1 mile in 2 hours... Snow shoeing in Yosemite...

All right...
Never trust the rangers at the national park when it comes to the amount of time it takes to do a round trip hiking trail with family. Think about this... these people are fit... and we are NOT!!! The only UV radiation Eric and I have been getting is from the fluorescent lighting in our offices...maybe the occasional flicker from our computer monitors.

So for Chinese New Year, we decided to take my aunt and cousins, who were visiting America for the first time, to see SNOW!!! What better place to see snow than Yosemite National Park.

Google maps estimated driving time: 3.5 hours
our door to park travel time [including (pre-departure chat with the family -- you would think we can chat in the car)+ (McD breakfast stop)+(gas stop)+(sock stop)+ (little girl/boy's room stop)+ (lunch stop)+ (Kodak moment stops)]= 5 #$%*&^@ hours

Total play time in the snow= 3 hours

On the return trip: no stop + bad weather = 4 hours

Moral of the story: if (drive_time > snow_play_time) {this ain't no day trip}

So, what is snow shoeing you ask...?
As the old joke goes: strapping some tennis racquet-looking shoes on to your own shoes so you can look like Big Bird pretending to be Big Foot wondering around the winter wonderland feeling adventurous...

Yosemite is really a majestic place and show shoeing allows you to get a feel for the beauty of nature. When we picked up our $11 snow shoe rental, our ranger suggested a short loop trail where inexperienced hikers will be able to return within 1+ hours...

Excitedly, we strapped on these suckers and started flopping away to the supposedly beautiful destination described by the ranger as our half way point.

2 hours later...
many of the party members (due to a lack of routine exercise) were hot, sweaty, hungry, tired, cranky, and beginning to undress... (Ooooo hoooo... wait, not like that!). Looking at the trail map, we realized that we were only 1/3 of the way... so we had to turn around and head home.

At this point, we all just wanted to get home.
“There is no place like home” “click, click, click” ^_^
The language barrier in the car didn't help the situation. It was ~silence~silence~ in the car. We drove through the blizzard and thunderstorms in our 4 hour car ride home. Then our guests jumped out of our car and made a mad dash into their aunt’s house.

Well~ that was great family bonding time. We'd do it again next time... wait, I think I have work that day... I guess we will have to reschedule.

PEACE!!