Glacier Point to Mist Trail via Panoramic Trail

When I started planning for our trip, I realized that the road to Glacier Point was going to be closed while we were there.  The only way to reach this iconic point was going to be on the “4-mile trail” from the valley floor. We decided to combine that trip with the Panorama Trail and the Mist Trail to make for the longest and most beautiful hike we have ever taken!  It was supposed to be 13 miles but ended up being another 2 miles when the shuttles weren’t running at the bottom.  It was totally worth it!

At the trailhead

A deer on the way up

With just a little elevation gain, you started getting a good view of Yosemite Falls on the other side of the valley

First view of Half Dome from the trail

Just a little bit of snow lingered

Terry arrived at the top first and started working on his artsy photos

View from the top towards Half Dome.  Yo can also see Nevada Falls and Vernal Falls which we will be hiking by later

View from the top in the other direction.  You can see both Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls.  We could also pick out our campsite way below.  

Note the lack of people.  Usually this place is pretty crowded, but with the road closed, we shared it with just a few other hikers

Starting down the Panorama Trail.  We had this trail mostly to ourselves for a few hours.

Trail art

Just upstream from Illouette Falls

Nevada Falls is going over the edge.  For some reason, I did not get a good photo of the falls themselves.  It was a lot of water!

Starting down the Mist Trail.  This was a pretty difficult downhill path.  Especially after already hiking 8-10 miles!

You definitely get wet this time of year on this trail

Vernal Falls

Our celebratory brunch the following morning at the fancy hotel.

Another Epic Road Trip - Tall Van Trouble/Sequoia/First View of Yosemite

Being in California necessitates a trip to In-N-Out, but we accidentally got in line there before realizing that our van was too tall.  Well, it was at least too all according their posted clearance.  After waiting in a huge double line of cars and worrying that we would have to make every one of them back up, we cleared!  Whew!

We learned our lesson and did not attempt the drive-thru tree in Sequoia

Our favorite thing at Sequoia was not the big trees but the views from Moro Rock

We drove through a corner of King's Canyon National Park on the way to Yosemite from Sequoia.  But most of the "good stuff" was not accessible yet as there was still to much snow.  That was just as well as we had reservations in Yosemite and knew there would be plenty there to see.  Here is the famous "tunnel view" at Yosemite.  It' quite a grand welcome!

Bridal Veil Falls.  The trail was closed, but we went anyway!

El Capitan

Yosemite Falls

Our campsite.  We could not believe the view!  We were right on the Merced River with a perfect view of Half Dome.  This was totally worth synchronizing my clock and being right on the dot on that day in December when reservations opened up!

Another Epic Road Trip - Vegas to Needles on the Colorado River

We had so much fun on our campervan vacation in 2020 that we decided to take another one.  This time we picked up the van in Vegas and spent three weeks seeing sites in Nevada, Arizona, California and Utah. 

What a blessing to have flexible jobs and to be able to see these sites with good weather and minimal crowds.  

After flying into Vegas, we spent one night on a hotel on the strip just because we've never been there.  It was definitely not our jam.  I just hate casinos!  They are sad, smoky places.  But the NFL draft was getting ready to start the next day, so it was fun to see all the prep going on and some huge guys walking around.

The next day we headed to Hoover Dam and took a tour of the generators.

We weren't sure where to camp this first night but settled for a little place called Katherine's Landing on the Colorado River.  I have never camped among so many flowers- lots of flowers and only one other camper in the whole place

We saw some sites along Route 66.

First sunset at the Grand Canyon.  We camped right in the National Park. 

The next morning we took a hike on the South Kaibab Trail to Cedar Point.  It was an awesome hike which I highly recommend!

This is the first time I've seen a sign with a guy throwing up on it.  But I must admit I didn't feel the greatest going uphill on this hike!

After seeing the Colorado River at Hoover Dam, camping by it at Katherine's Landing, and seeing it at the bottom of Grand Canyon (albeit at a distance), we camped right beside the Colorado River at Needles, CA.  This would be the last time we would see the Colorado River for a while. 

 

March Madness - It Was Fun Til it Wasn't

We have a long history with March Madness, having both grown up as college basketball fans and having gotten married on the day that Arkansas first advanced to the final four!

So we decided to attend a game in person as sort of a bucket-list thing.  We went to Indianapolis to watch Tennessee's opening game!  It was great!

The next game - well, let's just say we wish we would have come back to Knoxville early.  We did have good seats, though!

I was glad Arkansas was still in the tournament, and that we got to enjoy them beating Gonzaga and making it to the Elite Eight again!