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Old 29 Oct 19, 03:56 PM  
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smithlane
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The BIG Little Lies California Road Trip - 5th August 2019 - Glacier View sunrise & Mirror Lake

Day 19

Ok who’s idea was it to camp? Oh yeah that’d be me

We had a truly awful night after various selfish people stopped us getting any sleep. We had super snorer in the tent behind us, then someone’s conversation which we could hear every word, at gone midnight we had people wheeling their suitcases obviously having just checked in and decided to talk loudly whilst doing so then we had a family pack up and leave at 1.30 in the morning doing it so loudly they were oblivious to the hundreds of tents with sleeping people around them

I tried to plug in my earphones and listen to music but that was keeping me awake too!
Dear god we’ve got another 2 nights of this
I eventually drifted off around 2am so when the alarm went off at 4.30 I looked like this



We all just chucked on the same clothes we wore yesterday and got in the cars at 4.55am.
I was driving and it was pitch black everywhere, even with full beams on it was hard to navigate. Slightly bottom clenching the entire time but after an hour I got us to the top of Glacier Point. Woohoo!

Hope wanted to stay in the car as she was sleeping so I left her to it, no point making her miserable. Although I have a feeling she’ll regret not seeing this at some point in her life!

As we walked over we could see a bride and groom doing their wedding photos, I wonder what time she had to wake up to get her hair and make up done







Wow just wow! All thoughts of a crappy nights sleep were soon forgotten when we took in this view. I had tears leaking out, I felt quite emotional and photos will never do this view justice.
I’ll try and let the photos do the talking









Vernal and Nevada Falls that we will be hiking tomorrow























Please excuse the state of us, remember we had no sleep









We stayed up for a good hour until the sun had risen then made our way back to the car for the journey back down to Yosemite Valley.
We saw this very cute and docile Mule Deer right by the path. She didn’t seem phased by us at all.







Jim drove this leg so I had a little snooze, still managed to take a few photos though. Just the most beautiful scenery all around you





























Once back we decided to try Yosemite Village for breakfast. Parked up and walked around to Degnan’s Kitchen. Hope wanted to stay in the car again. She’s really not good with little sleep!

Not loads of choice here but we got a sausage and egg muffin each and I got a chocolate muffin to takeaway for later. The sausage muffin was lovely but the chocolate one was completely stale, dry and horrible! I took it back and got a $3.25 refund.





Once done we popped into the Village Gift shop and picked up a Snackables for Hope and 2 large bags of crisps.





Everyone was flagging by now so we headed back to Curry Village, it was only 9am but felt like it was lunchtime! Everyone bar Helen and I went for a sleep in the tents. Instead we had a quick wash, brushed our teeth and got into our swim stuff then took our towels down to Housekeeping Camp. Sleeping is for wimps . It was only a 10 minute walk and was a lot quicker than getting the bus.

















We walked through the camp and over the bridge to the other side of the Merced River. Just a stunning spot and we had it all to ourselves!









By 10.30 a group of rafters floated down. Our hearts sank when they all moored up and interrupted our silence. It did give us an idea though to do a rafting tour ourselves, seeing them all it looked quite fun!
Thankfully they all moved on after 10 minutes.



At about 12 our silence was interrupted again when the others joined us. I was just drifting off to sleep as well!
We spent an hour and a half just chilling with everyone bar Jen and I braving the water. I had a paddle but it was freezing! The kids had good fun in the water.

















I wanted one of these!



We packed up and headed back to Curry Village to get something to eat and to try and book the rafting which couldn’t be done online.
We found the hut by the Reservations cabin and enquired about a rafting tour for tomorrow at 2pm. They thankfully had availability so paid $114 per family and got instructions on where to meet.

With that sorted we now went in search of some lunch so headed to the Pizza Patio which luckily had a shortish queue. We ordered a medium cheese for Hope and I and a medium BBQ chicken for Jim and Sam. Also got a cheesy garlic bread to share and a lemonade for me. $47.45 altogether.
Took a pager and waited. It was expensive for what it was but didn’t taste too bad. Would have been very annoyed had I queued an hour for it though!

Once we had let our food settle we went back to the tents to dump our bags and change into trainers then at 3pm we were on our way to the Mirror Lake trail.

Started at bus stop 14 in Curry Village and waited 20 minutes for the bus. 7 came along going the other way before ours turned up, typical!
Only a 10 minute journey to stop 17, the trail head for Mirror Lake. What was annoying is we found out we could have taken a shortcut pass our tents to get to the trail head, would have only been a ten minute walk with no need for the bus . Oh well!





We took the right hand path which turned out to be the slightly more strenuous route. Lots of uneven footing and small hills to climb over. Beautiful views along the way though.



















It took us nearly 30 minutes to get to the lake. Took a few photos before everyone bar me got in for a swim, crazy fools

























I paddled over to the other side of the lake to wait for them, it was such a beautiful day I could have stayed there forever















Stayed until about 5 then made our way back along the road this time to the bus stop.





A bus pulled up after 5 minutes and we had a lovely driver this evening.
Got dropped back to stop 20 where everyone bar me went to the pool. I wanted to get a start on the packing as I felt I had bits everywhere and I needed to find room for the 2 enormous wreaths I’d bought

It took me about an hour but I felt so much better I had made a head start on it, once done I went to the pool to find the others. I was a bit hot and sticky so had a dip to cool me down.
The pool closes at 7 so didn’t have long there. We were all feeling in desperate need of a shower now so all had one before dinner.

Got talking to our very friendly new neighbours who were from Dallas, Texas. Turns out the wife’s aunt and uncle live in Shepperton which is only 2 miles down the road from us, small world!

By 8 we were all ready, we didn’t fancy what was on offer at Curry Village so got in the cars to drive to Base Camp Eatery at Yosemite Valley Lodge. Only 10 minutes away.







They had loads of different options for dinner. Jim, Sam and I had orange chicken, rice and veg and Hope had chicken tenders, rice and mac n cheese. Strange combo but worked for her! They also did fried chicken and mash, battered fish, pasta, pizza and salads amongst other things. $54 altogether.

Apologies no photos we were starving so tucked right in. Apart from the rock hard broccoli (always rock hard in this country, I mean I don’t want it like baby food but slightly softer so that it doesn’t take a tooth out would be good ) the food was delicious.

We all fancied ice cream but couldn’t find anywhere here so got back in the cars to Curry Village to the ice cream parlour there.



We got Jim and Nick to order while Helen and I ran to the gift shop to pick up our mandatory magnet! We were chuckling at how someone had arranged the 2 model bears they have in the lobby area



I ended up with 2 magnets, a poster, Xmas dec, postcard and some glazed doughnuts for breakfast (healthy I know!)







By the time we got back the ice cream was served. Huge portion but I did manage to finish it all, just .

Helen and I were exhausted as we were still surviving off of 2 hours sleep so went straight back to our tents at 10.15am. I took 2 Paracetamol PM and prayed for more sleep tonight

Edited at 08:47 AM.
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Old 29 Oct 19, 04:08 PM  
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JudyC
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Great day! Glacier Point was a highlight for us too. Hope the other campers weren't so noisy the next night.
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Old 29 Oct 19, 07:24 PM  
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Oh no I was so hoping the camping would work out well, how annoying about the noisy neighbours. I am not really a camper either if I'm honest and much prefer the comforts of an actual room. Fingers crossed you get a better nights sleep tonight.

The views of the sunrise in the morning make it all worthwhile though, how amazing!
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Old 29 Oct 19, 09:10 PM  
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Wow amazing views of the sunrise, shame about the noisy neighbours. Mirror Lake looked lovely.
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Old 30 Oct 19, 05:26 AM  
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Beautiful photos, the scenery is amazing. We didn’t camp because our tent would have had the snorer in it, husband! Also there should be a closing time and people shouldn’t be allowed to arrive and leave at any time. And should be stopped from talking loudly, irs really inconsiderate.

Loved Yosemite, your day looked great, lovely memories
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Old 30 Oct 19, 04:24 PM  
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Wow it is absolutely stunning. No wonder you didn’t want to leave. Shame about the no sleep though. I have been following and enjoying this trip report. We are Planing something similar next year.
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Old 1 Nov 19, 11:57 PM  
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Originally Posted by JudyC View Post
Great day! Glacier Point was a highlight for us too. Hope the other campers weren't so noisy the next night.
Thanks Judy. I'm so pleased we dragged our backsides out of bed to witness the sunrise!
They thankfully weren't as bad as last night as I had taken a sleeping aid
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Old 2 Nov 19, 12:02 AM  
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Originally Posted by Goldia View Post
Oh no I was so hoping the camping would work out well, how annoying about the noisy neighbours. I am not really a camper either if I'm honest and much prefer the comforts of an actual room. Fingers crossed you get a better nights sleep tonight.

The views of the sunrise in the morning make it all worthwhile though, how amazing!
I really was too. I wish we had just forked out the extra $50 a night to stay in a hotel but at time of booking it just seemed such an extortionate a price per night, but once there and knowing what the noise was like I think I would have paid double
Yes at least the views made us forget about the rubbish nights sleep we had!
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Old 2 Nov 19, 12:06 AM  
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Originally Posted by Macca04 View Post
Wow amazing views of the sunrise, shame about the noisy neighbours. Mirror Lake looked lovely.
They really were, I would urge anyone going to Yosemite to make the effort to get up there for sunrise.
Thank you, I really don't understand how some people can be so selfish!
Mirror Lake was very pretty
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Old 2 Nov 19, 12:08 AM  
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Originally Posted by Nesbits View Post
Beautiful photos, the scenery is amazing. We didn’t camp because our tent would have had the snorer in it, husband! Also there should be a closing time and people shouldn’t be allowed to arrive and leave at any time. And should be stopped from talking loudly, irs really inconsiderate.

Loved Yosemite, your day looked great, lovely memories
Haha yes Jim is definitely the snorer in our family but even he isn't as loud as the guy behind our tent!
Yes exactly, I can't believe they let people check in and out 24 hours a day
Thank you, I'm glad its bringing back good memories for you
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