Yosemite

Yosemite National Park. We were truly amazed by the beauty of the Majestic Sequoia Trees. A fun fact: These gigantic trees start with the seed the size of a flake of oatmeal.

So pretty.

I got stuck posing with this cool hollowed out tree trunk, because no one else would. Dang it.

The roots of a Sequoia on it's side. What you cannot see is all of the miniature chipmunks popping in and out of the huge wooden maze. It was fun to watch. The kids wanted to stay and watch the show, but we needed to move on...

As we hiked up through the forest, the kids were excited to see the trees get bigger and bigger. We were also able to see three deer and lots more chipmunks. I think we had a following. It could have been the peanuts:0

The start of a lower trail

Off roading. Alie inside a split tree

Inside a hollowed out tree from a lightning storm

Our Tree hugger

The meadow was worth the extra hike. It was breathtaking. And so quiet. Alie and I were here alone for a few minutes, as we were a bit behind from admiring rather large pinecones. As far as I could see, there was green. No people, no tour buses, no sound. Just us with the canopy of trees above us and the meadow all around. The feeling was piercing and pure, and then I felt scared. We had just seen deer a couple of miles back. My dreamy state ended with the thought of bears and I picked up my pace. We started jogging up the hill. Alan had taken Lindsay on another steeper path to see some sort of huge fallen tree, and Ryan had taken Justin back down the mountain with Nana and Hoho. It was just Alie and I. We came across a little one room cabin that had an older woman in it. It was like a little museum, I guess. It had a few animal heads, pictures, and among other things large pinecones. We stayed there, glad to have some company, until we saw Alan and Lindsay coming down a nearby trail. The woman told Alie that she could not take her pinecone home, but that she could put it in the "museum" for others to look at. She thought that was pretty cool. She said it felt like she was in a fairy tale.

Back down near the entrance

The tunnel tree.