Roadwarners

It was nice to not have an agenda and somewhere to get off to so we enjoyed hanging out in our pjs in the xmas lights making a big breakfast.

I think my favorite part of bringing mom in the trip is…she’s not a 75 year old woman but one of the kids 🙂

It was a beautiful day, the sun was out so we walked to lower Yosemite Falls. it was just me my mom and the girls because… Surprisingly… The slide out broke again so Edwin was going to stay behind to try and fix it

After being at the Awahanee for last nights I had not stopped thinking about french onion soup so we met Edwin there for lunch. Yummy. And I’m pretty sure our server was Edna from the Incredibles.

After lunch we went to look up in awe at El Capitan.

You are one crazy mofo Alex Honnold

A stop at tunnel view.

We headed back through the valley and the girls finished up their junior ranger packets at the visitor center.

We were heading back to camp when Edwin and I decided that instead of staying here the night, dropping off my mom on a train in Fresno, and continuing on to Sequoia and King’s Canyon National Park, that we’d head back to Oalland tonight, avoid the storm coming in, hang out in Oakland for the day while Edwin fixed the slide out. So we turned around and headed home.

Woohoo! Day 💯 We made it. And not to shabby of a place to spend it.

We knew we had 2 good days of weather before the storm was coming back so we decided to do our big hike today.

The goal was the top of Nevada Falls. The mist trail is closed in winter so it was the first time I’ve used the John Muir Trail to get to the top. But hiking up to the falls brings back lots of memories. We used to come to Yosemite every summer and camp with a few other Corpus families. We spent lots of family time here. It’s nice to have my mom back on the trail and keep her hiking.

Mom turned around at this point which was probably equivalent to getting up to Vernal Falls, but we couldn’t see it, again because we were on the John Muir a trail instead of the Mist Trail. Snow/ice started on the trail so it was time for mom to turn around, but she’s pretty neat that she can still miles uphill!! We brought our crampons we bought in Bryce so we were good to go.

The unfortunate part of my mom turning around was only a few switchbacks later we caught a view of Nevada Falls.

Another little over a mile more and we made it up the top.

By the time we walked back to RV it ended up being an 8 mile hike. Longer than I predicted with the additional mileage of the John Muir Trail and walking from and back to the campground. We had tired feet. Only 1/2 of the half dome trip.

We rested at home for a bit before we went to our nightly vigil at the Awahanee fireplace. There ended up being “storytelling” this evening.

Bobcat was here again tonight. We met him last night warming by the fire, this morning walking around. And again here. We are now friends.

We are one the road again. Off to Yosemite.

Yosemite National Park. 16th National Park.

It seemed to take a long time to drive there but we weren’t in a rush to get there with too much sunlight bc it was raining all day again.

But we got there with enough time to go to the Awahanee and enjoy the fireplace.

Mom is always unsure on the first day of traveling with us…but thankfully Edwin spotted some chocolate covered orange slices and my mom was immediately in a better mood.

None of us had seen Free Solo so we thought tonight was a perfect night to watch it. Even though I knew he was successful it was still nerve wracking to watch.

We were all set to leave today until my mom said she’d come with us to Yosemite if we left tomorrow…so alas one more day at home.

The girls have been mad at me that we are getting back on the road again. …and well really less then getting back on the road as though we wouldn’t be decorating for xmas. So I got out the xmas lights and we decided to decorate the RV a bit.

The rain…

We were in no rush to get back on the road. Raining here. Raining all around California. Our plan is to do the California route until christmas time.

The good thing about coming home…great to see family and friends.

The bad…hard to stay on track and feel motivated to get back into the RV.

So mainly good.

The girls are perfecting their “heart & soul” and then dinner again Julia’s.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow so we spent the day setting the table, decorating mom’s house, and making some pecan pies.

We got home so early this morning that both Edwin and I were pretty tired. There was a lot of extra weight and things in the RV that we really didn’t need so we spent the day unpacking the RV, cleaning, and doing laundry.

The girls went down to Corpus to pick up friends from school which was fun for them.

Then we went over to Julia’s house, had a yummy dinner, hung out with the cousins and the girls slept over.

Today was 3 months since Nagymama died. It’s been weird being gone and then coming back. In most ways it been easier, but in the days coming back she’s been very much on my mind and I’ve gotten sadder as we get closer to home. My mom is doing great considering, but they were real close and real friends so its the most hard seeing my mom and understanding how much she misses her. We love you and miss you Dedi.

Although my sister came over with the girls after church. And then Bende and Mary came over with baby Otis and if he isn’t the cutest baby around. He did a lot to cheer us all up and it was fun hanging out with a little 10 month old.

Highlight of the day: Frozen 2. The girls liked it, but I didn’t think it was nearly as good as the first. Missed the iconic songs.