Yosemite National Park  -  Jun 6th, 2011 8:19am

I was just a few weeks away from going to Catalina for my birthday this year.  At the last minute though (which is about 4 weeks in airline reservation terms) I changed my mind and decided to visit some place new.  So the day before my 36th birthday with Tara at my side, I boarded a plane for Yosemite!

In truth we were headed for Fresno.  Turns out that's the closest place you can fly to the park without getting a 2nd mortgage.  We then drove from Fresno to Oakhurst and stayed at a place just south of the park entrance called The Queens Inn.  A funky little winery and renovated hotel from the 50's, it's a fantastic deal at less than $100 a night and only about a half hour away from the park entrance.

We left on Thursday and were returning on Sunday so we only had 2 full days to see what we could see.  Fortunately this site/page turned out to be a wonderful primer on where things were and what there was to do in that short a time.

We didn't follow that guide outright, but we did use it as a general game plan - spending the first day hiking through the giant Mariposa Forest, seeing all the lodges, and driving up to Glacer Point, then using the next day to go horseback riding and get drenched at the various waterfalls that litter the valley floor.

As you'll see in the pictures it was cloudy, wet, cold, and absolutely gorgeous.  I couldn't imagine a better time to see one of the most amazing places I've ever been.

Thanks to Phil Hawkins for providing exactly the information we needed to plan out our trip and to Tara for being a wonderful travel companion and a great adventurer.