Trip Dates: November 14-16, 2014
A company flew Scott & me out to California in November for us to check out the possibility of moving there for Scott to have a job INSIDE Yosemite National Park. Yes, we would be living INSIDE Yosemite National Park. It was a very quick trip, we flew out on a Friday morning and back on Sunday night. The entire time we were just amazed that we were back inside Yosemite National Park a month after we left from our fall hiking trip! The emotions of the possible move plus my dad just having surgery made everything seem very surreal.
We stayed in the Yosemite Lodge at the Falls during this trip. We drove straight to the park after we landed on Friday and met with his potential co-workers for his interview. On Saturday we had breakfast with another potential co-worker and even sat at the "Queen's table" in the Ahwahnee Hotel! The hotel was decorated so beautiful for Thanksgiving - I would love to see it at Christmas!
After breakfast we headed out for a hike. We did a quick hike to Panorama Dome and then went back and did the Mist Trail. We did a portion of the Mist Trail last time on our way down from Half Dome but we didn't do the entire trail so I'm glad we were able to do the entire Mist Trail this time! It was pretty difficult - it's like a StairClimber the whole way up! After our day filled with hikes we headed back to the hotel for dinner and sleep!
We woke up early Sunday morning to make the drive back to Fresno to catch our plane but we, of course, had to make time for another short hike! We hiked to the Grizzly Giant in the Mariposa Grove of Redwoods as we were leaving the park.
I said I would never climb Half Dome again but I actually really wanted to do it! We couldn't though because it was closed for the season so the cables were down. We were able to get a few awesome pictures of it though! I still can't believe we climbed this!
Yosemite is a very, very beautiful place and we were so lucky to be able to visit again. This was one of the toughest decisions of our life so far...there were many "pros" of making the move but also some very big "cons". Ultimately it was up to Scott to make the decision since he was the one that would be changing jobs (I can do mine anywhere!). A few of the pros were living in a small house (it was employee housing we would be living in), Scott walking about 300 feet to work, obviously living INSIDE Yosemite National Park, etc. However, we are very lucky with the job Scott has now. He works about 8 minutes from our house, he has a fall break (the reason why we take a trip each fall), and he has three weeks off at Christmas (the reason we just took another trip out west). A move across the country, giving up Scott's current work/life balance, and leaving our family and friends were the reasons that we decided to decline the job offer. There are things that money can't buy and time off is one of them! I'm still sad we aren't moving and even cried a little bit but I know it was the best decision for us at this time. Ultimately, I feel like we will end up out west but just not right now. :-) For now, we plan on trying to sell our home, buy land around here and build our "tiny home".
"Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is necessity; that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life." -John Muir
