Day 34 - Out of the hostel and into Yosemite!

We found out that the RV park we stayed at was not our favorite.  We tried to take showers this morning only to have the water temperature fluctuate between scald and freshly melted ice without any logic.  It was incredible the inconsistency and range of temperatures of the water.  So we ended up with a fast shower and committed to try to figure out Yosemite if we needed to.  The RV camp was also packed as close as it could be - we thought about asking our neighbors for some sugar by reaching out our arm and passing it between RVs!  But it was EXTREMELY close to Yosemite and had access to a pool with 8 foot depth so it worked in the end.

We knew we couldn’t get into our tent until after 4 PM, but there was very little exploring for us to do at the RV park so we decided to go into the park early and see if we could park and explore the park without Dover attached.  So, Amy and I spent some time changing gears as we decided what should be in Rover that we could access and what should be in Dover that we wouldn’t need for two days.  We packed up food, clothes, and sleeping equipment thinking that we figured we would need into Rover and headed into the park.

We got into the park around 10:30 and there were people EVERYWHERE.  We drove back to Curry Village only to have the ranger basically shoo us away.  Amy sweetly explained that we were staying in the camp and eventually he gave us the opportunity to look for a parking spot.  As luck would have it, we didn’t have any problems finding a spot for both Rover AND Dover.  WE backed Dover into a spot and disconnected before parking Rover a few spots down.  Hooray - we’re in Yosemite!

To kill the time, we decided that we would wander around the Curry Village area and decide what we wanted to see while we were here.  One thing we knew we didn’t want to do was give up our parking spot - it was more precious than those in New York City!  As we wandered around, we stumbled into the lounge of the village.  It’s a quaint old cottage of a building, but more importantly they had games that boys could play.  There was a wooden version of connect 4 and you could rent the parts needed for shuffleboard (tabletop), foos ball, chess, and even bowling pins for the shuffleboard.  Given that check in was just a few hours away, we decided to just hang out in here for a while.

Later in the afternoon though, we decided that we didn’t want to let the whole day be spent in the lounge (at least Amy and I decided that) so we checked into our cabin, got everything out of Rover and into the tent and then hiked towards Vernal falls.  The boys and I stopped at the overpass/overlook, but Amy went on to the top of the falls.  The falls were remarkable because the area had gotten 260% of annual average snow and it was continuing to melt.  

The boys and I made it back to camp and then I headed back up the mountain to find Amy while the boys hung out in the tent for a few minutes.  When I found her, she was SOAKED.  Apparently the falls left so much mist that she described the hike up as going through a car wash.  But the view from the top was apparently worth every step.

We went to go make our dinner only to realize that much of our dinner was in cans and the can opener was in the camper.  We decided that it was a sign so we hopped in Rover and went over to the Yosemite village area for dinner there.  Pizza for the boys and burgers (veggie for Amy of course) for the parents.  And then after dinner, we had a terrific view of Yosemite falls.

Our route back from dinner included a stop at Tunnel View. It was nearly sunset so it was crowded, but the view was amazing.

We drove back to Curry Village, explored a bit more and then we curled up on the cot/beds for a nice night of sleep.