For whatever reason, at one point this irritation was percolating within me as we boarded one of the Yosemite buses. One of the ubiquitous rule signs caught my eye. This time it took the form of a series of three crude doodles. The first was a dog, circled with a line through it, the last was a picture of a radio, also circled with a line through it, but the second was cryptic. I turned to Trey.
"Look." I said. "The park says we can't have a dog on the bus, or a radio, and apparently they don't like lumpy things either."
"Lumpy things" sent Trey into fits of laughter, a laughter that seemed to feed on itself. His laughter must have lasted for ten minutes, tapering off only after another ten minutes of sporadic chuckles. Other humorous events during the trip seemed to be filtering through his thoughts. It was great!
Rules....Silver linings. Heh.
No buses were in our plans for the day. Although we have found the buses useful for valley floor exploration, we intended to leave the valley for the day and we wanted the freedom that comes with our own transportation.
When we entered Yosemite days earlier we drove past some of the most stunning locations I have ever seen, but we continued without stopping to experience them. At the time we didn't know how long it would take us to get to our campsite, and we didn't know if our reservations were going to work. We expected the six month old reservations to be fine, but anything can happen and getting to the campground before the help retires for the night is helpful in the event of the unthinkable. We intended to fix this oversight by going back and having a picnic in Tuolumne Meadows at round 10,000 feet.
After a few morning chores we loaded up and cranked the van for the first time in two days. If things went well two hours driving would get us to Tuolumne Meadows and by noon we would be picnicking. Not long after leaving we came upon a random gathering of haphazardly parked cars and people trotting along the side of the road with camera in hand. Yep, modern 'bear sign'! : )
The campground bears were more exciting, but these had sunlight on them. One was brown, the other was blond and looked like a rock. Unfortunately the camera had a preference for focusing on nearby trees rather than the bears. Whatever. Kat and I are not David 
Attenborough. After visiting the bears we missed a right-hand turn, (The turn shows up in the photo touching the upper-right portion of this paragraph.) due to the disturbance caused by the bears. Within a few miles we realized our mistake and doubled back. A little later we caught some pictures of Tenaya Lake in the distance.
Later we got to the park entrance we had used days earlier but tuned around before exiting. We didn't want to wait in the traffic to get back in. The area near the entrance is one that I find particularly attractive. I enjoyed the Scottish feel that the rocky field offered up. Parking was difficult, though; there wasn't enough of it alon
g that section. Some pullouts were closed for revitalization. We drove on and found another pull off that had space for us. I enjoy aesthetic moments and usually try to stop let them wash over me when they present themselves. Never, though, have I had the fortune to experience an extended aesthetic moment.....
The picnic didn't go quite as planned. When we opened the cooler all that remained of the
sandwich meat were empty containers. The upside? We didn't have to feed Trey as he was not hungry. Note: Don't travel with a cooler next to a hungry, sneaky child. He did, however, leave behind plenty of mayo, and bread. We also had potato chips as they had somehow eluded him. We all liked the resulting sandwiches just fine.
After a little lounging we rolled on to the next stop, Tenaya Lake. I toed at the water, but it was cold so Kat and I retreated to some shade and watched the kids play in the water. They found the snow melt to their liking. Trey found a piece of
wood he dubbed a "Doom Ship" and in short order the other two had their own as well. All three fully immersed themselves at various times, sometimes accidentally. Eventually Ian returned to us with blue lips followed soon after by Elise. They were cold. Trey was a trooper and kept playing shin deep. Once back at the van we kept the heat pumping until the children warmed up.
Still working.....
On our way back to our last night in Upper Pines we made a random stop at Swinging Bridge for a little more swimming. Trey and I were the first to start across Swinging Bridge. It gave an excellent point from which to photograph Yosemite Falls. I stopped Trey to grab a picture with him in the foreground, 
Yosemite Falls, the Merced and some rafters in the background. The first two attempts were poor, as he was not in the mood for yet another picture. What to do? In a moment of clarity I said "Think about lumpy things." It worked. It worked well. Another silver lining from that cloud of rules. Lumpy things. : )
Kat caught up with me while I watched Trey make his way down to the
river. I tried to get photos of the rest of the family from the bridge but 'lumpy things' didn't have the same effect on them. Oh well. I joined Trey who was now swimming in the cold water playing some form of water tag with kids who had water guns. He was getting pounded and loving it. I wadded out only ankle deep and Elise joined me. Kat watched from the shore holding a still chilled and tired Ian in towel.
Still working...............
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