yosemite - day 2

monday we met up with my cousin and friends for brunch at the posh ahwahnee hotel, which has a gorgeous dining room that allows for giant swaths of light to illuminate the space. plus, they have their own beer - ahwahnee amber - by the mammoth brewing company!




caroline and friends headed back to los angeles, so we soldiered on to check out lower yosemite falls, which is an easy 0.5 mile jaunt to the base of the falls. at this time of year, the water is so powerful that everybody within a stone's throw got wet.




from the falls, we jumped back into our car and headed south to wawona to check out the mariposa grove of giant sequoias. we only had just over an hour because the shuttles stop running at 6pm, so we raced thru the grove to check out as much as we could. two of the main attractions are the grizzly giant (the oldest tree at approximately 1900-2400 years old) and the tunnel tree - the only living tree with a tunnel in it.




we headed back to our cabin to make dinner, consume the last of our alcohol/groceries and get a good night's sleep, as we planned to depart the next morning at 5am for our ascent of half dome...