days 87-90: a visit to Northern California

This weekend we headed up to Columbia, CA, to visit Machelle’s parents for Easter. We decided to put in a couple of days in Yosemite while we where there, which was gorgeous. Thursday night we drove the 6 hours to Columbia and crashed. After a nice breakfast we headed out to Yosemite. All the camping spots were booked for the weekend so we found a room at the Wawona Hotel near the south end of the park. We spent Friday taking pictures around the Valley, having dinner at the Yosemite Lodge, then driving the 45 minutes to the hotel.

Saturday we hiked up the bottom part of the hike to Chilnualna falls near Wawona. The cascades here were spectacular and we spent quite some time taking pictures of them and basking in the ambience. We headed back to Yosemite to try to meet with my friends Mike and Bianca and family, but it was a zoo in the valley and we couldn’t find parking. We decided to check out locations near the entrance of the park and El Portal. We found a big waterfall called the Cascades and explored there for a while, then went out wildflower hunting on Incline road out of El Portal. After a beautiful drive back to Columbia along highway 49, we had a nice dinner and went to bed.

Sunday was an easter brunch, then the victorian easter parade in Columbia where people dressed as 49ers and paraded down the main street. After wandering Columbia for a while we headed back to Machelle’s parents place and loaded up for the long drive home. A weekend well spent.

Here are the pictures for each of the Days while we were travelling.

Day 87: the road to Yosemite