Yosemite Bound

Several weeks ago a few "lists" on facebook caught my eye... "100 unique foods, How many have you eaten?" "100 top destinations to visit, How many have you been to?" (Those are not the exact words, mind you.) Anyway, the 100 places you have to visit got me to thinking that I sure would love to visit those places and I wont get younger each day, so I should pick somewhere and go. I picked Yosemite. I have two daughters who have longed to go to Yosemite for a few years. Bek didn't get to join us, but I will plan a trip with her in the future.

I was SO super excited to get to go to Yosemite!!!! Honestly, you have no idea. I was that 6 year old driving her parents nuts... "How many more days until we go?" "OH MY GOSH, WE ARE GOING TO YOSEMITE TOMORROW!!" And... well, you get the idea. I was so excited!

Chris, Shasta and Jayden traveled in their new truck with Stephen and Victor. Scott drove our Tahoe with Zoey, Nathan, Joseph, Clayton, Cody and ME!!! Did I mention that I was excited? I was bouncy excited.

So, we headed out of town and about half way there we stopped for a tire change and then pulled into a shopping mart parking lot and spotted a monster truck school bus! When you have boys of all ages, you don't just leave without checking out the monster truck school bus! And Poppa Scott really wanted Jayden to experience the monster truck school bus!

Now, I learned a hard lesson in photography the day we went to Yosemite. I didn't want to carry around my camera bag and switch out lenses, so I stuck my zoon lens on, thinking I would want to zoom in. Very bad choice. When it comes to scenery, mountain ranges, meadows and incredible sights, you need the perspective of the "other" lens. (I am terrible at remembering names of my lenses... but I needed the 18-50 lens so I could get a lot more in the picture... sigh.) But, that is another reason why I have to go back to Yosemite! So, I didn't get a picture of the big monster truck school bus because I just got close ups... drats.

The monster truck was LOUD and Jayden looked at me, saw me smiling and decided if Grandma was smiling and okay with it, it must be safe and okay. He did great! He squealed, raised his arms,yelled, laughed and had himself a swell boy time.

Then we were back on the road to get to the real destination... Yosemite!

Here are a few scenery picks as we got close to the park...

The hardest part of taking pictures, outside of having the wrong lens, was the time of day. Exposure and sunlight and all taken into consideration, a lot of my shots were not at the right time of day for the best lighting, but, I was there for just a day and the sights I was seeing were there for just a brief moment, so I had to just take the pictures and hope for the best... I did make it a point to try to keep my camera shaded and tried to work angles and reflections to the best of my ability... Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures... More to come tomorrow!!