The Red Convertible

Driving to Yosemite National Park / June 18, 2011

“There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it.”

–Charles Dudley Warner

Matt and I arrived in Yosemite National Park at around 8pm Pacific time on June 18th. We traveled by car then plane, airtrain then convertible by way of "In 'n Out Burger" to get there and it somehow took 17 hours.

The convertible ride was a welcomed surprise. I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning when I heard "We're out of sedans. We could put you in a small SUV. Or.. we have a convertible." Sold. Matt said the expression on my face was priceless as I not-so-calmly informed the man that "we'll take it." Matt had some concerns about our luggage fitting, but I assured him we'd manage. I didn't care if I had to share my seat with our bags. Turns out it was a 2 seater (even better.) We made it work.

We were giddy the entire way to Yosemite. My favorite phrases were "I can't believe we're here" and "I can't believe we're in a convertible!" As soon as we got that top down nothing from the previous 8 hours mattered- not the flight delay, turbulence, or the waking up at 5:15am after 1 hour of sleep.

When we finally arrived in the park and checked into our cabin we ventured over to a little grocery/ gift shop to buy some "dinner." We settled on beer and beef jerky. We only got so far as to drink the beer since we were still (somehow) full from lunch. Dinner of champions?

We sat outside our cozy cabin on our own little wooden bench with our feet up on an old tree stump and chatted about our upcoming adventures and our incredible happiness.

Sitting there under the quiet watch of half dome and the granite cliffs and faces was just a small memory compared to all that we encountered that week, but I love it.. very much.