Yosemite Valley - Mr. President

Day 12 - We woke up, had a quick breakfast, and headed to the Visitor Center to be the first ones in line to receive the Yosemite Junior Ranger Badge!

After our swear in, we rode our bikes up to the trail mark of Lower Falls for our first hike of the day.

This was one of the hikes Curtis and I took 10 years ago after our wedding in Lake Tahoe.  We spent two nights at a bed and breakfast outside of Yosemite, and it was as beautiful as I remember it!

We hiked back down and started our ride to the Ahwahnee.  Cole is an avid bike rider...he wants to grow up to be a professional BMX biker, so he was loving our rides, but I am so proud of our little Carson.  These bike rides in the Valley aren't little strolls down the block.  I was a 3 mile ride just to GET to the Visitor Center!  On our way to the Ahwahnee, we spotted a helicopter off tucked away in a meadow, so we decided to explore.  We rode back around the Residential area, there it was....The President's Helicopter....fully surrounded by Secret Service guards, dogs, M-16 guns!

It was parked right next to the Yosemite School playground, so we casually acted like we knew what we were doing and sent the boys to play on the playground.

I couldn't believe they were playing 30 feet from the President's helicopter and NO ONE was around but us!  20 minutes in, one of the Secret Service walked over to talk to us about our stay in Yosemite, and we told him about our big trip, the tough reservations, yadda yadda....he says his wife was a Kindergarten teacher in DC.  After about 30 minutes of play, the boys were getting hungry, so as we were about to leave our Secret Setvice man brought over the President's first guard so we could take a picture!!!!!

The boys talked to him about Cub Scouts and showed their Jr. Ranger Badges.  What an amazing experience for the boys!  

We thanked the men for their service and set off on our way to the Ahwahnee....now called The Magestic Yosemite Hotel (I like the original names better).  This was another stop we had made 10 years ago.

As we were enjoying our Popsicles in the courtyard, we heard a rumble and in felt 3 Chanook copters....one after another!

Inside, half of the Ahwahnee was closed off for a "Private Event"...aka....Father's Day Brunch for President Obama.  There were Secret Service everywhere.  We finished our Popsicles and headed back to Upper Pines campground to move our Casita to the next site, then there they were....3 Chinooks and two Presidential Helicopters!

The flags were up and crowds were accumulating to see President Obama take off on his helicopter.  We waited for 20 minutes and by that point it was 12:20, the boys were STARVING, and we had to move our campsite by noon.  No one knew when he was going to arrive or finish his lunch, so instead of waiting in the heat, we headed back to the Casita to move sites and eat our lunch.  It turns out, we would have waited another 2 hours because we heard the loud helicopters take off at 2:20....we definitely made the right choice.  They boys were DONE!  We ate a late pb&j lunch and relaxed at the new, much more spacious, campsite.

A few hours later, we set off for our next bike ride/hike up to Mirror Lake.

The boys played in the Lower Pool while we relaxed in the shade.

Once the boys were cooled off, we headed backdown the hill for our special Father's Day dinner for Curtis....steak, peppers, skillet potatoes, spinach salad, and red wine.

A meal fit for a king!  We gave Curtis his memorabilia Father's Day present we picked up at Camp Curry Store....a Obama Yosemite Pin.  😜 We sat by the fire, played some ukulele, and the boys rode their bikes around the campsite.  The perfect Father's Day for the Best Daddy in the World!