Yosemite & Rafting the American River

So the end of our central coast loop and family reunion ended in camping at Yosemite, (my first time there, Jamie went before when she was tiny) and then, Jared, my brother-in-law, took us rafting on the American River. One night we hiked Half Dome in the evening to see the sun set and missed it, but the hike back was fun in the full moon. People left leather gloves at the bottom of Half Dome to use when climbing the cables, that was great for our hands. The one shot below you can see my brother-in-law, Jamie and I in front of Half Dome at night with a 13 second shutter speed, there was plenty of moon light, it was just hard to stay still for 13 seconds. Some of the highlights: (most of them pictured below)
Climbing Half Dome
Swimming in the freezing rivers and waterfalls, the days were hot
Chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast
Seeing a small bear (might as well have been a big squirrel)
Amazing views
Hanging out with family


Can you tell who needs a hair cut above? It was windy on Sentinel Dome.





We then rafted the southern leg of the American River with another brother-in-law. We were so stoked that he took us, especially with my sister being pregnant and due in 5 days. (Sierra Jeppson was born on the 24th of July) Jamie had been wanting to go rafting for months, she was probably the most excited. The rafting photos are not of us, but they show two rapids we went through called Satan's Cesspool and Bouncing Rock. The boat behind us got flipped on one of the rapids, and the boat in front of us lost a passenger on the other rapid. Great times. Would love to do it again.