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Let me preface this entry by saying it is 11:00pm and I had to walk from our lodge to the main lobby about 400 yards away in Yosemite valley floor. As I was walking with my head lamp on I came face to face (about 4 feet) to glowing eyes that were at about my height. Thinking my life was just about over I stepped back and thank god it was only a deer. Definately thought it was a bear and therefore I had to go back and change my shorts before I could continue on. Anyway!!! Meg and I have spent the last two days in the Yosemite lodge. It is hardly considered camping, with running water, a shower, and cable tv in our room. However one step outside of the door and we are flanked by 2500 foot hight canyon walls. We have done quite a bit while we were here. Yesterday we pulled in around 2pm and immediately walked up to the famous (4th tallest in the world?) water fall. It was amazing even though the fall was almost dying out due to the hight heat around these parts. We climbed up about 500 yards of rocks to get to the pool that the water empties into. I am not sure you are allowed up there but my mom was not around to say no and I reassured meg she would not become a widow on her honeymoon. It was very worth the climb. I swam around for 20 mins or so. Today we woke up early and packed for a hike which ended up lasting only about 2 hours. There is so much to see in this place and the pictures that I took do not do a good enough job of explaining this place. I suppose Ansel Adams had the right idea by bringing Yosemite to life in his work. After the hike we decided to see what sort of good the "tours and activities desk" could to for us. Unfortunately the bus ride up to Glacier Point was sold out and the moon light ride did not appeal to us. The kind lady behind the counter suggested the "campfire stories" activity to us and made it sound like it was impossible for us newlyweds not to enjoy it. Fast forward two hours later and Meg and I are sitting about a mile from our lodge with about 50 people around a campfire in the middle of nowhere. In the middle of the circle sat the fire and two older people, one with a ton of dry jokes about trees and another lady with a guitar and songs about how to start your own compost pile and another about her favorite oak tree. OH did I mention that the other 48 people were small children and parents?? We looked at each other about 10 mins into the thing and are heads were on a swivel trying to figure out how we could escape this nightmare. I sat there thinking about how pissed off I was at the lady who sold us the $5.00 tickets from the "activities desk". We didn't even get the prize for coming the furthest away to visit the park, a family from the Netherlands took that. Anyway we laughed about it all the way back. We finally ended the night by sitting outback of our room with Clay (a guy from Southern California) as he gave us a crash course on astronomy and pointed out Jupiter in his 3 foot long astrological binoculars. He was a very interesting guy and we learned a lot. On a rather somber note, we found out today that some hiker went into cardiac arrest on top of Half Dome (a very very hight peak of rock people climb). As we saw the the search and rescue helicopter float through the valley, we learned by a ranger that he did not make it and passed on. One way to look at it is that the guy had the best view of his life right before he died. Well we are heading out tomorrow to Pacific Grove, CA to meet up with Lutwin and my uncle's friend Tyler who will be in the area. They are two of the coolest and most interesting people that we know so it will be a fantastic time. Hope all is well on the east coast.

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-US

Meg and I have spent the last two days in the Yosemite lodge. It is hardly considered camping, with running water, a shower, and cable tv in our room.