The Most Beautiful Place On Earth

Last week, we had the opportunity to join a group of friends on a 4 day trip to Yosemite. Our friend, Ella, had found a great deal on Living Social where we got a great deal to rent a couple of cabins. We were 10 adults, 2 kids, and 3 babies.

We set off on Wednesday night in the Tundra and drove with the Andersons to Visalia where we would stay the night at my parents' house. The last leg of the drive caught us in a storm of torrential rain where we could barely see. Luckily, Doug was driving with Johan as copilot while Jessica, Axel, and I were sleeping in the back, so we hadn't a care in the world. Natalie and Olivia arrived late late that night and had a slumber party on Mom and Dad's living room floor.

On Thursday, we woke up, had breakfast, went grocery shopping, and were off! We arrived in Yosemite at around noon but checkin wasn't until 2:00 so we decided to drive up to Glacier Point where there was supposed to be an amazing view of the Yosemite Valley. However, as we started driving higher and higher toward the point, the weather got worse and worse. We got to the top and got a really great view of some spectacular cloud coverage.









We drove back down the hill and checked into our cabins. I think every one of us feels like we scored. We had three cabins total, and every cabin was really nice. Ours was the smallest, but I loved that it looked and felt like a real wood log cabin. It was also really close to the river so you could hear the rushing water when you stepped outside. A family of deer greeted were also waiting to greet us as we pulled in to the driveway.

The next day, we all met up as a group in Yosemite Valley to do some hiking together. If you've never been to Yosemite, you have to drive through a tunnel in the mountain. The tunnel was strategically placed so that as you exit it, you have this (Angels singing) feeling of complete and utter amazement that anything so incredibly beautiful could have ever been created.

You see Half dome, waterfalls in every direction, and mountains that are shear magnitudes larger than anything you could ever imagine. It almost feels like a Lord of the Rings movie shot, but without the Hobbits and hot elves.

"I see you oh sandwich of mine"

We made our way to Curry Village and found some picnic tables to have lunch, Axel ate his lunch. But soonafter, followed the trail of sandwich scent wafting through the air and made his way over to Asa and Sami Baron's side. He has been doing this a lot lately, he is like a hungry dog in that he'll crawl over to you and beg and grab at your food. Asa was completely unaware of Axel's lack of manners in this department, and soon lost a piece of his sandwich.

"Ha, sucker!"

Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls

The Guys....Uh, Where's Bear?

After lunch, we were off! We took the tram to walk the trail to take a look at Lower Yosemite Falls. It was spectacular. There is an upper and a lower Yosemite Falls, which total approximately 2,600 feet in height. The top of Yosemite Falls is the tallest waterfall in California, and one of the top 6 tallest in the world.

All the girls

We then made our way to Miror Lake, which was also incredibly beautiful, but, is it really a lake? Not sure about that.

It was around 5:30, so Johan and I headed home with Axel, who had had a really long day with no p.m. nap, while everyone else stayed and had pizza in the village. Axel was snoring in the car within 5 minutes and slept really well in his travel tent. We ended up giving him his own room while we slept in front of the fire in the living room, it was actually really nice!

Johan and Tom

Johan and I and Olivia were talking about wanting to do a more strenuous hike the next day. And who better to ask than Tom Major, mountain man extraordinaire? Tom and Jacque Major were staying in a cabin with the Andersons. They had a sweet little 2 month old baby boy named Joshua. So Johan called Tom up and made the mistake of saying we wanted to do an "Epic" hike. Johan got off the phone and said that Tom suggested we do a 4 hour hike to Yosemite Falls. "Wait", I said. "Does he mean 'Upper Yosemite Falls?'" I then re-told them the story that Jacque had told me earlier, about her natural birth plan. She and Tom had agreed that if she couldn't make it a second longer and wanted an epidural, that he should in no circumstance agree if she asked him to. However, if she shoulted out "Upper/Lower Yosemite Falls!" Then that meant that it was too hard, she'd had enough, she was done, give her the drugs. "Is this the same hike he's talking about, because it's worth re-considering if his wife made it her emergency stop code word because it was too hard and painful". Johan called Tom back up and, yes, it was indeed the same hike. But Tom reassured us that it wasn't that bad, and that it wouldn't take the 7 to 8 hours that the Yosemite Hiking pamphlet said it would. We all ended up trusting in mountain man Tom.

The next morning, we let Axel take his morning nap, packed our backpacks full of baby food and snacks, and were off. We parked in the Yosemite Village Parking lot and had to crane our necks back 90 degrees in order to see the top where we were supposed to arrive in 4 hours, according to Tom. We started on the trailhead at 12:50, with Johan toting Axel in the new Kelty baby backpack. After about 45 minutes we (Johan, Tina, Olivia) were all sweating and had drank about 1/2 of our water. Tom somehow was chipper as ever, saying that we were making such great time, and had a continual smile on his face. I learned that one of his favorite phrases includes anyone having a "can-do attitude". Johan seemed to be getting tired, so I took Axel and the backpack from him to give him a break. After about 5 minutes, I was about to pass out and turn back, so I suggested we stop for lunch. We stopped and had our sandwiches, and let Axel out to crawl and explore. He was pretty happy. He loves being in the backpack and having such a great view, and he loves taking the breaks to crawl and dig his hands in the dirt, and occasionally steal food from someone.

We really just went to Kmart photo studio and stood in front
of this background

As we were finishing our lunch, Tom suggested that he carry Axel in the backpack. He had mentioned earlier that he trained with 40-pound weights strapped to him. Johan and I didn't even hesitate in answering yes. So off we went. I all of a sudden could walk again, and somehow, Tom still kept talking at a normal rate and still had a smile on his face. People passing by kept commenting on how great it was that Tom (obviously the Dad) was taking his son up on such a tough hike. One guy even said "I don't love my kids that much". Another guy stopped us to ask if the goliath waterfalls in front of us were Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls. When we said "Yes" he said "really? I thought they'd be more impressive". Uh, but....you mean....huh? We couldn't get over that the rest of the hike.

It was amazing to see who was taking the hike. There were little kids who looked to be around 3-4 years old, there were old people, there was a pregnant lady, and teenagers in Vans shoes, I think there was even someone in flip flops. So when we were ready to give up and turn around, the sight of those people and the confusion in our brains of how in the world could they make it and not us, kept us going. All the while, Tom didn't break a sweat and kept leading the way.

It took us 2 1/2 hours to get to the top. At the top, we had the exhilaration of the most incredible view in the world, the satisfaction that lactic acid was no longer building up in our legs, and the pride that we didn't give up and turn around. WE DID IT!!!

The view was amazing. It felt like we were eye level with the top of the whole valley, and could see snow covered mountains far off in the distance that aren't possible to see down from the valley. It was also amazing to me to see that there is a whole other world at the top of these mountains. There are valleys with grass and trees and rivers that you can't see from down below.

We climbed down a granite staircase with a flimsy steel pipe railing to get to the overlook of the falls. The staircase was so narrow you just had to keep looking down and hold on to the railing for dear life. Axel stayed up on top with Tom for this one. But once at the overlook, you could basically stand on the edge of the cliff and look down as the waterfall cascaded 2,600 feet to the ground.

We took about an hour break to eat and rest, then headed back down. Axel hadn't been able to nap in the backpack with all the excitement with the incredible views and all, so I put him in the Ergo as a backpack, and covered his head with the attached baby hood. He was out in minutes. I have to say, Johan and Olivia thought going up was hard, but I thought going down was harder. With each step, you had to flex your quadricep muscle and it felt like it was flexed for the entire 2 hour decent. By the end, my legs were shaking permanently. We walked by a lady who had fallen and hit her head. We made sure she had help, then kept going. After about 20 minutes, we saw two members of the Yosemite Rescue Team hiking up practically at a jog. They must run up and down this mountain every day, I can't imagine being in that good of shape.

7.6 miles, 5.5 hours, and three slips by Olivia onto her butt later, we made it back to the trailhead. From the car back and forth, it took 6 hours, a little more than the 4 hours that Tom the Optimist had approximated, but who cares,  we had accomplished something we were proud of, we made it to the top and back from Upper Yosemite Falls! The bad part is, that Olivia and I will probably not walk again for a couple of months. Somehow, Johan wasn't sore, and you can all imagine Tom was ready for another hike and had a smile on his face the next day.

Before the hike....we still had smiles
on our faces and positive attitudes.