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Old 7 Feb 20, 04:12 PM  
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juliab
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The 260 Mile West Coast Wander - August 2019 - Day 10 - Meadow walks to starry nights - Yosemite

INDEX

Tuesday 13th August

Our last full day in this beautiful place.

I had to get up in the middle of the night to go to the loo I was surprised that this hadn’t happened before now. Thankfully there were no bears lurking around. I looked up into the sky as I walked over to the shower block and it looked dazzling with loads of twinkling stars.

So glad that I managed to get back to sleep ok and with my earplugs in place I didn’t wake up until 8am.

When I went to get my wash I spoke to a lovely lady whom I’d said morning to the previous day. Turns out she lived quite near to us in North Derbyshire. They were on their last few days of the holiday and were heading off to Las Vegas for the last few nights. I said we were going in the opposite direction and we’d be visiting San Francisco next. She mentioned how cold it was there and that she had needed to buy a hoody because of the cool wind. It made me wonder if I needed something a little warmer? She also told me about there being a lot of homeless people in San Francisco and L.A. too something we’d not encountered yet. It was really nice to have a chat with her and we wished each other a lovely rest of holiday.


Once we’d all changed Scott Poppy and myself headed down to the coffee shop for our usual coffee’s and breakfast pastries. Unfortunately because it was later they’d run out of cinnamon buns so we bought more muffins and milk for my weetabix.

Also because it was later the main store was open so we also bought some fruit and yogurts along with some sandwiches and some fresh fruit for our lunch. I kept thinking about what the lady had said about it being a bit cool in San Francisco and I had a quick look at their hoody’s and sweatshirts whilst we were in there.

Morning view!


Had our breakfast and we were ready for the day, we’d made a rough plan last night as to what to do today but decided whatever to go at a slower pace due to my blisters!

Not be needing our walking sticks today


We caught the bus to the no 6 stop, Lower Yosemite Falls. The buses were a lot quieter than at the weekend thankfully so we were able to get on the first bus that arrived.

This time though when we got off the bus we crossed over the road to Cook’s Meadow to start this short and easy trail.

Talk about quiet we literally had the meadow to ourselves we only saw a handful of people as we wandered around!













We continued with our gorgeous walk through the meadow and then crossed over Sentinel Bridge - watched a few people go by on their rafts it really did look like good fun!

The Chapel wasn’t far from here we just needed to walk a little further on and cross the road. The door was open so we had a look inside this charming little chapel.


After our short visit we crossed back over and walked back through the meadows which were really so pretty. We spotted numerous butterflies and dragonflies along the way and the meadow was extremely peaceful and so very picturesque.


Back at bus stop no6 we thought we may as well have another look at Yosemite Falls whilst we were here. We used the restrooms there and then I needed to attend to my blisters as the plaster had started to come off one of them.

First aid all sorted and bottles all refilled we took the short walk up to the falls which was still looking quite impressive. I doubt we'll ever see a waterfall of this size again so of course it was worth another close up look.







It was still really crowded though and we saw a few people climbing quite high up onto the rocks. It really freaks me out when I see people do this as I’m so scared they’re going to slip or fall!



We walked down towards the Visitors Centre which was just a little way down the path so that we could catch the bus to El Capitan. This bus wasn’t as regularly I think it ran every half hour? Because no one was waiting we presumed that we’d maybe just missed it so we thought we’d take a look in the centre. Thankfully just before we entered we noticed a bus pull up so we ran over and just managed to get on it.

As we weren’t sure which was the best stop to get off to view El Capitan we just did our usual and followed the masses. When we saw everyone getting off we just did the same.

Oh my word again it’s so difficult to get a sense of the size of El Capitan. It is just ginormous!




We tried to see if we could spot any climbers and after looking really hard we managed to spot some but they were very difficult to see. They looked like little ants in comparison to the massive granite rock.

Sat in the shadows of some trees and El Cap we had our lunch. We were next to the river it was a lovely spot to sit for a while until the next bus came along.




We didn’t have to wait long and we caught the bus round to near where the swinging bridge was. The driver pointed us on the right direction when we got off and we followed the path round and after a little walking we soon arrived.

We walked past some picnic tables so that could’ve been a lovely spot for our lunch. There were quite a few people enjoying the Merced River and the beach there and I thought why hadn’t I brought our swim gear! Never mind we enjoyed the beautiful views here and we crossed over the swinging bridge that didn’t actually swing!







We walked back through some more meadows, not sure which one?

Then by chance we followed a path round to a bus stop which was extremely busy. There seemed to be a big car/coach park behind it so I don’t know if whether it was some kind of drop off point for day trippers but it was so busy compared to everywhere else we’d been today. The bus was jam packed and we just managed to squeeze on.

Once back at Curry Village we stopped for one of those massive ice creams from the coffee shop. We each got 1 scoop goodness knows what the size of a 2 scoop would be.



Went back to our hut afterwards and we got our swim gear. Hayden and Jamie said they weren’t too bothered about swimming today so they stayed and listened to some music, played games on their phones (which didn’t need data of course) whilst we went to the pool.

Thankfully it was open and it was fairly quiet in there too. Had a lovely hour splashing around, it was a little cold to start with but we warmed up after a little time.





Thought we may as well get our shower here afterwards, oh my word the showers were so good compared with our shower block.

All clean and fresh we headed back but we nipped into the General store first. I’d kind of convinced myself that I needed a thicker long sleeved top for San Francisco so after looking around in here I managed to find myself a nice warm hoody at a reasonable price.

Once back we were pleasantly surprised to find that Hayden and Jamie had took themselves off for a shower and had changed so we practically all set for some tea.

We couldn’t be doing with going to Meadow Grill again so as we were using the car tonight we drove over to Yosemite Valley Lodge on our way out and we stopped at Base Camp Eatery.

The quick service restaurant was so nice and modern ant the menu differed a little from the Meadow Grill and Pizza Patio. Hayden, Jamie and Poppy still ordered a burger of some kind but I had some brown rice and noodles with orange chicken and it tasted so good. Wished we had come here earlier in our stay!


It was now dusk and we set off on the drive up to Glacier Point. What with one thing and another I had totally forgotten to book the Starry Night tour at Glacier Point what with one thing and another. This tour can be booked with transport or without transport of course we didn’t need the coach journey up as we had our car. I just forgot to book it but never mind as I’d read sometimes you can pay the $10 cost directly at Glacier Point. If we couldn’t do this i thought we would just look up into the night sky anyway.


The drive up was fine again, probably felt ok as we'd driven up this way before. We still took it easy and it was such a beautiful drive up there with the sun gradually going down. We didn’t get there in time for the sunset we’d totally underestimated how long it would take to eat something and then drive there but we still saw the gorgeous twilight sky.

First things first though we used the restrooms! I then noticed the coach but alas we didn’t know which direction the group would be. We decided to head to the lookout where we had been the morning before mainly because we knew the way to it.

We had a little torch with so we could see the way along the path and we soon arrived at the lookout. Our eyes had adjusted with the gradual darkness and the views out to Half Dome were breathtaking with the moonlight reflecting on the granite dome.

There were a few other people scattered around there, mainly sitting on the rocks but within around 30 minutes most people had left. We sat on the smooth rocks there looking up to the night sky. I know it wasn’t the best of conditions as it was a full moon but we still got to see an extremely dazzling starry night.

I had one of those star gazing apps on my phone so we were able to pick a couple of planets out and some constellations. I know it’s not that much of a substitution for a knowledgeable astronomer but it was more than ok for us and just to be laid there in such stillness looking up to that sky was amazing enough.

A little later we looked over the wall down in to Curry Village again like we did yesterday. It wasn’t as scary looking in the dark though and it looked really pretty with those twinkling lights. Also we noticed the odd flashlight on Half Dome?


Soon we were the only ones left there it wasn’t cold but it felt cool thankfully I’d brought my new hoody up with me so I was fine and the kids had put theirs on too. We sat there a while longer gazing out into the beautiful darkness and exchanged whispered conversations with each other about what we could see.




Tonight was one of my favourite nights of our trip - It was such a simple and easy thing to do yet it was ever so special.

After a little while longer we left Glacier Point and we drove back down the road, we took it steadily driving back down as it was really dark but it was fine and a hour later we were back at curry village. Scott wanted to give our trainers another wash as they’d got ready mucky again so he was at the outside sink scrubbing them down for a while.

Once finished we’d all got ready for bed and were asleep at 11.30pm after another brilliant day in Yosemite. We’re going to miss this place so much.

Steps – 15,103

Thanks for reading

Edited at 03:26 PM.
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Old 7 Feb 20, 07:17 PM  
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Jessika
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Another fantastic read. I’m so looking forward to our 2 nights in Yosemite. Thanks for sharing your amazing trip. I’m very much looking forward to the next instalment.
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Old 7 Feb 20, 09:15 PM  
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What a fab last day in Yosemite, the stars just sound gorgeous.

The hoody sounds cute - nice momento too! Is it in future pics

Really enjoying your trippie Julia xx
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Old 7 Feb 20, 10:42 PM  
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Sparksy72
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A beautiful day and a spectacular night, it must have been just so beautiful to be there in person. Thank you for sharing.

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Old 8 Feb 20, 12:56 AM  
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Your trip report is making me want to return, remembering all those beautiful views. Thank you 😊
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Old 8 Feb 20, 10:00 AM  
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We loved the food at the Base Camp Eatery especially the orange chicken and noodles. I feel like I want to go back to Yosemite more than ever now Julia! I'm loving reading your report and your photos are beautiful. Can't wait to read more.
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Old 8 Feb 20, 10:31 AM  
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How amazing going to Glacier point at night. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it will be open by the time we visit in May.
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Old 8 Feb 20, 07:54 PM  
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Amazing end to an amazing day. Just perfect 🙂
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Old 9 Feb 20, 07:32 PM  
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Every day the views just seem to get better. The meadows are beautiful against the backdrop of the huge mountains. It feels like a more relaxing day today, and it must have been nice for Poppy to get a bit of pool time. Lovely way to end the day looking at the stars - it sounds like a very special memory.
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Old 10 Feb 20, 10:36 PM  
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juliab
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Originally Posted by Jessika View Post
Another fantastic read. I’m so looking forward to our 2 nights in Yosemite. Thanks for sharing your amazing trip. I’m very much looking forward to the next instalment.
I'm so glad you're looking forward to your Yosemite stay it really is the most beautiful place. Have an amazing time.
Thanks for reading along
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