Yosemite National Park - wow!
Firstly, we were so fortunate that the park was in it's full glory! The day before arriving we were slightly worried as the Tioga pass was closed due to snow, meaning a ma-ho-sive detour for us, however it had opened again the next day which meant beautiful snow capped mountains on the drive in, and WATERFALLS!! Apparently, the week before the falls were completely dry!
We arrived in the early evening to a very chilly valley!! Everyone was wrapped up in winter gear, and we just had thin jumpers, brr! Luckily we had booked a heated tent and the next two days were about 25 degrees once the sunshine hit the valley, phew!
First day we went on a 5hr hike along the Mist/John Muirr trail to Vernal fall and Nevada fall - absolutely stunning! The hike was quite strenuous, with big steps and rocky zig zagging paths up, but the falls and views were worth it!
The following day we had a nice easy stroll in the valley to see the Lower Yosemite fall, then drove to Glacier Point on the way to our accommodation in Ahwahnee, for the most breathtaking view of the park!
As for wildlife, we were pretty lucky there too! A bear crossed the road when we drove in the first night, we saw many deer throughout our stay, we had a racoon say hello one evening as we arrived back to our tent, then on the way to Glacier point we passed a Coyote and almost imediately afterwards a massive owl swooped across the road into the trees!
In Ahwahnee, we chilled out a bit, visited Bass Lake and Nelder Grove where we saw a couple metre squared section of the forest completely covered (and I mean completely!) in ladybirds! Oh, and also some pretty big trees!!