Living up to the hype: Exploring Yosemite National Park

Despite living in California for over 15 years, we had yet to make it up to Yosemite National Park, the crown jewel of the Golden State. That was until this past February when we finally checked it off our bucket lists.

There is nothing that can properly prepare you for seeing Half Dome or Bridalveil Falls for the first time. In fact, once we started exploring, we realized we would need to make this a yearly trip, exploring the wonders of the park in every season.

Our first visit coincided with Fire Fall weekend, a few days every February where the sunset aligns perfectly with a waterfall where it looks like the falls are on fire. While there wasn’t enough rainfall that winter to have much of a waterfall, we still enjoyed every second of our trip.

Our trip took place two weeks before the country started shutting down due to COVID-19. However, a trip to Yosemite can easily be done with socially distancing in mind – hello, the great outdoors! The National Parks have been very closely monitoring the situation and have new rules and guidelines to make sure everyone is as safe as possible.

Where we stayed:

We stayed in a luxury airstream about an hour outside the park. Autocamp had been on my “lodging” bucket list for awhile and we were stoked to finally get to experience it for ourselves. The best parts of our stay at Autocamp were the morning campfire breakfasts and late night smore and stargazing chats. Unlike a traditional hotel where you might be worried about kids making loud noises or jumping up and down on the floor, Autocamp is perfect for kids. Each area has it’s own space, including a small patio or “yard” with table, chairs, and firepit. This was the first time Augustine had experienced camping like this and it definitely won’t be our last.

What we did:

From hiking around Mirror Lake (and taking a polar dip) to exploring the Yosemite Valley by wheels, we packed our three days with as much adventuring as possible. There are so many kid-friendly hikes and trails that Augustine had a blast the entire time and we felt safe enough to let her explore a bit on her own without us having to hold her hands the entire time. This was the first trip where Augustine got very into taking pictures and documenting our trip. We gave her her own disposable camera so she could snap photos of things that delighted her – including a deer we saw in Yosemite Valley, the wet rocks leading up to Bridalveil Falls, the reflection of the trees in Mirror Lake, and the huge snowflakes at Badger Pass Ski Area, a small ski area inside the park. I think the addition of a disposable camera will be on our must-pack list for all our future trips. It was so fun to get the film developed and see the trip again through her lens.

These are only a few highlights from our trip to Yosemite. I think what surprised me most was how enjoyable this trip was with a toddler in tow. We found so many amazing hikes, viewpoints, and climbs and never once did we feel hindered by having our four year old with us, if anything she had us slow down just a enough to fully enjoy each stop. We lingered in areas we might have otherwise sped through. We didn’t feel the need to wake up and be at the park at the first sight of light, and instead really enjoyed the airstream experience and cooking pancakes over an open fire. We picked up huge pinecones and admired the millions of stars right after dusk. Despite our trip only being two nights, it felt like we were a world away and I finally got why everyone was so in love with Yosemite.