I am sure some Maithry members may be interested in visiting Yosemite National Park. This spring and summer the park is going to be awesome with great waterfalls due to this season's abundant snow fall. Make sure to take the family and spend and enjoy the beauty.

Although there are accommodations outside the park, I highly recommend staying within Yosemite. Accommodations range from campgrounds where you pitch your own tent, unheated canvas tent cabins, heated cabins, standard hotel rooms to luxorious 4-star accommodations at the Ahwahnee and Wawona Hotels. Bed and breakfast options are available too.

If you are considering staying inside Yosemite, make reservations as early as possible. They accept reservations upto one year in advance. You can cancel it without penalty upto 7 days before check-in date.

Reservations (upto 361 days in advance) can be made via http://yosemitepark.com/ or by calling 801-559-5000 (call wait times can be long, so try the online booking!) You can cancel upto 30 days prior to checkin to get a full refund, so plan ahead and make a reservation.

If you have any questions, please respond to this blog post. We do have several people in Maithry familiar with the park who can assist you.

Please note, the park can be very crowded on July 4th weekend (and summer in general), so plan your visit accordingly! The best time to visit the park is in the spring, (May and early June) as that is when the waterfalls are full due to melting snow.

For kids, there are Junior Ranger programs. Call ahead and get them enrolled. Kids always love these. There are ranger-led hikes too, for families and individuals.

Park has a $20 vehicle entrance fee that is valid for 7 days. We can also get annual passes.

If your party has a senior citizen, who is a resident of the USA, for $10 they get a lifetime National Parks pass that enable them to enter all US National Parks for free! Since the pass is for the vehicle in which the senior citizen travels, load up that minivan and go visit our national parks! (We have used it visit Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Zion etc.)

Make sure to follow all the rules of the park, and go have fun!!

Video of Yosemite in summer: http://vimeo.com/3921179

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Part 8