfect time of day to witness a perfect and vivid rainbow decorate the bottom of the falls.
After that hike we were all pretty tired so we took it easy, stopping at the visitors center to see a video and doing some shopping.