Detoxed @ Yosemite Summer 2009

We meant to go up to Yosemite for a long time, but each year, the place has always been so busy and most of the accommodations were fully booked and would require one year advanced reservation. This summer, we decided that we should just do it. It is likely because of the recession, we were so lucky to be able to book a wooden cabin with private bath at the Curry Village inside the Yosemite Valley.

It was a very nice 4 hours drive from the Bay Area via Hightway 120, and time just went by fast that before we knew it, we were there already.

Curry Village is a historic place and we just love it there for the peaceful environment we felt, being so close to the mother nature.


The cabin was a very simple one, with minimum (shower, toilet, two beds, a heater, a lamp, etc) and well situated inside the woods.


I even brought my security blanket (Hello Kitty) along.
There were so many squirrels everywhere, and they were all so friendly.
There is always so much to do in Yosemite, biking, swimming, hiking, leisure walk, museum etc etc.

We took a few hikes and we just enjoyed the great weather and everything. We hiked up to Vernal Fall (5000 feet elevation) and saw the beautiful rainbow.


During this trip, we saw plenty of wildlife, including a black bear inside the woods, deers (walking here and there), blue Stellar Jay birds, and of course lovely squirrels everywhere.


We visited the Happy Isles, Yosemite Falls, Bridalveil Falls, and many places. Our legs were jello by the third day of hiking. Here in this picture, Hoops & Yoyo were in front of the Half Dome.




We also took a hike up to the Mirror Lake and enjoyed the scenery very much. The lake was dry during the summer, and we were able to take this picture standing right in the middle of the lake!

We felt kind of sad when we left Campy Curry. Hopefully, we will be back soon!
On our way back home, we stopped by at the Tuolumne Grove to take another hike and checked out the giant tunnel tree.

I thought the tunnel tree would be much bigger, but I guess it was big already.

We stopped by Fremont to have Shanghai dinner. Mo-Mo's new favorite is friend pork bun (shan gin boa) now!. I just enjoyed my usual xiu lon bao (XLB, the small steamed dumplings). Aside from the dumplings and buns, we had beef noodle soup and plain noodle soup, along with mushroom on green veggies.

It was a wonderful trip. I felt completely detoxed!