Yosemite

This morning was our ridiculously early start to head to Yosemite. We woke at 5am to get ready for our pick up. I woke up the usual, feeling horrendous, coughing my guts up and going through half a packet of tissues before leaving the hotel. Pete and I had a bit of an argument about leaving to go on this trip today. Pete was in favour of us sitting out because of how sick I have been and didn't want me pushing myself too much but I don't want to let this get in the way of the trip. We had already paid for it and I know how excited Pete was to head out to Yosemite, he had been looking forward to this day all holiday - there was no way in hell I wasn't going to soldier on through it today!

We got ready and headed on out to wait for our bus. It was about a half hour wait in the freezing cold but the bus finally arrived and we hopped on board the nice, WARM bus. Our drivers name was Gino and he was from Belarus. He had the funniest accent and his pronunciation of words were hilarious and he knew it! Gino was a total joker the whole day, we were really lucky to have such an awesome tour guide.

The trip to Yosemite was about 3.5 hours long. I slept most of the way mostly because I wanted to preserve my energy for the day of hiking but also cos I was tired ha.

We arrived at Yosemite and boy was it beautiful. The sites over here haven't ceased to amaze me yet and that's great! Although it was absolutely freezing it was one of the most picturesq places I have ever been too before.

Gino took us to about 5 different stopping points all up throughout the day. He took us to El-Capitan rock and showed us where the adventurous tourists hike up the mountain, took us around to view some different waterfalls including USA's biggest waterfall "Yosemite Falls" and to a few other locations to show us the snow covered mountains. It has been snowing at Yosemite the last few days and with the rain that had recently hit the valley it has washed most of the snow away but the footpaths still had chunks of snow of them as did the mountains which was fabulous to see.

We were able to stop at each view point to take photos and given the opportunity to further hike along the different paths to get a better look at the area if we chose. Most of them Pete and I both did some rock climbing and bush walking to get to the views but unfortunately once we hit Yosemite Falls I was only just able to make the lower level viewing point. I would have loved to have trekked up to the higher vantage point but that would have been pushing it just that bit too far.

From the lower vantage point we got some lovely photos, we could hear the waterfall crashing down and got some of the splash from it too which was nice.

On the way back through the trek we noticed the bins had clip-locks on them that you had to unlatch when using the bin in order to keep the bears out of it. Now that's something you don't see in Australia! ha

We also seen signs posted up about Mountain Lions being seen in the recent weeks and to be on the look out for those..uh oh!
We didn't come across any of those, unfortunately or fortunately? hmm. We were also hoping to view a bear (from a distance of course) but knowing they were in hibernation season we knew the chances of that would be slim also. We were lucky enough though to come across a deer. The cutie decided to cross the road right in front of our bus! It as absolutely adorable and luckily we saw it coming so were able to slow down and not hit it...

On the way home, although it was getting late and had been a long day, Gino - our bus driver offered to take us over to Angel Island in San Francisco to view the city lights from there. Of course we all said yes and glad we did. The sight was just incredible, it's amazing how city lights just make everything look that much more spectacular than they already are in the day time.

Today was a pretty good day, the views were incredible and the fresh air of the mountains were fabulous too! I haven't sneezed much, coughed much or even gone through nearly as many tissues as I have in the last few days so fingers crossed this flu is passing along....just in time for me to come home.

Pete and I only have two more days in the US before our long flight home. This holiday has gone super quickly but each destination has been so great in their own different ways. Tomorrow the plan is to hire a car and continue sight seeing this beautiful city on our own. I'm pretty excited to be back in a car again and on our own terms in a sense but a little nervous to tackle the crazy traffic in San Fran. Just another experience to add to the book I guess!