Sarah and Rachel do Hawaiifornia, July 2009, Day 5

[DisneySarah]

The cast:
Me (Sarah) 24 – Disney addict and holiday planner extraordinaire

Rachel, 21 – Lover of sleeping in late and not doing a lot else. Partial to a little Disney. Oh, and my little sister.

Day 5 – Glacier Point and Yosemite Valley
Friday 17th July

Today was our big (and only) Yosemite day, as our car had to be back in San Francisco the following day, so we were up at 7.30am, and had the buffet breakfast at the hotel. It wasn’t up to much to be honest, but included with the room, so we couldn’t complain

It took us about 20 minutes to drive over to the road up to Glacier point and there was a sign outside saying, “Long delays” What? There’s no cars around, surely we won’t have to wait!

Wrong.

As soon as we turned on to the road there was a lady who told us the wait was about 20 minutes, despite the fact that we were 2nd in the queue. Oh well, at least we had some snacks and drinks in the car, so we made the most of it and sat on the road and sunbathed – it was lovely!

We finally made it up to Glacier point about 1.5 hours after leaving the hotel, but it was sooo worth it! I never made it up here last time I was in Yosemite due to not having a car, so it was extra special to come here, and the views were out of this world.

A look out just before Glacier Point:





The half dome, which towers above the valley, is on the left here:


Before the last bit of the drive up to Glacier Point:



At Glacier point, we parked up and walked up the 1/4 mile trail to the look out. These pictures are looking at the Half Dome and down towards the valley:







I have travelled a reasonable amount and I honestly think Yosemite has some of the best views in the world. I could have spent all day up here.

By lunch time, we had made it down to the valley and parked up in the day visitors car park. Boy, it was hot down here! Lunch was quickly grabbed at the deli in Yosemite village and then we walked over to the bottom of Lower Yosemite falls. The atmosphere was great down here, with families playing and cooling off in the icy cold water; we couldn’t resist having a dip ourselves:





Next we caught the shuttle on to Happy Valley, past Curry Village, where I had stayed on my previous visit and got off where we could “hike” to Mirror Lake (its actually more of a stroll) Now, I had tried to warn Rachel that Mirror Lake didn’t exactly live up to its name at this time of year, and was actually more of a pond, but she didn’t heed my warning and when we got there I heard a sigh and, “Is this it?!”

Yep...it was:



We had a bit of paddle here too and then caught the shuttle back to the day parking and drove back to the hotel, arriving about 6pm.

Dinner was had on the balcony of the restaurant tonight:



And then we lay about reading until it was time for an early night.

Tomorrow: Back to San Francisco

[Tinkers]

fantastic pictures again. Just can't wait to go next year.

[DisneyMadAng]

Aw can't believe you only had one day at Yosemite Tis a gorgeous place though and your photos are fab.

[ashc13]

Your photos are fab! Yosemite is on my list of places to visit!

[purple myra]

OMG Yosemite looks absolutely gorgeous...fantastic photos again

[tracyh]

Photos are amazing, Yosemite looks absolutely gorgeous. I can't wait to go there and we only have 1 day too!

[Guest]

Loving this report, i would love to visit Yosemite now!

[Manc_Chris]

Far better than theme parks by the look of it !

Great photos, thanks.

[Guest]

Another great report with lovely photos.

[colinzy]

Amazing photos!