18 December 2013

honeymoon days seven and eight.

dates: Wednesday, 14 August to Thursday, 15 August 2013.
final destination: Yosemite National Park, California.

Yosemite National Park California Half Dome

Day seven was spent driving from Crater Lake to Yosemite.  It's a pretty lengthy drive - around ten hours - so we didn't have anything planned for the day except to get to our campsite.

The thing about camping in/near Yosemite is that they take bear safety reallllly seriously.  Like, you sign off your initials swearing you'll utilize the bear box and be responsible or you will be fined (if a bear doesn't eat you and everyone else first).

But apparently it's not as crucial to warn campers about raccoons.  Jon and I were reading by the fire that night, and while he was reading I thought I heard something behind us, so I turned around to look.  I didn't see anything at first, but then I turned my headlamp on and I'm almost literally face-to-face with a raccoon.  Commence freak-out mode, because those things are soooo gross and freaky, and I've seen enough episodes of Parks and Recreation to know that those things are nothing but trouble.

Yosemite National Park Dog Lake

Yosemite National Park Dog Lake

In the morning we drove to the Tuolumne Meadows and hiked to Dog Lake.

Full disclosure: Yosemite wasn't and isn't my favorite place in the world to visit.  It is certainly pretty and I am positive that there are a million places to be discovered there that I haven't even been near, but it's a little too crowded in places for me to enjoy.

Fortunately, there weren't many people up at Dog Lake.  It was a nice, peaceful place, and I wish we could have stayed longer, but we had other places we wanted to get to.

Yosemite National Park Tenaya Lake Beach

We spent about an hour and a half at Tenaya Lake.  The water was freezing, but the beach and sun were warm and it was nice to lay in the sun for a while.

Yosemite National Park Royal Arches

Yosemite National Park California Half Dome

Yosemite National Park California Half Dome

Then we drove allll the way to Glacier Point because what is a first-time visit to Yosemite without a panoramic view of the park and a touristy photo with Half Dome behind you and Asians and stylish French people on all other sides of you?

Portraits of the day:

Kristin in HD

Kristin in HD

Kristin in HD


And then we drove alllll the way home to San Luis Obispo, where we stayed and relaxed for the remainder of our trip until we had to return home.  This was such an amazing trip, and we count ourselves so lucky to have been able to go on a crazy awesome adventurous honeymoon.  We honestly are so blessed and incredibly grateful for everything we have and are able to do, and hope that others will have the same opportunities as us - especially to travel to the places we went on this trip!

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