What a great trip! But we agree if we ever go back we are flying into somewhere closer like Sacramento as the over 5 hr drive after two flight totalling over 6 hrs into Reno is insane. Especially since were going over Sierra Nevada mnts on road with cliff drop offs after 4 hrs sleep. Oh yeah, we went to nephews HS graduation the night before so we got very little sleep before the 350am alarm. 😳 But finally arriving 16 hrs after leaving our house to this amazing view and our adorable 1870's hotel the Wawona in time for dinner, cocktails and crashing for the night before our day in the park seemed worth the effort.
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| First view of the Valley from Tunnel View |
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| One of the smaller out buildings at Wawona |
Now the problem with time zone changes and waking so early the day before? Asleep by 930pm and awake before 4am. But the benefit of this 'problem'? Being able to catch this sunrise...
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| Love Jeff's shot that adds the curved road |
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| But this shot of mine just as the sun peaks we got a 11x14 print of and now hangs over our bed. Magical! |
So after hitting tunnel view for Sunrise on way down to the valley at 545 meant we got a great parking spot at the visitors center by 630am and were the only people at lower Yosemite falls by 7am.
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| Walk thru meadow towards Yosemite falls |
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| We had the falls to ourselves for 20 mins! So peaceful. 😍 |
So I don't know when the rest of the world wakes up but we then walked to breakfast at the nearest lodge and there was no line. After eating we hopped the shuttle bus to happy isles to the start of the mist trail. We only hiked to the bridge by Vernal Falls because let's be honest; we're 44 and 50 yr old smokers who rarely do physical stuff. A 1.4 mile hike up over 400 ft of elevation was hard! I do wish we had continued to the steps closer to the falls but at the time there was no convincing our bodies.
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| Faces of us happy to have reached the bridge |
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| A different bridge that is the start of the hike |
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| Best shot of the falls peaking view from the bridge |
We then hopped the shuttle to Curry village and then walked from there to historic Awanahee hotel (where they filmed part of the Shining). Then walked back to the car. Made a stop at El Capitan and a viewpoint for Bridalvail falls and horseshoe falls before heading back to hotel for much needed nap, dinner and cocktails on the front porch listening to the bird chirp and the water fountain water bubbling. Truly a perfect day.
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| Awanahee |
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| El Cap |
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| Front porch sittin with cocktails at Wawona is perfection. |
Next day decided to take a different route to Lake Tahoe with hope to avoid such a scary road. Well that backfired as hwy 4 aka Ebbetts Pass was even scarier! Jeff joked "your favorite place on earth couldn't be Topeka Kansas!" 😆 but an afternoon and night in Tahoe was fantastic and I got my first handpay ever on a Buffalo Gold! (Also first time getting all 14 heads for any gamblers reading). Had an epic breakfast before heading on to Reno.
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| Highlight of this trip was breakfast at Edgewood Resort Bistro with this view! |
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| And of course my first ever handpay! |
Lastly, we drove on to 4 days in Reno because after the beauty of nature comes the debauchery of gambling! The stay at Silverado was nice. Dinner at La Strata was amazing and the laughs the day we discovered Lemon drop martinis in the secret diamond lounge was epic and reminded me of just how much I love these times with my husband and not a care in the world.
So while it had been only 2 yrs since last Lake Tahoe trip it had been 9 yrs since Reno and only my second trip to Yosemite and Jeff's first - I think it may be a while til we are back, but I think there is a very real chance we repeat this trip. But with a short flight over the mountains so we never have to do that drive again 😆. Or we may fly into Sacramento for Yosemite then drive to San Francisco before onto Vegas but that seems a retired people trip and we have a good 15 years at least until we're both retired. I guess time will tell.
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