We got new neighbors today. They were a couple of art teachers and their really adorable little kids. We entertained them by talking about Phineas and Fern and Spongebob Squarepants. They were really nice people. 

We didn’t get up early enough to hike Nevada and it bothered my mom a little bit. We decided that we would just hike to Vernal Falls, which isn’t much. It was only about 0.8 of a mile. We thought that it was going to be easy. Boy were we wrong. It was not a switchback trail and it was steep the whole time. If you want to go anywhere in Yosemite, you start at the valley and go up. When we got back to curry village, Ricky took off his shoe and his toe was bleeding pretty badly. He had an ingrown toenail that had cut open his foot and he was walking on it all day. We were getting psyched up for Nevada Falls the next day, but we knew that Ricky couldn’t do it on his foot like that. Also my mother woke up in the middle of the night crying out because her bad knee was hurting her pretty badly. Daddy and I decided that we would go on the hike by ourselves and Ricky and my mother would hike mirror lake, which is flat.

We didn’t do much today. We bought peanuts and carrots and chewy bars to eat on the hike for the next day. The hike to Nevada Falls is also the trail for Half Dome, so they’re pretty lax on food restrictions. We figured we would need the calories. 

I think it was earlier today that Ricky and I bought matching bags.

Today was alright. I’m not getting jaded or anything, I’m just getting nervous for the hike to Nevada falls tomorrow. We woke up in the Yosemite Lodge to a great breakfast of pancakes and eggs (and bacon for the boys). We packed the car and went on what we thought was going to be a short and simple hike. Lower Yosemite falls, a simple 1.5 mile loop that is wheelchair accessible. But Ricky saw the rocks at Lower Yosemite and he saw quite a few people leaving the trail and climbing on the rocks at Lower Yosemite, so he ran right out there and started hopping all over these rocks. He was absolutely fine going by himself, but I didn’t want him to get hurt without anyone being out there for him. So I followed him into the rocks. I’m proud that I was able to keep up with him. Ricky had absolutely no problem about making my mother as nervous as possible by jumping from large rock to large rock. We touched the bottom of the falls, which wasn’t too bad. Of course Ricky saw a spot even higher and he wanted to go there. And I’m not going to let him go by himself. So I follow him through winding trails, going slightly slower than him because I’m not as much of a daredevil as he is. 

We’re halfway there and we stop on a rock out of Mommy’s sight to rest for a little bit when we think we see Daddy coming on the rocks as well. We wish for water to drink. We continue our ascent to touch the cliff face. 

I turn around and yell because there’s my dad, glinting eyes, with sweat on his brow and a wide smile on his lips. We’re pretty far up, so it took a lot of effort for him to get to this point. Ricky starts yelling at him because he’s going to slow us down, and we were also concerned with him getting wrong footing and twisting an ankle or hurting himself. He seems winded in one of the best ways and tells us that it doesn’t matter and that he can keep up with us. Ricky hops ahead. I stay behind my father. We all touch the cliff face and we are ready to go down. Ricky wants to keep going, but I’m concerned for his safety because he’s acting a little rash and way too daredevil-y for my taste. I’m also worried for my father who isn’t exactly King of Balance. I stay behind him because I want to stay behind the person I feel is more likely to get an injury. 

We get to the bottom and finish the trail. I don’t remember doing much after that. We checked into Curry Village. It was much nicer than I expected. 

Today marks the first week of our vacation! 

For breakfast this morning, I had an apple with peanut butter. Mommy had beef jerky and hot tea. Daddy had a little bit of everyone’s. Ricky had poptarts and milk. We had a restful enough sleep, except for the car alarm going off at 3 or 4 in the morning. Daddy was joking that he should go find the car and cut the battery cable.  Our breakfast cost less and was btter for us than the buffet at Curry Village. We couldn’t check into the Yosemite lodge but that’s alright. We plan on going to Glacier Point.

11:21 am

So we hiked up to Sentinal Dome and it was much more difficult than the map suggests. Daddy looked at it and I guess he read it wrong and he said that the elevation change was about 100 ft. At first we were thinking about hiking Glacier Point, but it is an eight mile round trip trail, and the elevation change is 3234 ft. After getting the top of Sentinal Dome and looking around the beautiful panorama and hiking the 1.5 back down to the parking lot, we got a little something to tide us over before driving back into the valley. Settling into our dinner, (a glamourous dinner of pizza) Daddy noticed that he read something wrong and that the elevation change was not 100 ft like he first told us. The actual elevation change was about 900 ft. And we could definitely tell. 

It was worth it, though, in the end to be on the top of Sentinal, hearing nothing but the wind and the joyful laughs of the people who made it to the top just as you did. It was 3 miles round trip. It was a very good start to our hiking experience in Yosemite.