First off, proper thank yous are in order…I have to give a special shout out to Jeff and Allie Domingo for inviting us to Yosemite and having us stay in the beautiful Evergreen Lodge. We hope this becomes an annual thing now. It’ll be pretty crazy to see the families grow and see the kids running around the campgrounds.

One of our biggest fears for saying yes to go to Yosemite was how Hudson would be in the car both to and from Yosemite. From San Diego up to the Evergreen Lodge was about an 8-9 hour drive. Low and behold, Hudson was a champ! I think he cried for a total of 15 minutes out of the 20 hour roundtrip drive (the drive home was about ~10 hours due to crazy traffic). The drive was smooth, surprisingly, I was wide awake (departed the house at 3 am) and ready to tackle the road ahead. I was super happy that we finally got to use the van for a real road trip. I had all the power cables, music, and movies ready for my passengers. For music, I mainly played chill stuff: some Jack Johnson, Mac Demarco, and my favorite XM radio station “Yacht Rock Radio”. For movies, we had a surf movie called “A Broke Down Melody” and played Gwen Stefani’s live music concert (passenger favorites were I Love You Man and Bridesmaids).

We made it!

Some 8 hours later, we arrived! We checked out the Evergreen grounds and had a delicious lunch. This place is super nice. It reminded me of some type of summer camp. It was like a camping resort. The place had a rec center, two restaurants, full bar, ping pong tables, bocce ball, tight rope, firepits, pool, massage rooms and buffet bbqs each night. If we weren’t in such a beautiful outdoor place I would’ve loved to just kick back and lounge at the lodge.

Hike #1 Hetch Hetchy

“Hetch Hetchy is the name of a valley, a reservoir and a water system in California in the United States. The glacial Hetch Hetchy Valley lies in the northwestern part of Yosemite National Park and is drained by the Tuolumne River. For thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans in the 1850s, the valley was inhabited by Native Americans who practiced subsistence hunting-gathering.”

This hike is honestly a hidden gem. It is 5 miles roundtrip along the reservoir which leads to a beautiful waterfall. It was the perfect first hike to take Hudson out in his baby hiking pack. Of course, Huddy loved being in the pack and was mesmorized by the greens and blues from the trees and water. The trail was a mix of smooth and rough terrain, challenging enough to provide a good workout, but easy enough to still laugh and mess around. Hudson’s backpack brand is called Deuter 3. It performed exceptionally well, it has plenty of storage for water, food, and random camera accessories. It has a shade to protect Hudson from the sun and little stir ups for Hudson’ feet so he stays comfortable for hours upon hours. I think he slept every time he was put in the Deuter. Haha okay, I digress, I started going into a product review when I should be talking about the hike…my bad. So anyways, the hike took us about one in a half hours to get to the waterfall. And as mentioned in the beginning, the waterfall and views didn’t disappoint. We got to literally get up close to the water which was refreshing given the heat. If you are ever in this part of Yosemite, Hetch Hetchy is a must do. I give it two thumbs up!

Hike #2 Mist Trail

“The Mist Trail is one of the most popular short hikes in Yosemite National Park, California, USA. The hike follows the Merced River, starting at Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley, past Vernal Fall and Emerald Pool, to Nevada Fall.”

On Saturday, the group tackled Mist Trail. It’s short hike, but the elevation climbs very rapidly…making it a challenge. About half way up the climb, the trail gets really slick from the mist of the river…hence the name Mist Trail. It was at this point that Cathy, Hudson, and I decided we shouldn’t continue. My legs felt fine, but it was safety that I feared. I didn’t have proper hiking shoes and I was scared to slip and/or trip while carrying Hudson. The rest of the gang continued on, while the Dizons hiked back down to the village and ate some burgers and ice cream.

Hike #3 Mirror lake

“Mirror Lake is a small, seasonal lake located on Tenaya Creek in Yosemite National Park. Situated in Tenaya Canyon directly between North Dome and Half Dome, it is the last remnant of a large glacial lake that once filled most of Yosemite Valley at the end of the last Ice Age, and is close to disappearing due to sediment accumulation.”

We unfortunately had to go back home on Sunday as most of us had school/work the following Monday. But since we made the long-ass drive to Yosemite, we figure we might as well fit in one more hike. And Mirror lake it was! By this hike, our legs were all pretty sore from the previous two hikes, but we were in luck as this hike was well paved and fairly short. The water level at Mirror lake was pretty low so we didn’t get the “mirror” effect…but we did all take a quick dip in the lake. But no joke, this water was freezing! I could only stand in it for a minute at a time. We ate our PB&J sandwiches and decided to head back. Cathy tried the pack for the first time too! It was nice taking a little break from carrying Huddy…I got some time to actually take some pictures (side note: most of the pictures from this blog was from Jeff and Derek).

Before returning home to San Diego. We stopped at Tunnel View for a last photo op. Though this trip was short, it was super memorable. Nothing beats being in a car with a group of your best friends in the world for hours, hiking, eating, playing card games, and sleeping. We hope to make this an annual event, but for sure make it longer than 3 days. Till the next time…we enjoyed everything you offered Yosemite.