The kids and I recently took advantage of an empty day on the calendar to make a day-trip to Yosemite. The trip was almost a non-starter though when I realized we were half way to Yosemite, almost out of gas, and I had forgotten my wallet at home. An emergency credit card I had hidden in my car got us the needed petrol, and after driving home and back again we decided to make the most of the remainder of our day head back toward the park. Among other reasons, we wanted to try out our new camera and some new-to-us photo techniques. Off to Yosemite we went, and am I ever glad we did.

The Yosemite valley is a jewel of geography, a prize of parks–and it’s practically in our back yard! I chide local friends who have never been there by telling them that the park is full of people who come from all over the world to see it and it’s only a three hour drive from Sacramento. Yet this McClelland household hadn’t made the trek for almost 10 years. Mother nature had left a fresh coat of white snow on the valley snow, yet mercilessly left the roads open and semi-safe. It was decided we would leave Lisa at home, working and take a Daddy slash kid drive for the day.

It wasn’t nearly as difficult to drag the kids along with me as I thought it was going to be. I had thought that pulling Emily at age 14 away from texting with friends and pulling Patrick at 11 away from…well, anything electronic was going to be a challenge, and one that I would have to try to justify to them all day. I had thought that keeping an arm between two battling kids as a single parent for the day would be excruciating. I was wrong. The stars aligned for us. Emily and Patrick were the best of friends, if only for the day. We laughed and joked on the drive down and stopped in the tule fog of a grape orchard to take our first photos. Emily was taking a photography class in high-school, and it was half the reason for our trip.

I was pleasantly surprised that the kids were as taken with Yosemite’s grandeur as I am pretty much every time I visit there. And the rough start to our morning barely put a damper on our day. We went from one photogenic spot to another in the park, goofing off and laughing all day. The sunset came much too quickly though and we found ourselves hurrying through the store to pick up our several-hours-late lunch before heading to the famous splendor of lower Yosemite falls. We snapped a few more shots at the base of the falls shivering as the temperature dropped. We shared the space with no one but ourselves in a moment of pure self actualization.

Though it was dark as our underexposed photos as we walked back the trail, we wouldn’t allow our adventure to come to an end. We put the seats down in the back of our and with the seats folded down, we spread blankets and shared a picnic of prosciutto, Triscuits, exotic cheeses and chocolate milk, all over-priced at the store in Curry Village, and worth every penny. We left the back hatch open for as long as we could stand the cold, then dined under exquisite stars viewed through the open sunroof.

I had been ready to simply be glad that we had made the trip. I had been ready for the dad speech of, “You know some kids will never be able to see this park. You know some kids would be thankful their dad brought them here.” Instead I was rewarded with Emily’s, “That was the most fun I’ve had in a long time,” and Patrick’s goofy giddiness he only get’s when he’s truly happy.

I can’t tell you how happy I was that we didn’t simply give up on our day after we ran out of gas. It was and is an adventure that I will always remember.

But here are a few more photos just in case.