However, there are a FEW places Rick WOULD like to explore in his lifetime...and Yosemite happened to be one of those places!
What a treat for the 4 of us to share an adventure together!
With some encouragement from my brother-in-law...shout-out to Desmon!...we decided to split up our Yosemite vacation a bit. Instead of spending all 7(ish) days in Yosemite, we decided to spend 4(ish) days in Yosemite, and then take 3(ish) days to drive back home, slowly making our way down the coast. I LOOOOVED this idea! Not only would we get to see Yosemite for the first time, but we would also get to see Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Simeon, and Santa Barbara all for the first time!!! SO EXCITING!!!
We have been planning, and anticipating this trip for almost a year...and FINALLY our week of vacation had arrived!!! :0)
Map Quest had said that our drive to Yosemite would take 7 hours, but with bathroom breaks, traffic, etc., our personal estimation was that it would take us about 9 hours. We wanted to avoid morning rush hour traffic in Los Angeles as much as possible, and so we left our house at 4:45am.
Our plan worked out great...we barely hit any traffic! And would you believe...no one ever needed a bathroom break!?!? We were making great time! We had been on the road for just over 5 hours, and we were only 45 minutes away from Yosemite...now I was beginning to think were making too good of time...our hotel wouldn't let us check-in at 11am, lol. So at 10am, when we kept passing signs for an upcoming rest-stop "Bravo Farms"...I thought, "Let's do it!"
This rest stop ended up being the coolest rest stop I have ever stopped at. Their claim to fame is that they are a cheese factory...we got to try a ton of delicious cheeses and we also got to see the different cheeses be made. In addition, Bravo farms had a restaurant, an extensive candy/gift shop, a gigantic back patio that had a bunch of old collectible items, (Coca-cola, and such)...
...a play house...
...random turkeys...
...and a fabulous ice cream parlor!...
I'm so glad we stopped at Bravo Farms! At the end of our trip, when I asked the kids, "What was your favorite thing we did on vacation?", they gave 2 answers...and Bravo Farms was one of them! (Their 2nd answer was even more random, but I'll save that one for another time.)
So after about an hour of "resting," we got back on the road, and made our way to Yosemite! :0) We were there in less than an hour, and arrived at our hotel just before noon. When we decided to go to Yosemite, my hunny made it very clear that he was not interested in camping...we would be hotel-ing it. It is super competitive to get a room at one of the 2 hotels located inside the actual Yosemite Park, and so even though I was ultra prepared, and attempted to book a room at the earliest chance they allowed, somehow I was still unsuccessful...all of the rooms were reserved. :0( But God has my back, and we ended up getting a room at an AWESOME hotel literally right outside the South Entrance of Yosemite. When I booked the room 6 months ago, I was just stoked that I was able to get any room at any hotel near Yosemite, but about a week before our trip, the kids asked me if our hotel had a swimming pool, and it dawned on me, "I have no idea???" So, I went on the hotel's website, and found out all kinds of cool things about our hotel! They did in fact have a pool...4 of them to be exact...1 of them being an indoor heated pool, and 1 of them being a "beach entrance style" kids pool! We were sooo excited!
After checking into our room...
...we headed down to the outdoor pools...
...over the next 3 days we would spend at least a couple of hours at the pool everyday...way more than I ever expected on a "wilderness" vacation!
And that's pretty much all we did on "Day 1"...lots of driving, and lots of swimming!
It may not look like it, but by the end of the day, especially because we had been awake since 4am, we were exhausted!!!
Good Night Yosemite...see you in the morning. :0)
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