yosemite

we went to yosemite a few weeks ago. i made the reservations for early in the year so we could see the waterfalls in full effect and to work around aaron's summer school schedule. old man winter made sure we saw the waterfalls at their glory. he also made sure we could play in the snow. not cool. with a weather report straight out of december, we decided to go anyway.
here's a snapshot of us entering the valley and stopping at tunnel view. this is a famous place to take pictures because you can see many of the landmarks in one frame (el capitan, bridalveil falls, and half dome). although we had smiles on our faces it was about 40 degrees outside. we look fondly upon this image and try to forget the rest of our ill fated trip.
this is yosemite falls. fed solely by snowmelt, it was raging. the season had delivered a record breaking 300% snowpack, so the rivers were pumping. a trip to yosemite isn't complete to me without a major hike. with granite steps all along the trail, this is the equivalent of hiking 2 empire state buildings. there are some hair raising views at the top since you can literally walk to the edge of the falls. i loved it. it was such an amazing hike.
note the dry ground. this is hours before the rains began and the floods came up.
see the magnificent view from glacier point. or so i'm told. we took the hour drive on switchbacks to see the entire valley from this one vista. too bad i didn't realize a storm meant the entire valley would be fogged in at this elevation. with fog everywhere and snow on the ground i had to laugh or i'd cry. this was pretty much the theme of the trip...
...including when, in the first 5 minutes of arrival, 2 squirrels had gotten into our suv, ripped into my sealed bag of chocolate chip cookies, snacked on our cheez-its and pooped on the seat. luckily it was a rental. i felt like the grizwolds time and time again. oh well, they can't all be perfect, right?
aaron posted a video of our trip on his facebook page, if you're so inclined.