Floatin down the Merced

Today started and ended great with good times between. Jen prepared some baked French toast & coffee. I readied turkey and real bacon. After we cleaned up and after I released a rather large jumpy spider that Jen caught under a glass, we packed up and headed to Curry Village, just beyond Yosemite Village.

We rented a raft to float down the Merced river (~3 miles).   The water was quite frigid, the weather perfect (mid to upper 80°s), and the scenery amazing. We began with a view of Half Dome, North Dome and glided through the valley past Yosemite Falls.  Trout and suckers or carp were visible in the crystal clear water and we passed a couple of sets of ducklings.

We beached the raft for a snack for  a little shore exploration, then Jen and the kids wanted to feel the refreshing bone-numbing water so they waded out and plunged. Knee depth was refreshing enough for me.  As we continued on, Paul repeatedly tried to cajole Sadie to join him in a balance challenge, stand on the sides of the raft. He managed to convince her several times, but our float soon ended.

As we walked our raft up the beach to the awaiting trailer, the shuttle bus pulled in ready to give us a ride back to Curry Village. What luck! Someone on the bus stated that in the past they usually had to wait 20-45 minutes for a shuttle.

Once back at Curry, we decided to walk back the 1/2 mile to Yosemite Village to shop a little, peruse the Ansel Adams art gallery, watch the 20 min video "The Spirt of Yosemite" then grab some grub to boost our energy reserves.

I drove the twisty windy turny roads back to our cabin where Jen baked two loaves of No-Knead bread in our new terra cotta flour pot.  The temp is now ~64° at 8:40 pst (11:40 est) and we are winding down.

Ahhhh. Feels good.