Yosemite is closed, but you can see pictures HERE

We recently spent 19 days camping under the stars as a family near Yosemite. We spent our days hiking, climbing, reading, sitting, and fostering boredom (an important habit for high-capacity people). It was the best vacation we've ever had. 

Someone said to us recently, "you said this was your best vacation ever. Why? You guys always road-trip for a month every year, camping and climbing....what made this trip the best?" 

As we thought about it, it was the best for 4 reasons:

1. We stayed in 1 place and really got to know that place. Instead of traveling thousands of miles in our car and camping in many different national parks along the way, we planted ourselves in Yosemite and treated it like our neighborhood.  The saying is true, "you can't truly love what you don't know." Though we've spent lots of time in Yosemite in years past....we really made an attempt to understand it (it's history, it's residents, it's geology, etc.) We have a deep appreciation for this place having spent every day learning as much as we could about it. 
2. We had a few profound moments where God really touched our hearts. On multiple occasions throughout the vacation, we found ourselves in tears as we stared in awe at God and His creation. These moments of glory are seared in our memories forever and they rightly placed the things in our lives that feel so big and daunting under the power and grandeur of a sovereign God.  
3. We think camping is an important spiritual exercise because it simplifies our lives. We often tell ourselves we need more than we actually do. But when we camp, we wake up with the sunrise and go to bed with the sunset. We eat simpler, and don't need a lot of the things we tell ourselves we need (frappacinos and wifi, lol).
4. We loved watching our kids be so comfortable in mountain environments. In total we hiked 70+ miles and ascended over 14000ft of elevation. Someone said to us recently, "your kids look as comfortable outside as I imagine they are inside." that's true. It brought our hearts JOY as we watched our trail babies experience Jesus and fellowship through creation. 

Yosemite is now closed due to fires....but if you'd like to follow our picture journey over 19 days of life in Yosemite....here it is! I'll spare you the stories for each picture...because that would be brutal for me to type and horrendous for you to read! 

Hetch Hetchy ^^

Getting lost looking for a dome to climb and bushwhacking through manzanita for 2 hours ^^

Toulomone ^^

Yosemite Valley ^^

Toulomne Meadows

We did 19 days...just like this ^^

How did we shower? We made made our own solar shower that we attached to the roof of our car! Everyone got a shower every couple of days. 

After a long day in the mountains...those boys have crazy hair ^^

These are good days. 

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