Kids in Yosemite, photo by Harold Davis.

This photo shows Nicky and Julian on the so-called Swinging Bridge (it doesn’t really swing anymore although maybe a predecessor bridge once did) with Yosemite Falls in the background.

For me, showing the kids Yosemite Valley was really fun but tiring. It was hard to get too much serious photography done with a five year old and a nine year old to tend. My least favorite things:

• Waiting for line on food, like the time I was trying to get lunch for the kids and the Japanese tour group ahead of me ordered thirty-five cheese burgers.
• All the people insisting on yammering on their cell phones, even on a wilderness trail. Can you imagine? What’s the point of being there if you are going to be tethered by your mobile devices?

The kids loved Yosemite Valley, it is a natural playground. Their favorite activities (probably in order):

• Snowball fights (these were near Crane Flat above the valley)
• Playing on the beach at Mirror Lake
• Climbing rocks
• Riding the shuttle bus
• Exploring the Ahwanee Hotel looking for secret passages
• Hiking the Mist Trail

The kids’ least favorite things about visiting Yosemite:

• (Julian) “We didn’t get far enough hiking the Mist Trail.” (But Julian, Nicky’s only five and he went as far as his little legs could take him!)
• (Nicky) “I was afraid a bear would come into our tent.” (Nicky, it wasn’t a bear, it was only Daddy!)