Yosemite

The week has flown by so though I'd better get on top of sharing some photos from the

weekend in Yosemite! We left Friday afternoon, only got lost once.....well the little navigation thingy didn't tell us to turn off.....arrived in the dark, of course...so predictably had trouble finding the carpark after we had

checked in! But settled into the very cute

"Tent Cabin". Note that chest on the side is for storing food, toothpaste anything that a bear might eat....it's a bear chest....designed to keep the bears out of your cabin!

Given we had storms the week prior to the trip we lucked out with the weather, it was warm and we didn't need a heated cabin (none available anyway, we would have bugged out to a hotel if it got too cold and I had my trusty woolen hat that I wore to bed - not glamorous but effective!)

Saturday morning we slept latetish then headed off to Mirror Lake.  They have shuttles that take you all over the park (well those walks nearby) so we were dropped close to the start of the

walk and ambled along. It was lovely - we walked as far as we could (only about 3 miles) then I abandoned Michelle and ran back so that I could get my daily run in. It was great to run along a trail and so lovely. It was only 3.5miles back to our cabin so a relatively leisurely run. I did encounter two deer with horns on the track, very calm they were!  Photo on the right is me not long before I ditched the pack and stared my run back to camp.

Sunday we did the Yosemite Upper Falls hike, bears, tiny snake, birds, squirrels - vertical paths! Was very relieved to get down just as it turned dark as my night vision is shite (although I did have a torch) and Michelle is still recovering from eye surgery

so would have been the blind leading the

blind. We were both exhausted but elated and tumbled into bed early - all that fresh air and exercise.

Monday the rain set in but all we had planned was brunch at the Ahwahnee Hotel. It's very beautiful inside

(accommodation runs into the $100s of dollars a night).

It reminded me of New Mexico - mix of Mexican/American Indian decor and artwork. Headed back to

Santa Cruz at 1230......4/4.5 hr drive, easy enough and we were both relaxed.

On balance a great few days, limited cellphone access (and I didn't take my computer) so really was getting away from it all.

Back at work, fighting a cold (not giving in, not giving in......H1N1 is alive and well here so need to be careful that I don't ignore signs or make everyone else paranoid!).