Yosemite Day 2

Happy Birthday Steven!

Today we had a lot planned. We woke up and ate cake. Not technically birthday cake, but apple coffee cake I got for free at my knitting group. Then we went for breakfast at the cafeteria place near our room. 

Morning View

Someone doing some passive aggressive protesting...

After breakfast we went to do the lower Yosemite Falls loop. It was a short walk, so we wanted to squeeze it in before our official tour. It was a nice walk, very wet at the end.

Our winter gear proved useful afterall.

The tour was really nice. Since it was cold and raining we had a bus, not the open seat shuttles. We got there early as we tend to do, and had a stop right at the front of the bus. We could see right out the front window, and get off first at all the stops. We really liked our tour guide. There was a lot of interesting information about how Americans have caused problems with the valley. 

Another classic Yosemite View

Deer!

Coyote

After the tour we grabbed our hiking gear and went to check out Mirror Lake. Sadly with the rain it wasn't mirror like as I would have liked. It was still beautiful. The trail there was a mile round trip, so easy hike... Expect we decided to do the walk around the lake too. It isn't just around the lake it was way upstream and the trail became less maintained as we went. It ended up being about 5 miles. My foot hurt in it's formerly broken spot, and my knee was starting to hurt. Despite my being exhausted at the end of this it was a lovely hike. Going out past the quick hike areas was nice. 

Steven proving that his shoes are waterproof.

The first of many makeshift creek crossings.

Steven pondering on a rock. 

Since it was Steven's birthday I made a dinner reservation at the fancy place at the Ahwahnee Hotel. The dining room is really beautiful in the early evening. We dressed up per the dress code. We started out with their onion soup, which was delicious. Steven very unsurprisingly ordered the prime rib roast. I went with the ravioli.  

After all the hiking 15,010 steps, but as we confirmed the next day hiking poles greatly interfere with step count by almost half. I was so tired I fell asleep by 9:30.

Squirrel!