We hung out around the lake most of the time and went tubing with the boat we brought.
Since Yosemite was 15 miles away we went there for a day and explored the sights.And on the last day we fished along the dam before we left since my brother had never done it before.
Some details:
The first night we were there we were sitting around the campfire and a park ranger walks to our site.
He warned us that there had been bear sitings recently and that the night before a 400lb bear was seen with two cubs. This trio was spotted hanging around our exact campground. We all thought, "Well great, the worst combination we can stumble upon and now we're scared." It didn't help that our campground in particular was along the edge of the forest secluded from everyone else and it would get pitch black at night without flashlights.
Nothing had happened the first two nights and we went about our days exploring.
The third night came and we were playing Mafia. As the game was going on we would hear sticks on the ground crack around us and we'd get up and shine our lights into the forest.
At least three times it would be deer walking past us and a deer even walked through our site.
We figured it was nothing else and went to sleep.
However, a young bear cub did come and steal some food that night. Only opening and closing our coolers, it stole salami, marshmallows and a bag of peanuts. We found the nuts not too far from us and each one was carefully cracked and shelled. It's amazing how clever these animals are.
After this night I guess the bears realized we had easy food and came back two nights in a row after!
It was scary knowing they could so easily trespass our area.
Steven's family had bought this tube you sit in and it is tied to the boat. So anyone sitting in the tube gets dragged. However looks can be deceiving. It wasn't a smooth ride. We were being thrown around and it felt like being on a roller coaster. It seemed like we were going 50mph but we really only went 20mph. At times we caught some air and both Steven and I almost flew out. Steven was literally out of the tube and he would have flown had I not pulled him back down by grabbing his leg. It was exciting, stomach churning, and one of the funnest things I've ever done. I think we were just screaming the entire time.
Also during our mini-trip to Yosemite, we got to see Half Dome and encountered a bunch of deer.
We stopped by Curry Village which was this huge place where people got to sleep and had a lobby, bar, pizzeria, stores, and really good ice cream. It was like luxury camping.
On the drive back to our site we encountered a coyote along side the road. It didn't show any fear whatsoever and was just staring at us. As we were taking pictures it walked up really close to one of our cars. It was freaky because we weren't sure if it would snap or if it was just curious.
We weren't allowed to fish off the boat so Steven, his sister, my brother and I stood in the dam and fished in the shallow waters. We were only able to catch the tiniest fish since the larger ones were deeper in water. I think I caught the most (maybe around 5) and I caught a fairly large trout but it wasn't large enough to take home to eat. So we ended up letting go of all of them and started swimming and playing around.
I had amazing time with the family and the forest was absolutely beautiful. There was moss growing everywhere on the trees and it was thrilling being able to get so close to wild animals. I wished I had wracked up the nerve to swim in the lake but it was still really fun. I'm blessed to have opportunities to create wonderful memories with people I care about and I'm especially glad this family has taken me in as their own. I can't wait for the future trips with everyone once again.
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Natural tank tops! |
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| Can you see the excitement on my face? :p |
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The moment Steven was about to fly out |
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Sexy and not so sexy faces...
 
   
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