Yosemite

We are the lucky wildlife charms and again we would see animals here on our travels to Yosemite. My cousins Laurie and Ron have friends that lent us their 2nd home which is in Groveland, just outside Yosemite. It's a private gated community and mainly wealthy people who have second homes next to the park. We arrived late one evening because we stopped at a some old cowboy towns on the way. We also visited the oldest bar in California the Iron Door Saloon. Eventually we arrived at the big house in Groveland and I got the open fire going straight away. The house backed onto a golf course and had everything we needed. The following day we headed into the park and after a short while we came across the view of the valley, which was stunning. We had blue skies the whole time. We did a couple of walks while in the valley and on the 2nd walk we came across a big buck walking along the road as in the picture. Further on while everyone was chatting away, I spotted what something which at first I thought 'what the hell is a domestic cat doing out here?' then I noticed the whisks of hair poking up from its ears and realized it was a bobcat. I was speechless and after trying to tap Ron on the arm while mumbling the same ugh, ugh, ugh (a continuous joke against me for some time) over and over again. Maddie, Laurie and Ron stopped and gaped too. The bobcat walked 5ft right beside us and after a little look at us and brief stop, just continued wandering along between the rocks and trees (see pics below). We continued up to mirror lake which is aptly named and had lunch while nervously watching a fairly large rock fall off one of the mountains. As the light faded the tips on some mountains became golden yellow and even reddish pink, was so pretty. During the evening and next day we walked along the trail at the bottom of the higher and lower Yosemite falls which are the highest in North America. Stunning day again and a place we will most definitely visit again!Read more