Yosemite

 Gary and I had a fantastically fun time visiting and staying in Yosemite. It was breathtaking, clean, cool and just wonderfully relaxing as well.

 

  We headed out early Sunday morning from Bakersfield (since we stayed there the night before) and went on our way. It was about a 4-5 hour drive, with only a couple of stops. We took the route through Yosemite National Park itself which slowed us down a bit because there was a delay at the toll booth, but it was definitely a scenic route!

This is on our way to our campground, behind our "friends" (because we followed them for so long)

 

    We did eventually pull over and lose our "friends" because I wanted to take a few pictures at a stop.

     We also stopped at an adorable town named Oakhurst. It was beautiful. Like Devonn and Carla said, it was a city which appeared out of nowhere. It had everything from shopping to beautiful homes.

 We arrived at our camp around 4-5pm and set ourselves up for the night. We ended up choosing a lake-side location in the member's-only area. It was nice being next to a lake because it made it more convenient to go fishing.

 

 Sorry, the picture's a little fuzzy, but this was the lake area behind our camp. Fish were jumping everywhere but I literally had the worst luck ever in the fishing department. Ah, well.

Our first campfire on our first night

 Being able to have an open fire was definitely a benefit to the whole thing.

 Early the next morning, I woke up feeling refreshed from a QUIET night's sleep. The birds (especially the crows) are very quick to wake you up early. But we slept so well. Anyway, I took the picture above of our camp location. The cabins behind us are cabins you can rent. Those are the one bedrooms, but there are bigger bedroom cabins in other locations (the lake is behind me).  We had our tent and our "indoor" gazebo thingy.

     After hot showers, we decided to visit the family lodge and play a little pool.

 It was a cute but large 2-story cabin-looking lodge. It had cable TV, a library, indoor sport activities, a fireplace, a piano, lots of puzzles, etc. We played pool and attempted a puzzle another day.

 Above is the balcony view from the family lodge. There was also a beautiful bridge with flowing water.

     We also spent a good time fishing. My luck wasn't all that great. After an hour, a 7-year old kid comes up with with father, casts his bait, and five minutes later I hear, "Got one! Okay, let's go clean this one. Are we done for the night?" Sure enough, he walks off with a huge trout to the fish cleaning station and wishes me luck. Thanks, kid. I didn't catch one fish the entire trip. Everyone else around me did. I even bought the recommended bait and at one point got INTO the water to fish by the cove (which seemed to be the most successful way to catch). I got several bites but nothing else. I was probably too impatient though. I kept reeling in and re-casting  to better spots. I should have waited longer. Ah, well. Gary said he's kind of glad I didn't catch anything because he wasn't up to gutting and cleaning a fish.

     That evening for dinner, we enjoyed juicy steak kabobs grilled over the fire pit. YUM! We also enjoyed hot chocolate.

      On Tuesday, it was laundry day. There's a laundromat there so we washed all of our clothes to prepare for the next few days camping. We also visited a small town away from our camp (about 20 miles) named Groveland. Technically our campground was in Groveland, but still. It had small little shops and other fun little things. It had that old western town feel.

 Wednesday, we headed to a city about 45 miles from town named Sonora. Driving to Sonora was definitely a scenic route. There were acres and acres of golden fields and much land for sale as well. It definitely got me thinking about moving there! They had major shopping stores like Walmart, Vons (Safeway), and movie theaters and everything. We decided while we were there to go ahead and check out part 2 of the Harry Potter movie (Deathly Hallows). It wasn't bad either. We also did a little light shopping before heading back to camp. Sonora, in Tuolumne county, was also part of the huge Don Pedro lake.

  Thursday was when we decided to head to Yosemite National Park and spend the day there. We headed to a few nice locations, one of them being Glacier Point where we were able to overlook everything. It was absolutely beautiful.

 On our way back to the car, we came across a brave little soul who decided to come right up to us and start eating. He glanced up at us and just kept eating. We were surprised he didn't run off when people started quietly and cautiously taking pictures.

 We then had a picnic near a ghost town in a beautiful meadow.

 I know, I didn't get many pictures of Gary and I which I should have. I just had too much fun with scenic pictures.

 Anyway, Friday morning we headed back to Bakersfield where we stayed for dinner then headed home. It was nice to sleep in our own bed!

I definitely had a wonderful time spending the whole week with my favorite person ever. Definitely does good to a marriage! I just love that man.

Then, Saturday morning, we were able to finally go and pick up our new gun. It's a Kimber 1911 Custom II. .45 ACP.

 For some reason, Blogger is being idiotic and will not accept the picture rotated. I have no idea why, but it has been rotated. Ah, well. There it is.

K, that's all!