Travel : Yosemite!

Yosemite

The next stop on our road trip after San-Francisco was Yosemite. The difference in not only heat but scenery was remarkable considering it was a 4 hour drive! I will be honest, Yosemite was certainly not my favourite part of the trip. I am such a city girl, ironic that I hate busyness, so being in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a few random restaurants intimidated me a little bit. The heat was also ridiculous getting to 30/40 degrees every day we were there. With that being said I made the most out of the stop and have some beautiful memories I will treasure forever! (As well as some beautiful photographs!)

Hotel

If you have been to Yosemite before, you may note that there aren't really that many hotels once inside the park, except for the VERY expensive ones or campsites. Seeing as we were on a road trip and wasn't intending to go into the park more than once, we decided to stay just outside in Oakhurst. Our hotel, the Best Western Plus Yosemite Gateway Inn was one of the last hotels before approaching Yosemite National Park, so we were in the ideal place. The hotel itself was set out a little bit like Centre Parcs. There is a reception away from the rooms, with areas to drive to your door. They have a inside and outdoor pool which was lovely considering how hot it was! They also had an onsite restaurant that although being 'connected' to the hotel, offered a discount at breakfast if you ate there, but no other meal plans. We ate at the restaurant for 2/3 of our nights here. It was a lovely place to go, although unfortunately we did have a couple of payment issues here. On our final evening we paid a tip to the server in person, when finding the bill online the next day extra cash had been taken that we didn't agree too. Ironically when calling and querying this was removed straight away. Potentially unrelated but three days later our credit card had been cloned which is a little suspicious! The rooms were clean, tidy and air conditioned which was all that mattered. But they were very basic which is what you can expect for the price! The bathroom also felt a little outdated, but again they were quite large and clean!

What to do?

Once we had found our hotel/motel we felt shattered so had a quick dinner before hitting the hay! We had three nights in our hotel which didn't really give us lots of time to do much exploring, not that there was too much to see. We had already booked and planned a tour of Yosemite with Discover Yosemite Tours. Only being in Yosemite for 3 nights meant that we would never get to all of the places on our own so felt that a tour was essential! We were picked up at 8am and arrived back around 5/6pm. A very busy full day tour but we were able to see all of the places on our list. The tour also provided lunch at the Majestic Yosemite Hotel. Which was absolutely beautiful! The places we stopped and viewed were Half Dome, Yosemite Falls, Three Brothers, Glacier Point, El Capitan, Yosemite Chapel plus more! Again, it was a very busy day but made a lot easier by having a very informed tour guide with a lot of knowledge. In terms of restaurants, we didn't really eat out apart from at the hotel during our stay. However the one night that we did, we enjoyed a lovely meal at the South Brewing Company. Let's just say that was an experience! It's basically a Nando's in terms of you pay before you eat, except you have to find a seat/table yourself which was challenging during rush hour! About an hour after arriving we got our dinner which was well worth the wait!

Tips & Tricks

This one is probably a given but make sure you pack for a warm climate if travelling here in the summer. I LIVED in my pair of Denim shorts. Also make sure you have comfortable footwear if you are planning to visit Yosemite National Park during your stay. Although you would be fine wearing sandals, the flooring isn't that flat so it's easier to wear trainers which have a better grip on the floor. Finally, make sure you have a spare memory card! Yosemite is a beautiful place to take photographs. I loved scenery shots and could have spent days snapping away! 

I hope you enjoyed reading this post! As I mentioned Yosemite wasn't my favourite stop on the holiday, however we still had an amazing time regardless! 

Have you ever visited? Can you recommend anywhere to visit?

Lots of love,

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