Kathy and I took a vacation to Yosemite National Park over Memorial Day 2004. We spent 9 days within the park hiking and backpacking. Our first day was spent entirely in Yosemite Valley getting our first glimpse of Yosemite's hallmarks; El Capitan, Half Dome, Yosemite Falls, and Bridalveil Fall among others. We stayed Saturday night in the Curry Village tent cabins. On Sunday morning we set out on a 4-day backpacking trip that would take us along both rims of Yosemite Valley. The 4-day route was about 45 miles total, and took us through some of Yosemite's grandest sites. We hiked past Yosemite Falls, camped at North Dome and Tenaya Lake, hiked to the top of Cloud's Rest and Half Dome, then descended through the famous mist trail which takes you by spectacular Nevada Fall and Vernal Fall. On the fourth day we hiked out of the backcountry, and had the opportunity to see the sunset at Mono Lake that night. I would recommend a trip to Mono Lake to anyone who will be in the Yosemite area. Not only is the area beautiful, to learn about the ecology of the area is fascinating. The next morning we began what was to be a 3-day backpacking trip through Yosemite's highcountry. It turned out to be only 2 days because the highcountry was still buried in deep snow, and we were having trouble following the trail. Since we exited the backcountry early on our 2nd trip we had extra days to burn day hiking. Fortunately, we were able to secure a campsite at Tioga Lake, which ended up being one of our favorite spots. We stayed in the Tioga Lake campsite for 2 nights which served as a basecamp for day hikes in Tuolumne Meadows. We day hiked to Saddlebag Lake the first day, and later took a side excursion to Bodie State Park, and on the second day, our last in Yosemite, we hiked to the top of Lembert Dome.