Days 9 and 10 in Yosemite National Park

We had a great couple of days at Yosemite Pines RV Park.  Rebecca enjoyed the petting farm, pool and playground.  We all hiked their nature trail.  And out yurt was very comfy - although HOT during the day!  It cooled off at night. And my friends from the SanFrancisco area had the yurt right next to us.

We spent the first day here loafing - sleeping in, doing laundry, swimming in the pool - while waiting for them to arrive.  They came bearing all kinds of delicious fixings for some of the best campfire food ever!  We made foil packet dinners with your choice of salmon or chicken; tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, onions, summer squash; and pesto or teriyaki sauce.  And of course, s'mores for later.  (Too busy cooking and eating to take photos though.)

We got a kick out of the wild turkey that lives in camp.  We saw her and her chicks every day.  Sometimes right under our picnic table!
Rebecca went to the petting farm each morning to help feed the animals.   She even picked up a chicken one day.

She had 6 chicks.

On Monday, we headed into Yosemite to see More Famous Stuff.  First we went to Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias for a hike to see the Grizzly Giant and the California Tunnel Tree.

Whoa, giant pinecones!

Hiking down the path.

A fallen tree

The Fallen Giant has been there a long time.

Grizzly Giant tree

Snack break in the grove.

The California tunnel tree.

When we got done looking at "boring trees that aren't that big" according to one boy I overheard, we had a dilemma.  We hadn't made it into the Yosemite Valley yet.  Where the Famous Stuff is located.  But we had already eaten lunch and it was about an hour to get there.  Yosemite is HUGE!  So we decided to go for it, and were glad we did.  Seeing the Curry Village campground in the valley also made me glad we didn't get a camp reservation there.  It was totally crazy with thousands of visitors, people wandering into the road, people on bikes, unattended children...  

But the scenery was pretty amazing.

We had lunch at the Curry Village buffet, which was quite yummy.  We had been seeing these small ground squirrels all day... but we were still surprised to see one under our table.

See, cute baby squirrels!

Holy cow, there's a squirrel under the table!

We finally got back to our camp around bedtime for the kiddies.  It was a great day!

You would not believe how long these two could talk on a car trip.
Try it sometime.