Girlfriends' Trip - Yosemite National Park

 It was FINALLY time for the girlfriends' trip!!  Sometimes when you have to plan trips SO far in advance, it seems like forever before the time finally comes to leave!

We had decided to do the park right after Labor Day Weekend - thinking it would be a great time to go - surely there wouldn't be crowds this time of year - and as we watched the weather, it seemed to be perfect with highs of 82 degrees!!!

Boy were we wrong..........more on that later.......

I picked up Amy in Co. Springs and we headed to DIA - parking is always great at Park DIA and we were soon at the airport!!  Although I don't fly much anymore, it seems everytime I go that the airport is completely different than the last time I was there!!  And this year was no exception!!  Lines were super long for security and it took us about 1/2 hour to get through the line but we finally got up there!!  Even though we were doing carry-on luggage, security was easy!!!  I LOVE the fact that you don't have to take your shoes off anymore AND you don't have to take your quart bag of liquids out AND you don't have to take your electronics out!!!  (I just had a kindle anyway)  Of course not all airports are like this but DIA is always one of the first airports to try different things out!

A quick picture of Amy and I before I walk back to get coffee!

Unfortunately no Caribou for me as it would have meant taking the train back to another set of gates and the crowds were crazy - so I settled for this and it was just fine!

Our flight was good to Fresno, CA!  We had booked an aisle and a window seat, hoping it would NOT be a full flight but of course that didn't happen!!  Amy ended up sitting in the middle and the guy on the aisle lived in Fresno and had all kinds of tips about Yosemite so that worked out great!

The Fresno airport is small - like very small!!!  Of course that made it so nice as we had a 3 hour wait for Karen and Marilyn to fly in!!  We both grabbed a breakfast sandwich at the ONLY eating place after you get out of security!!  That's how small it is!!

We LOVED sitting among the trees in this beautiful lounge area!!

I had rented the car this year through Costco so we did get all the paperwork done in plenty of time (Amy was to be the added driver) so as soon as the other gals arrived, we headed out the door.  It was to take about 1 1/2 hours to get to our cabin!

Amy took the wheel and I navigated as we headed out!  I was TOTALLY shocked at the gas prices - WOW!!!!!!!  Even sent this pic to Glenn as he drives a diesel truck!

Because our cabin that I booked was actually inside of the park (which made it SO nice that we didn't have to wait in line each day to get in and of course we had a senior park pass that we showed on our way in at first) the closest restaurant was an hour away!!!!  We knew that wouldn't work as none of us drive at night anymore so we had made earlier plans to have each of us cook a meal each evening!  Stopping at a large grocery store about an hour away was the plan and that worked out fine!!  We had a main cart for water and our evening meals and then everyone bought their own things for breakfast and a lunch to pack!  Soon we arrived at our cabin!

The cabin was one of MANY in this tiny town of Wawona - there was a market you could get basic supplies at which was great!!  Our cabin was a 2 bedroom, 2 bath with a nice kitchen and dining area and a huge living room with a beautiful fireplace (which of course we didn't need - we needed a/c which the cabin DID have)  Also a large deck with 2 different areas to hang out!  After opening the doors to air it out as it did have a musty smell, we settled in and Karen started prepping for our first meal that night!

To Be Cont'd......