Trip to the West Coast 6

July 10th
This is a (very hot) day just to relax: pool, petting farm and gem hunt at the campground, shopping, campfire w/ marshmallows and s'mores (o.k. this is not the whole truth, of course there is laundry, cooking, cleaning...)

July 11th
Again Yosemite! This time we explore the giant sequoias of Tuolumne Grove. These giants are so majestic and its unbelievable that people carved one to drive through!! Nontheless we pose for a picture in it:

We leave Yosemite National Park through the north. This part of the park is at least as beautiful as the valley (and less crowded).

The weather is quite warm but not too hot so that we walk around a bit and enjoy this beautiful scenery. Then we drive east southwards. After a great scenic drive through the Sierra Nevada we arrive at Mammoth Lakes and stay at a big RV park.

   

Trip to the West Coast 5

After endless computer problems and a big mess with all our pictures I finally get to continue our blog :-))

July 9th
We are only an hour from Yosemite. On a quite hot morning we finally make it to our first "big" park! Yosemite Valley is spectacular with beautiful vistas and cascades ...

... but soooo crowded!

Why don't they have people leave their cars outside and organize a shuttle service like most of the other parks? It's not really amusing to thread a 30ft RV in these needle-eye parking lots...

We get a first refreshment at the Bridal Veil Falls that cover big part of the trail with their splashing water.

Then we hike to the "Lower Falls" which are together with their "Higher Falls" the highest water falls in the States.

After a hot day in the valley the kids cool off in the water

and on our way back we even catch sight of a (cinnamon brown) black bear next to the road !!!