when joe told me he wanted to go camping in yosemite for his bday, i was all for it but i had one stipulation: 

i did NOT want to be cold. 

**i don't like being cold in general, and i usually am. 

but this mostly stems from a camping trip we took over the 

4th of july. 

it snowed. i wasn't prepared. it. was. freezing. 

hence i agreed to camping as long as he could provide warmth**

so what did husband do? 

he found heated tents, yes - heated tents - for us!!! 

bless his heart.

so we headed out friday night, drove the quick 4 hours to yosemite, and checked into our heated tent.

ok, so it was more like a tiny cabin than a tent...

but it still felt rustic, and we had to lock up our food to keep it away from bears, so it sure felt like camping to me!

**sidenote: they made this huge deal about keeping anything scented out of your car and tent. i think i had about 7 or 8 tubes of chapstick with me and had to put them allll in the bear locker. i was terrified i'd forget about something and we'd get mauled in our sleep. joe tried to calm my fears by saying "if yellowstone has taught me anything, it's that bears don't exist." turns out i had a tube of chapstick in my backpack the whole time that i had forgotten about, but we're still alive so maybe joe is right?**

our campsite was nestled in the middle of yosemite valley, right next to glacier point, with a view of half dome behind us. the size of these mountains was unreal, even in the dark.

^^ glacier point ^^

on saturday we hiked to upper yosemite falls.

it kicked our butts.

it's about 7 miles round trip, but pretty much the entire first half is super steep switchbacks. 

it was awesome though, and totally worth it

(even if our legs were embarrassingly shaky on the way down...)

^^ i'm not sure if this picture captures the incline (or decline - because this was on the way down) but lemme tell you, it was killer ^^

on sunday we hiked to vernal falls.

it was a shorter hike, but just as intense. 

there's a part called the mist trail where you get pretty soaked from the waterfall, and have to climb what felt like a million stairs. (someone mentioned 600, that sounds about right i guess)

once again, we had the shaky legs to prove it.

but again, it was so worth it.

^^ look how happy joe is, even in the midst of climbing hundreds of stairs. this man is in his element ^^

 ^^ rebels WITH a cause ^^

^^ we made it to the top! joe told me that a lot of people in south america very strongly believe that the higher you are, the closer you are to God. i think they're onto something...^^

on the way out we stopped to take a few pictures of el capitan - a huge mountain famous for rock climbers (i can't even imagine trying to climb that thing), bridalveil falls, and the valley floor.

 ^^ el cap ^^

 ^^ bridalveil falls - on the left ^^

^^ el cap and half dome in the distance ^^

our weekend in the mountains was just what we needed, and it totally exceeded my expectations.

i stayed warm,

joe crossed something off his bucket list,

and we had a blast together.
the pictures don't do this place justice, and i'm super bummed that we only had our cell phones to take pictures with (time to invest in a nice camera maybe?)
but the moral of the story is...GO to yosemite.
i mean, they have heated tents people...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE!