Category: Yosemite

A year ago today, we found ourselves shivering all night in a stranded, barf-coated VW van clinging to the edge of a Yosemite canyon. Although we captured some cool photos that Thanksgiving weekend, I think the whole experience (which you’ve no doubt heard about many times already!) left us just shaken enough that we weren’t eager to dwell on the pics.

A year later, however, it’s fun to look through our gallery and see the before & after shots of the canyon (from blue sky to two feet of snow in a matter of hours!); the boys exploring our pop-top camper; Finn slipping into the freezing river; Hen photo-bombing his bro; our epic snowball fight; and more. Enjoy!—and if you’re really feeling nostalgic/bored, check out other Yosemite adventures from when the guys were tiny.

Poor Finn simply wanted to look nice in a portrait.
Henry, diving into the shot, wasn’t having any of that. 🙂 

Without further ado, here’s our second installment (HTML) of Yosemite park photos. I hope the ghost of Ansel Adams will forgive my hammy black & white attempts!

In addition to the photos we took, we’re really eager to see some shots from the pro photographer Margot commissioned to snap some family portraits. She captured Henry exploring some flowers, plus Finn hanging out in his beloved “meedgit hole” (more on that later, maybe), Leo getting to know Patrick’s Pup, and more.

“Not to denigrate your photography skills,” Margot said last week, “but it’s kinda hard to take a bad picture around here.” She’s right: Yosemite is ridiculously picturesque & I was snapping away like mad, just trying to take in the good stuff. Sure, every one of these sites has been documented six ways to Sunday–but not with the eyeball-melting cuteness of our little dudes in the foreground. 😉

Trying not to wear out anyone’s eyeballs, we’re breaking our shots into a few galleries & spreading them out a bit. Here’s one (HTML) we hope you enjoy. It depicts the crew shortly before & after getting doused at Bridalveil Falls; us visiting the “Dad-O Falls & Goonie Falls;” and Finn modeling his ubiquitous “acorn hat.”

Today marks our first full day in the famous wilds of northern California, just a couple miles from the south entrance of Yosemite National Park. We are here celebrating my Mom and Dad’s (a.k.a. Grandma & Grampa Liggett!) 50th anniversary, so the whole Liggett clan is here–me, John and our boys; my sister Laura, her husband, and their two boys, and of course Mom and Dad. Finny and Henry were total champs on the car ride out from San Jose yesterday, alternately snoozing and happily chattering in their carseats.

Today was cold and rainy, but that didn’t stop us from having a really good time. This morning we took a ride on a steam train that was formerly used for logging, which was great fun. Finny was fascinated by the huge, steaming, chuffing engine and the wooden passenger cars we rode in. He sported his Thomas sweatshirt and his acorn hat–both very appropriate to our setting out here in the forest. Henry was happy to be snuggled into the sling and ended up dozing for about half the trip–periodically woken by the steam whistle on the engine. Check out the gallery (HTML).

This afternoon, after a cozy nap in front of the fireplace in our cottage, Finny and Dad-o headed towards the indoor pool at the main lodge for an afternoon of splashing. Henry and I hung out with my folks, sister, and her kids. Then Grampa Liggett, Henry and I sojourned to the grocery store to pick up provisions for dinner in the cottage with the fam.

Tomorrow we’re off to the park itself to ogle the giant sequoia trees, waterfalls, mountains, and other natural wonders. We can’t wait!