Come on Down, There's Plenty of Room!

So having not seen the impressive Kings Canyon, we had to settle for the 2nd most visited National Park behind Yellowstone, Yosemite. Once again, we were arriving at dusk. I had called ahead to see if we needed to reserve a campsite, but it being mid-week in mid October, the woman at the other end said not to worry about it, there was plenty of room. So we took our time in cruising up to Glacier Point where we soon began to see snow in the woods along with wildlife. We hiked out to the view point and were given a magnificent panoramic view of Half Dome and whatever the other rocks are named. We stayed for a while taking photos and listening to one of the Ranger Talks being given. After a while, we were burnt out from dumb questions and Euro tourists smoking at the top so we hopped in the van to get a glimpse of El Capitan and our campsite.

Heading down into Yosemite Valley it began to get dark with the full moon providing the only light. We pulled up to the main campground reservation center where the woman had instructed us to simply find a spot and then pay in the morning as they closed at 5:00 pm. But when I approached the reservation center all I saw were signs that said that all the campgrounds were full. We then systematically drove, with hope in our hearts that the sign was wrong, to each and every campground, only to establish that they were in fact all full. We had to set out to find the nearest RV park or campground outside of the park, but before we did, we pulled over to view El Capitan in the dark. The moon illuminated the mountain's front and like tiny fireflies, you could see the head lamps of climbers resting in their port-a-ledges. There were at least 10 different lights all at different routes and heights along the rock face. It was cool enough that I didn't care if we didn't see it in the light.

We pulled into the Indian Flats RV Park just as the owner was locking the door for the night. We were able to secure a spot and get a hot shower. The next morning we drove back to the park to grab a postcard from the visitors center and take some photos in the daylight. We've been collecting these cool old travel poster postcards from each National Park we've visited. They are reproductions of the old WPA (Works Progress America) travel posters that a ranger created for the National Parks. After not finding any at the gift shop, I asked a ranger if he knew of them. He said he couldn't convince marketing to carry them, but gave me the website of Ranger Doug, the ranger who is recreating them. Turns out I could've skipped all these visitor centers and just ordered online once we were home. I'm not really much of a collector, but we thought these postcards could make cool wall art for when we aren't living in a van anymore. 

We took the dog off leash into a huge field and the base of El Cap and spotted some of the climbers when had seen in the dark the night before. We stood in the sun snapping photos while KK rolled in the tall grass likely trying to get the scent of whatever dead animal, urine, or feces had once been there on her. We did a couple of nature walks to the many impressive waterfalls and rivers in Yosemite before exiting the park, yet again.  

It would be my 31st birthday in just 2 days and my driver said I could go where ever I wanted. I chose Santa Rosa, California just above San Francisco but miles away from the hustle and bustle and fog.