Happy 2nd Birthday at Yosemite

We stayed outside of Yosemite--the closest we could get to the park.  We left at 5am to drive to the park with our bikes for a day of exploring the park via bike.

Neil posed for a birthday picture under "El Capitan" the Claire and Nolan joined him for a "family cheese" as Neil likes to say.  We had a picnic breakfast in the meadow looking up at El Capitan and then biked through the valley.  The granite cliffs towered 3,600 ft overhead.

For lunch we went to the historic Majestic Yosemite Hotel and celebrated with cake and ice cream.
We completed our loop at went back to the campground to cool off at the pool--it is 109.  Sleeping with out air conditioning is a challenge in the little cabin.

We had breakfast for dinner--bacon on the grill and pancakes and eggs before Neil opened his gifts.  His favorite gift was the toy sabre tooth tiger.

The following day we left at 6am with our bikes and a new plan.  Swimming at the park!  Seeing this park by bike is amazing and the way to see the park.  We had lunch on the granite sand beach and watched as people floated down the icy cold river--unfortunately you have to be 50lbs to rent a raft so Claire and Neil are out but we went swimming in the cold, cold water. So amazing floating in the water, surrounded by sequoia's and towering cliffs.  In all a perfect day.