Hey everyone!

Well we are back from Yosemite and we had a really good time:) It is am amazing place! It took us about 4 hours to get there but unfortunatly there was some disappointment on the way as the trip we booked was a Yosemite and Giant Sequoias tour and our tour guide said we wouldn't be going to see the Giant Sequoia Trees becuase of the weather. They are the largest living thing on the planet so they would have been pretty cool to see. Now that would have been dissapointing but we would have accepted it however he then said that they hadn't actually be able to see them since the fall!!! This made us and the rest of the bus really annoyed becuase they shouldn't have been advertising it if you couldn't actually go to see them! We had booked the tour specifically for that reason becuase we thought they sounded cool. Had we known we couldn't see them we would have booked Yosemite and something else! Grr! But it wasn't the tour guides fault so no one chopped his head off!

Anyway just after we entered the park we went to two differnt viewing points of the park which are the first few photos that you see! It was super foggy as you can see and raining but we thought that made for some interesting photos. We were then dropped off in the park and had 2 and a half hours to do what we liked. So we had our lunch and then this was when we became a little too ambitious. We looked on the map and decided that we wanted to go to Mirror Lake and to see Half Dome which is some massive rock shaped like half a dome. So we knew we would be tight for time but we hopped on a shuttle to the part where we could walk to the lake. We walked a wee bit through the forest till we saw a sign where it said it was 1 mile away. So we picked up the pace which is quite hard to do when it is all mud and rocks and hilly bits! It is a miracle neither of us fell as it wasn't really a proper trail! I was knackered half way to it becuase we were going so fast! We got to the lake which is actually more of a swamp and kept going to see it we could see more of it and to also see if we could see Half Dome. However after about half a mile more we reached a sign which said we couldn't go any further becuase of a rock slide! So we never saw Half Dome! But i think it was too foggy to see it wherever you were. So we then had to run all the way back! We reached the shuttle stop at 5 minutes to 3 which was when we were supposed to be back at the bus to leave! Oops! So we got on it and the bus driver announced after a little bit that to get to the visitors centre you should get off becuase you would make it before the bus did! This is where we thought our tour bus was as our map had a wee point saying 'you are here' by the visitors centre. We got this when we arrived so we thought that is where we were when we got off the bus. But nooo! We got lost as it turns our tour bus was at Yosemite Lodge and the tour guide had given us a map from the Visitors Centre! Useful!! We eventually got back on the shuttle and then arrived at the bus 25 mins late! Oops! At least they didn't leave without us! Everyone seemed ok about it but i'm sure they secretly hate us! Still is was a wee adventure that though it was tiring was very fun! We did the 3 miles in under an hour though which i though especially for me was impressive. You can see the result of this in the very red faced photo of mine!

I did get a bit scared walking about Yosemite forest though as we saw a big sign before we entered the trail to Mirror Lake saying you are now in Mountain Lion territory! I was also scared of Black Bears as our tour guide had seen them on his last two tours. I would have loved to have actually seen a bear though as he said the black bears didn't really attack humans! I was pretty scared of seeing a Mountain Lion though as he said if you see on it's becuase it wants you to see it becuase there is probably another one behind you! We were walking in the forest completely on our own for ages so it was quite spooky! All we saw was a squirel though which was probably for the best!

We are off to Lombard Street now to take some more photos! Sorry if all this is a bit long winded!

Speak soon!

Love Daniel and Kathleen xxx