We FINALLY made it to the REDWOODS!

"Wow"...that's what Matt and I say when we look back at the pictures from Tahoe, and the road trip to Yosemite. We had no idea the beauty we would find. Just gorgeous! The whole day was totally worth it, even driving an hour through to the south side of the park to Mariposa Grove...

we made it!!!

we did a little hiking...

a fallen tree's roots...

SO serene and beautiful...

I must admit...as much as I wanted to see a bear on this trip...my blood pressure was a little high as we hiked through the grove...thinking one would come out to meet us at any moment...

but no bear...

I put it into perspective...

A comparison for the giant tree...

checking out the giant...

the tunnel tree...

unfortunately this was as far as we could hike, because we were running out of daylight. we didn't make it the extra mile to the museum and fallen tunnel tree=( Oh well, these were definitely sights to see!!

had to stop and hug some trees...

and so we headed back to Lake Tahoe....it was a FULL day, but SO fun and very adventurous for Matt and I.  We saw some breathtaking sights.  Best. Road trip. EVER!!!

Yosemite Park

After about 5.5 hours (but it really went by super fast) of driving, we made it!

 and again, the drive was SO worth it!!

 we really had no idea what to expect of the park. like I said, we really didn't have an agenda of going there. I had never looked it up on line, nothing. Just knew the trees were there, and that's what we wanted to see...needless to say... we were AMAZED at Yosemite's beauty...

 still in search of bears...no such luck...

 this waterfall is called Bridal Veil Falls. it is GORGEOUS. it flows from the top of mountains, and as it cascades down, freezes and ice is all over the rocks...

 we hiked about one mile down to the bottom...

 other areas of the park looked like this...

 smelling the mountain air and taking it all in...

next up...finally...we make it to the redwoods...

Tahoe continued...Road trip to Yosemite

One thing on both of Matt's and my bucket list to see is the huge redwood trees in Cali. Since we were in Tahoe for a week (and before we left we talked about it), we said if weather permitted we would drive to Yosemite to see them.  In the spring/summer/fall it would only take about 2.5 hours to get there. As of Dec. 1. they start closing some of the main roads in, out and around the park for the winter. SOOOO, after much planning, talking with concierge, figuring out a route, we made the 5.5 hour trip there...and it was SOOOO worth it!

Just look at this sunrise we saw on the way...

 of course we stopped here and there at overlooks, took pics, and stretched...

 saw "happy California cows" 

 and Cali countryside...kinda looks like Texas if you ask me...

even in Cali...you're never too far from LG

 if you look closely...this is a SUPER windy road around mountains...we could only drive about 10mph through this part, and hope to goodness we didn't go off the edge=)

Yikes is right!!!

more of Yosemite and road trip to the redwoods to come...