Through the Dutch Door: Family Trip to Yosemite

Today, being the last day of Winter Break for my son, we decided to head up the hill to Yosemite National Park. It's about two hours from our house. We were in search of snow but I wasn't sure we'd find any. Our first stop once we got into the park was the Wawona Hotel. It was closed for the season but we got out of the car and took some pictures.

This place is amazing, as you can see from the photos. I looked into staying here and the pricing was very affordable. Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to book a reservation yet. Isn't the cottage adorable???

Once we hit the other side of the bridge, we stopped to take more pictures. I have a severe anxiety of heights. It's gotten worse since I had my son. I have pictures of this same area and I'm standing near the edge. I couldn't even let my son walk on the sidewalk this time. Poor kid. Notice how far away I made them stand for the picture!

After we hit the Valley Floor, we were in search of food. I was starving from the diet I started today and all I needed was food. All the cheaper restaurants were closed for the season and it was $30 a plate at the Ahwahnee Hotel, which I didn't want to spend on my son, who would no doubt, not eat it. We ended up at the Valley Grocery where we bought Poor Boy sandwiches and ate them on a bench right outside. We didn't even let them put it in a bag!

We did a little hiking (on trails) after lunch, looking for snow. There wasn't much snow as you can see from the pictures, but my son only wanted to do three things:

Build a Snowman
Have a Snowball Fight
Make a Snow Angel

The first thing he was able to do was the snowball fight. Since the snow was actually no longer snow, but snow that had melted and refroze into ice, it was pretty lethal to be hit by some of it. Nevertheless, he enjoyed his snowball fight. Snowball Fight? Check

Next, we found some snow that was soft enough that if I scuffed it up with my shoe, it became pliable to make a snowman. Stick some rocks in it and add a hat, and snowman: Check

In front of the lovely Yosemite Chapel, there was quite a bit of snow. It was still pretty hard and icy, but my son laid down in the snow (he was already wet from falling on some slush earlier), and made his snow angel. I convinced him that you could see it with my sunglasses on and he donned my sunglasses and saw his snow angel. Last goal: Check!

The ride home was not as much fun, as I always get a little queasy coming down. We stopped in the lovely town of Oakhurst, where hubby and I used to live and we traveled down memory lane with some stops at the school I used to teach at, which is now a barren, vacant building, and the house we used to live in. Then we stopped and ate at Crab Cakes, complete with dessert.

We had a big day, and very memorable last day of Winter Break. I'm glad to be home, snuggled in my jammies, feet curled under me with laptop on my lap, and listening to my dogs play and my husband play SongPop. I wish it was quieter, but I'll take what I can get!

Here are some more pictures of the Valley.