For our last day of vacation we went over to the Jamestown train museum. Grandpa Jim and Grandma Gail drove over from Elk Grove and went with us. We took a tour of the museum but unfortunately the trains only run on Saturday and Sunday.

After the museum we went into Jamestown and had a nice lunch followed by a stop at the fudge shop.

The boys spent the rest of the day in the pool.

At this point I think we are all looking forward to getting home tomorrow and seeing our puppies again. We have no particular deadline but I think we all want to get going early. It’s been fun.

Today we drove over to Sutter’s Mill to see where gold was discovered. We saw the reproduction of the mill and went on a one hour guided tour of the area starting at the visitors center.

Afterward we drove to a town called Placerville where we had lunch. After lunch we went next door to a candy shop that had a bunch of retro candy which was cool for me and Brenda. Gavin made his own pucker powder candy which is basically a station were you make your own pixie stick from the flavors available. He had fun since he got to make it.

After that it was back to the condo and another couple of hours in the pool. Gavin says he feels like a fish.

So yesterday we went to Columbia state park which is an old gold rush town made over into a state park. The kids panned for gold, rode a stagecoach, and had ice cream. We also had lunch in a saloon and had sasperilla (spelled wrong I know) which is basically root beer. We went into the museum there and they got to dress up in old time clothes.

Once we got back to the condo they spent about two hours in the pool, which made them happy.

We started off yesterday by going to coffee with a ranger which is held in the camp campfire area. You get to ask questions of the ranger and they supply coffee and hot chocolate. You have to supply the mug.

Right after coffee with a ranger we went on a one hour hike about life at 8000 feet talking about the plant and animal life that lives around white wolf.

During the day we went back to the valley to go to the gift shop. We were also going to see some waterfalls but it was so hot and crowded we decided to skip that. Instead we went to Curry Village for ice cream.

That evening we went to a twilight ranger hike around White Wolf and learned more about bears and about how park management has changed over the years

We left Yosemite today. We got in one last ranger hike this morning all about geology. The ranger did an exercise where he handed out cards with different geological events on them and we had to put them in order. Tristan got to be the forming of magma pockets which later became the granite seen all around Yosemite.

After that we packed up camp and headed off to Angels Camp where we are going to see the gold country. Tristan just studied all this in 4th grade so he’s interested in seeing everything. It’s a balmy 102 degrees right now so his enthusiasm has waned a bit. Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit cooler.

We started off yesterday by going to coffee with a ranger which is held in the camp campfire area. You get to ask questions of the ranger and they supply coffee and hot chocolate. You have to supply the mug.

Right after coffee with a ranger we went on a one hour hike about life at 8000 feet talking about the plant and animal life that lives around white wolf.

During the day we went back to the valley to go to the gift shop. We were also going to see some waterfalls but it was so hot and crowded we decided to skip that. Instead we went to Curry Village for ice cream.

That evening we went to a twilight ranger hike around White Wolf and learned more about bears and about how park management has changed over the years

I forgot one of the coolest things we did. We signed up for a ranger night hike that we went on last night. It was a hike through the forest off trail at night with no lights. The purpose was to get us to not fear the forest at night.

We hiked around and the ranger taught us about using our other senses to hike in the dark. We had an activity where he hid something in the dark and we had to find it using our sense of smell like a bear. Gavin kinda gave it away – I was waiting my turn to try when I heard Gavin say “what is that coffee smell?” I smelled it on my turn anyway but I knew what to smell for. The amazing thing is that a bear could have smelled the coffee 3 miles away. We averaged about 2 to 3 feet.

At the end of the hike we walked through the forest for about 100 yards by ourselves. To put our new skills to use and to get a feel for what it’s like in the forest by yourself.

We ended up at a sloped piece of granite perfect for lying back and watching the stars and satellites go by. We even saw a couple of shooting stars

Overall this was one of the coolest ranger walks we’ve done

No pictures we weren’t allowed to take out our phones or to have a light during the walk.

So today we headed into the valley. We figured that most of the Fourth of July crowd would be leaving today and based on the crowds it looks like that was true.

First stop was the Merced river for rafting. It’s about a 3 mile trip with views of all the best features in the valley. The river was getting a bit low due to low snowfall this year so we were dragging a bit in some spots but we never actually had to get out and walk. The boys insisted in being in their own raft and soon left us behind as we were more interest in floating and watching the scenery than paddling. At the end the boys had lunch and played in the river while I took the shuttle back to the car.

After rafting we headed over to another of the valleys best features – showers. Camping really makes you appreciate the feeling of clean cloths after a shower.

Them we headed off to the visitors center and the boys turned on their jr ranger packets for Yosemite. This time they got wood badges instead of plastic which was really cool.

We stopped at the pizza place for dinner and then it’s back to camp. They are having a ranger lead star gazing talk there that we are looking forward to.

Well the hordes from the valley have made their way to the high country today. People and cars are everywhere.

We decided to take it easy today letting the kids sleep in. This afternoon we headed to Tenaya lake – the biggest lake in Yosemite – for lunch and to let the boys get some rafting in. It was quite amusing watching them try to raft while each one operated his own oar. They had fun but didn’t get real far and mostly went in circles.

Tonight we signed up for a ranger lead night hike at 9 pm. That should be interesting as the ranger said its with no lights to get a better feel for the night. I’m hoping that we’ll get to see some wildlife.

We’re heading off to Hetch Hetchy area which Brenda has been wanting to see since last time we were here.

We started out today with more hiking. The boys went on a jr ranger hike lead by a ranger. This was a 2 hour hike to lambert dome though they didn’t get that far as they had some small kids along. The hike was for 8 to 12 year olds but I guess the rangers don’t enforce that.

Gavin didn’t want us along so we took the opportunity to hike a bit of the muir trail that was near by. That afforded us some really spectacular views of a river and a couple of meadows.

After our hiking we drove out of the park to a little town by Mono lake for showers. The only showers in the park are in the valley which is a real zoo this weekend. While we were there we took in Mono lake and the visitors center there. Then back to tuolominie meadows for a short hike before going back to our camp for dinner.