Finally, Yosemite
Yosemite National Park wasn’t actually one of my bucket list goals. Mr. Donovan has wanted to go there forever…and in fact, we have scheduled three different trips there in the past, only to have to cancel for different reasons! We even scootched this trip from June to July because many roads were flooded out earlier.
The park is a treasure, and I’m so grateful we got to visit.
Where to Stay in Yosemite
We stayed in a cabin in The Redwoods, right in the park. They have fancy cabins and “roughing it” cabins—we went with the “comfortable” middle option. I loved being amid the pines. The cabin had air conditioning, which was great, because it was hot in the park. The WiFi was sketchy at best, as one might expect, and we did a lot of reading…more on that later.
The cabin also convenient, because…
The park was really crowded.
We missed our first tour because there was nowhere to park! (They refunded us.) We actually missed our tour the next day as well…they said to meet them at 7 a.m., we arrived at the correct place at 6:30, and they’d already left without us. Luckily, neither Mr. Donovan nor I get too upset over small changes of plans. 🙂
We still got lucky and saw everything we wanted to see!
While just looking for anywhere to park, we wound up parking right next to both Yosemite Falls and Bridalveil Falls, we hiked in a meadow near El Capitan, and we took in gorgeous views of Half Dome at Glacier Point.
Tuolumne Meadows was my favorite part of Yosemite.
This is in the high country, so it was cooler…and because this was a lengthy drive and they’d just opened up the road, it was also much quieter. We hiked and saw an eagle and a buck. In places, carbonated water bubbled up out of the ground.
We did a lot of reading.
We both enjoyed Lucy Foley’s The Hunting Party on audiobook, and I knew we would—we both liked The Paris Apartment and I thought The Guest List was terrific. We also listened to a disappointing psychological thriller, but so it goes. Mr. Donovan loved Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano, so I’ll be reading that soon!
I swooned over the writing in Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. It was honestly one of the best novels I’d ever read! (And I don’t even know or care much about video games!) Mr. Donovan is devouring it right now.
Have you ever been to Yosemite—or another national park? Any national parks in particular you’d recommend? And have you read anything good so far this summer? We’d love to hear about it in the comments! Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have a wonderful week!
Naturally I had to look up a list of national parks to see which I’ve visited! Denali stands out as does Glacier (which was at the far end of a motorcycle trip back in the day). Nevada Barr writes wonderful mysteries set in the national parks which gives a nice inside view of the park.
Oooh, I would LOVE to go to both Denali and Glacier! I didn’t know about those mysteries—I should check them out! What great settings for a mystery series.
Thinking we may have to visit this park some day! Our daughter (an environmental scientist) has visited and/or worked at a large number of national parks and forests. We have visited her at Tongass National Forest/Mendenhall Glacier Center in Juneau, AK, and Acadia National Park in Maine.
Your daughter’s job is so fascinating! Both of those places sound so beautiful.
I love Glacier National Park which is shared by the US and Canada. I read Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver, this summer and it was the best book I’ve read in a long time. Could not put it down. The writing is amazing.
I’m really glad to get the recommendation for Demon Copperhead — I hadn’t really looked into it until you posted this, and it sounds really good! Thank you! Glacier is definitely on my list 🙂
The national park my wife and I recently visited was Badlands National Park in South Dakota. An amazing, surreal, alien landscape that was not what I normally think of as a National Park. I would think of Yosemite or Yellowstone. Cormac McCarthy’s The Passenger was the book I read. What a great combination–Badlands and a book with as bleak a theme as The Passenger.
Hi Mike! Ha—the Badlands and Cormac McCarthy do seem like a perfect fit! I haven’t read The Passenger yet, although I’ve read others by him. Since I’m in the Chicago area, a road trip to the Badlands is definitely feasible…maybe I’ll give it a try!
Looks like a fantastic trip!
I’ve been to several national parks, and my favorite is the Smoky Mountain National Park. My parents’ place abuts a national forest near the AP (Appalachian Trail). I’ve been to a lot of national battlefields and national historic places. Skyline Drive, Shenandoah National Park, which becomes Blue Ridge Parkway, and both are managed by the NPS. Just to name a few.
denise
Hey friend! Oh, you’ve been to a lot of them! I should really go to Smoky Mountain National Park. It’s not far from one of my nieces! It’s good to hear it’s your favorite!
Well, it helps that it’s not too far from my parents in Northeast Tennessee.
I’ve also been to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area outside of Vegas. The petroglyphs are wonderful. Take water–the Mojave gets hot!
Looks like a wonderful trip!
Aww thanks. It really was! Thanks for reading!
My all-time favourite is Kruger National Park. You would probably rate the majority of the cottages as “roughing it”, but they all have air-conditioners; they’re clean and the beds are comfortable. The scenery can’t touch the grandeur of Yoshemite, bit the park is bigger (the size of Wales). There are commercial tours available, but South Africans usually drive themselves. But the one major attraction is that you can see all the animals of the country in their natural habitat. It’s the animals that roam free, and the humans who are fenced in or must stay in their cars. I’ve seen the big five in one day, on more than one occasion. Elephants have right of way on the roads. We would spend all day driving – leaving camp as the gates opened at dawn, stopping to cook breakfast at on of the picnic sites, pause for lunch at one of the camps (restaurant or take-aways) and get back to our camp just before the gates closed at dusk. Dinner around the braai, swapping notes on what we’d seen with our neighbours, and early to bed. Not much time for reading! Alas, at 90 I can no longer manage the drive to Kruger Park (it’s 1500 km from my home) but I have many happy memories, and hundreds of photos and videos.
Wow, I hadn’t heard of Kruger National Park! I just spent about fifteen minutes looking at pictures online. It just sounds amazing!
I camped in Yellowstone back in 1989 and it was fantastic. We even found a natural hot spring under a full moon with nobody around for miles. There were huge elk roaming around everywhere we went. It was an amazing experience.
I went to Yosemite last year in April 2021 and it was beautiful! Not crowded thanks to the pandemic and not hot yet as it was April. The weather was perfect! I’ve been to Denali, Grand Canyon, Redwood National and a few more and I can’t say I have a favorite. They all have their own special kind of beautiful.