Round the Globe: Wedding in Yosemite

Jeff's first cousin's daughter on his mother's side of the family had her destination wedding at Yosemite. We later discovered that there was no apparent reason for this choice of venue as neither the bride nor the groom had been to Yosemite together! Anyway, to get to Yosemite from Las Vegas is not so easy by car. We found a great airfare to San Francisco and decided to fly and then rent a car. MISTAKE. We did not consider the amount of traffic we would run into leaving the airport - bumper to bumper for over two hours.

We met up with Jeff's sister and brother in-law at Tenaya Lodge, our hotel for the next few days. The lodge is located just outside the southern entrance to Yosemite and is somewhat rustic, at least for us. The views though are incredible. We ate dinner out on the patio and then retired for the night to recuperate from the long drive.

The next day after breakfast, Jeff and I took a drive into the national park and then got back to the lodge to sit out by the pool with Beth and Stewart before we all had to dress and head to the Wawona Hotel for the wedding. The hotel is located inside the national park and has the most beautiful setting. Unfortunatenlty, the sun seemed to flood the outdoor seating with intense hot rays during most of the ceremony. The wedding was quite nice especially catching up with Jeff's cousin Leslie and his wife Ellie.

The reception was held indoors at the hotel with lots of additional space on a large covered veranda. Leslie made a beatuiful speech to his daughter Rachel and her new husband Michael and we were glad we had made the trek to hear it all.