Yosemite Falls, photo by Harold Davis.

Julian and I got back late from sunset at Glacier Point, and slept in the next morning.

After breakfast, I asked Julian whether he’d rather go hiking or raft down the Merced River (we’d seen the rafters putting in near where we were splashing around the previous day). It wasn’t a great surprise that Julian wanted to go rafting.

The Merced winds lazily down Yosemite Valley. You can lie back on the raft and look at views like this one of Yosemite Falls.

Julian explored every sand bank, and every island.

The trip is about three miles, maybe one half day. They rent you a paddle, and a life jacket, and the raft. You get picked up by bus by the concessionaire at the bottom. It’s water with barely a ripple – “Class 0” white water.

The concessionaire required two adults minimum per raft (although I certainly could have handled it alone) so Julian and I had to wait for someone to come who would join us, or let us tag along. (In a romantic comedy, of course this would have been a mom with a freckled eight year old daughter.)

In our story, it was Doug, on his way to hike the Muir Trail: great company – and extremely tolerant of Julian, catering to his every whim!