Ever since Day One we'd been counting down the time until Dash could truly begin to share our love of nature! To celebrate Papa Dash's birthday and to make Dash's first outdoor adventure a grand one, we took a long weekend off with our friends and drove all the way to Yosemite National Park. I remember my Grandpa telling me long ago that Yosemite was one of the
most beautiful places he'd ever seen (and he was far more well traveled
than I will ever be) so I thought about this the whole way there.
Once we finally stopped at a lookout... HOLY
BANANAS!!! It was the most incredible display of natural
beauty I'd ever seen!!! (Even more breathtaking than anything in our home state of Hawai'i.)
Just staring into the infinite distance, blanketed in endless trees,
surrounded by mammoth cliffs and waterfalls... Words can't describe
how moving the experience was. I was even grateful there was no cell phone reception, since this way we were all completely immersed in nature.
Our friends had booked a campsite at the Wowona campgrounds, so after
wiping our jaws off the floor we headed over there. Being from Hawai'i, where there are no bears, Papa Dash and I paid very close attention to the ranger as he explained all the rules. Would I be able to see a bear? The possibility of glimpsing such a majestic wild animal was electrifying!
On the other hand, little Dash couldn't care less about bears and wasted no time getting thoroughly dirty as we set up camp. As we settled in we were definitely glad we chose to stay out of the crowded, main village area of the park. It
was so warm and beautiful out that our roommate didn't even set up his
tent. He simply hooked up his hammock and slept under the stars.
I guess we should have researched Yosemite more before we got there, because the rangers quickly pointed out that although leashed dogs were allowed in the campgrounds, there weren't really any dog friendly hiking trails or activities. No problem, we thought. We'll just go check out the giant Sequoia trees for now (especially the one with the hole through the bottom).
Yosemite was ridiculously big, so we all had to drive over to the Mariposa Grove to see the giant Sequoia trees. Unfortunately it was only once we got there and saw the signs that we realized there were no dogs allowed on the trail. We were heartbroken! What to do, what to do...
Hey! Let's just carry Dash! Our logic was that if we carried
him, he wouldn't be making any impact on the natural surroundings and
it would almost be like he was never there. I'm a stickler for following the rules of the trail, so this was a very difficult choice for me to live with. To make it even harder, we got quite a few stares
as we walked the busy trail holding a puppy in our arms. But, it was worth it. Being in the presence of so many ancient, towering trees was again, just moving.
Okay. You caught us. We did let Dash walk on this one log when no one was looking. I love seeing him experience new things. He took to balancing along the round surface with ease, and soaked in all the smells for the few moments he was allowed to touch the log.
I think everyone should see Yosemite
once in their life, and I am so happy to have shared this first with
young Dash and some of the closest people in my life!
