Yosemite

Luckily i felt much better after sleeping from like 2pm. I was so looking forward to this especially because i missed going to muir woods.

At 5.50 the bus promptly arrived at the hotel, and after that we went around to pick up many others before finally starting the arduous long journey to Yosemite. It was such a beautiful day too!

It took about 4 hours to reach. But in between we stopped at Oakdale's Raley's supermarket for a quick toilet break and grocery shopping. The supermarket is amazingly posh!!

Then on the way it got really foggy that you can't see anything. Luckily that was around the town so it wasn't so dangerous. If it had been at the highlands i would have totally freaked out. The highland road was seriously windy and scary.

But all of it was worth it. At the first point when we could actually see Yosemite's amazingness, literally the whole bus was gasping and wow-ing. It is just so beautiful.

At the first stop we went to see the giant sequoias. We could do that because even though it was mid-winter there was no snow and it wasn't that cold, really. The guide said normally in January the snow would be as high as the bus so the giant sequoia trail is a big no-no. I guess i was slightly sad i couldn't see snow, but i still have salt lake city so it should be alright.

The trail down was easy of course, although long. There was a giant tree which had fallen down and it is kinda hollow inside... and i actually went in!! It was very narrow, mind you, and i barely squeezed through T_T if i had gotten stuck it was seriously not funny. There was another guy adventurous enough to join me too though, so that was a big support. But i managed to do it! It was really once in a lifetime opportunity. Especially since i don't think i would be able to come again when there is nobody around. It was amazing having the place to ourselves.

After that maybe because of the adrenaline i became so out of breath especially since the air is so thin up there. And the path back was uphill and so long, it was so painful!

Then we went to the actual valley to take pictures and roam around on our own and have lunch etc. I grabbed a burger and took it on the road to maximize my limited exploration time. There were 2 suggested options, either to the waterfall view or the river creek view. I ended up at neither T_T.
I had wanted to go to the creek, but i got lost and i ended up at the camping ground. Went past that and saw some giant boulders which aren't all that interesting to be honest. Especially one of the guys managed to saw 3 deers at the creek!!! Sucks! I saw a puny squirrel and i was too slow to take pictures... and saw a lot of crows which are like... wtf... at least compared to the deers. Ah well. It was still kinda fun

The way back wasn't so eventful because i was so sleepy that i mostly slept. I bet the rest did too.

All in all, a really good day despite the 8 hour bus ride. Yosemite is obscenely beautiful and i am so glad i spent 170 bucks to see it even for that short period. Although i was lucky that there was no snow so we had no problems getting there so it was really really great.