Livingston

So today we donned our warm weather gear to head three hours inland East to Yosemite National Park. 🚌

5 am start to be ready to hit the road. No idea what to expect but looking at weather we thought we were in with a chance to see some snow!

It didn't disappoint but seeing was as close as we got! No touching :) ❄️❄️❄️

We stopped off at a safe way (American equivalent of woolworths) for some snacks for the bus ride! Safeway has everything known to mankind inside.

Toilets (how cool would that have been raising toddlers and having toilets actually inside the supermarket instead of abandoning your half filled trolley to make an emergency dash to the loo's before aisle threw becomes the loo)

Starbucks! Yep inside Safeway to !! ⭐️⭐️ caffeine hit!

There's a whole aisle for beer and wine .... though too early for me to shop this aisle today.

So we tried to stock up on different alternatives to what we would see and eat in Australia and then carried our goodies in a big brown paper bag (just like the movies) to the bus! Now we didn't know what food would be in the park so we shopped big! Much to everyone's entertainment on the bus....

The scenery to Yosemite was a mixture of beautiful .... very green and spacious farming land. Combined with the odd trailer park and industrial enterprises.

82% of the worlds almonds came from the area we drove through today.

Yosemite was a mixture of huge slate and granite rocks, trees, grass. Waterfalls and rivers. They have had a record year for rainfall.

We stopped at Tunnel View initially (instagram point) then on to Bridal falls where we could stand so close to the cascading waterfalls. Water spraying on your face ... and then the rain....

We drove past El Capitan which was a monster of a mountain.

The park is inhabited by bears, mountain lions, squirrels and an array of birds of prey. Sadly we didn't see any bears or lions !!!

We had two hours in the heart of the valley where glaciers had made their way through some thousands or millions of years ago... I can't remember exactly ... I think I nodded off in that bit! The lodge sat at the base of Yosemite falls, a massive waterfall.

Most people opted for lunch in the cafe and a leisurely stroll. Chad and I opted for the more vigorous and challenging high valley walk up the mountain to make the most of the views over the valley. 10 metres yes Metres into the steep incline ... my current lack of conditioning made me wonder if I perhaps should have joined the coffee club crew instead..... but it's a mind over matter thing. So up I went with Ironman himself.

Speaking of peak physical fitness our tour guide today is an ultra marathon runner..... completed 100km last weekend and looking to do a 100 miler in the next few weeks 😬😳

We trekked upwards for about 45 minutes (1 mile- 1.6km) to be rewarded with walking through a small waterfall and the spectacular views below. It was breath taking to be above the clouds and at eye level with the snow capped mountains around us!

Air legger chad gave me some tips on climbing down so as not to slide the 1 mile down on my behind in my soggy converse shoes. And was impressed my height challenged legs managed to keep with him. Not to mention we did not need to legitimately call 911 for heart failure.

A couple of beauty shots on our way out of the park before more snoozing on the bus on our way back!

Another completely different view point today and amazing sites to be seen. Plus the coach driver took us via a truck stop with beer for the drive home.Read more