yosemite - day 1

I've been trying to share these photos with you for a few days now, but blogger has been giving me a hard time - has anyone else been experiencing blogger gremlins???

anyway, as I mentioned before my cousin Deb came to visit us the other week and we took a couple of days off to take her and her friend Adam to Yosemite. We packed up the campervan and headed out

it didn't take long for these guys to fall asleep
Coop decided Bryce's lap was the place to be
Deb proving just how asleep Adam was...
I kept myself entertained by taking lots of photos (as usual)
You might remember this place from photos I took here but there were no clouds this time
this one inspired a painting, which I'll get around to eventually - love the lines of the shoreYosemite is a pet friendly park, but you have to keep pets on paved roads, and since we had some hiking planned we checked Cooper and McKenzie into the doggy spa, which was kind of along the way - but we got a little lost... I was kinda glad, as it gave me an opportunity to take a better photo of this great little shed painted as the US Flag :)
and on we drove...
our campervan is a 1982 vintage and a diesel, so goes about 60 miles (96 kms) per hour at the absolute maximum. so with a full load and many hills to climb she's a slow ride...
but all the better to enjoy the views! :)
and finally we were there
this lady was awesome, when I asked for a photo - I'm sure she gets it all the time, the poor thing... but those hats are just too good to resist!
arriving on a Thursday was a really smart idea, as there were not that many people around (even approaching a long weekend)these rocks never cease to amaze me

I think we'll definitely take bikes with us next time we go - it's the perfect way to get around Yosemite Village, but if you don't want to bring yours, you can always rent them there.

Deb taking in the sites

me taking in the sites :P
we took the canoe with us, and this would have been the place to put her in I think, but we just ran out of time...
last time we were there everything was white and icy, but now at the end of summer the water levels were pretty lowhandsome man :)
handsome van!
there are a few places to camp in the village, upper pines, lower pines, and north pines, but they book out months in advance (apparently), and then there's camp 4 which is on a first come first in basis. people start lining up there at 8:30am. this is tent camping only so wasn't for us.

we camped at Tamarack Flat which is about 30mins out of the valley, so off we went
up some more hillsthrough some mountains of rock
and past some more amazing scenery...

when we arrived we found this guy/girl? hanging out at the bathrooms
so pretty
and made ourselves a home for the night
our campsite was awesome! sheltered by our neighbours by these massive rocks. (that brown box in the foreground is a bear box, where you had to store all your food so the bears didn't come into your car looking for it)
which of course the boys had to climb

doesn't this rock look like a whale coming out of the water?
adam on the nose of the whalebut someone forgot his beer... nice action shot of Deb throwing Adam a beer because that's what good friends do :)
but oops, someone forgot to bring said beer bottle down with them... (we made him go get it later, don't worry)
Adam decided his talent was pyromaniac - he liked to light fires!
after dinner, and drinks we made smores by the fire
and some fire art

with a big day ahead it was time to call it a night. this was the first time we'd slept 4 people in the campervan (Deb and Adam slept up in the annex) and I thought it would be a bit cozy, but it wasn't too bad at all!

feels like monday

you've got to admit, coming back to work from this

is hard.

we had the most magical time in Yosemite this long weekend - what fun things did you get up to?

what would you wish for?

today I am officially on holiday! I have today and tomorrow off, so essentially a four day weekend - woohoo!

Bryce and I usually spend our days off packing as much fun and adventure as we can into every last minute and head back to work feeling tired from our holidays - this week I have taken 2 days off work to stay at home and just potter around the house, but I must say this morning I am feeling at a loss... I have so many plans and just don't know where to begin, every where I look I think yes I can do that, oh and that and fix this and paint that, isn't it funny how when you are given the freedom of time it feels like a burden? like I must spend it wisely!

here are some things I have in mind:

go for a massage

finish the filing

paint my sewing table

redesign my blog

break in my sewing machine (I got for christmas and haven't used yet...)

organise my closets

do you ever feel like that? what would you wish for if you had 2 days off?

photo here

4th of July long weekend getaway

this weekend Bryce and I packed up the camper and headed north across the bridge. destination unknown...

the weather was perfect and the bay was full of activity. people on bikes, sailboats on the water
and after a quick stop in Sausalito for some fish and chips for lunch we headed north on hwy 1
after a few hours of slow driving along the coast on this scenic winding road we stopped for a hike, but were delighted to find this gorgeous swimming area that was protected from the ocean

Cooper was the happiest about this, and was straight into the water

these two burned some energy off

he would swim forever if you let him

McKenzie is the land-lover of the two, and thinks digging is way more fun than swimming...then we set out through this long grass for a walk to dry them off a bit

the lighting was beautiful

but the sun was setting and it was time for us to find a place to camp, and we ended up in Bodega Bay where shortly after the fireworks started going off.

on Sunday morning we were back on the roadand with all that water Coop couldn't contain himself and barked at us incessantly until we pulled over to go to the beach (spoiled much?)
happy now...

there was no sand on this beach, just tiny warm pebbles which felt like a warm pebble massage

then we were off again and decided to head to Guerneville for some breakfast, which turned out to be a bustling place

the russian river was littered with bodies

and every bit of sand on this shore was covered
we walked around the quaint little stores for a while
and then decided to check out Armstrong Redwood state park to see if there was any place to camp
we were amazed by what we foundi love redwoods! so majestic and cooling - they really know how to make you feel insignificant...

just to give you some perspective how big these things really are

and apparently woodpeckers love them - I know this photo is a long shot, but you can just make out the little guy
work it! :Pafter a lovely walk through the redwoods we set off to the campground
which led us up this crazy windy roadand made for some stunning views!
scruffy brycethe colours were magical

the road just kept on going...

and then we found our site - campsite number 7 and set up camp.
we realised after we'd gotten all settled that we hadn't stocked up on more food, as we thought we'd just drive up to the site, stake our claim then go shopping in town, but after that windy road it would have taken us about an hour to get down again... so we took what we had and made the most delicious hamburgers. amazing what you can slap together when you need to!

after dinner we went for a lovely walk to watch the sunset
I wish this one had have turned out a bit more crisp, it was a bunch of young people hanging out talking crap at the top of the ridge
these shots I was playing around with the exposure on my camera, I like the space age night closing in feeling they have

it was a wonderfully relaxing long weekend that we both needed!

what did you get up to? feel free to post your link about what you did in the comments area - I have a bunch of blogs to catch up on!

:)

Kate