A few years ago, I was tied down by a job I hated, living a life that left me feeling exhausted for time.  Any chance I got to just stay home and relax was a day well spent.  One day while browsing Pinterest (while I was procrastinating doing work I did not enjoy…) I discovered a promotion that the folks at Half Dome Village (known as Curry Village at the time) once did to get visitors to stay in their canvas cabins in the wintertime.  The cost of your stay was dependent on the temperature.  The colder it was, the cheaper you could stay.

Since we were living in Los Angeles at the time, and half the money we made went immediately into paying our rent, we took any chance we got to save money.  Suddenly, I wanted nothing more than to sleep in a canvas tent in the middle of the winter in Yosemite National Park.  But where would we find the time to do that?  We both worked full time jobs, and I was constantly working on the weekends.  We wouldn’t be able to carve time out of our schedule to get there.

But if we weren’t going to be able to get there that one, fateful winter in 2016, then when would we make it there?

We took what we could.  We had a weekend, and that would have to be enough.   We packed up our car Friday night (so we wouldn’t waste a single moment) and drove to our destination early the next morning.

With less than 48 hours to spend in the place that would quickly steal my heart, we needed to know exactly what we wanted to get done to make the most out of our time there.   Having a plan that you can stick to is the easiest way to get the most out of your short trip.

Tunnel View

The very first iconic place to stop at Yosemite is at Tunnel View lookout point.  You’ll catch your very first glimpse at the iconic destinations that will be your guiding lights for the rest of your trip.  This is the perfect place to take your “souvenir photo.” I set up the tripod, turned on the timer, sat on the retaining wall, and immediately had the most perfect photo to hang on our wall. 

Check In

Be prepared to stand in a little bit of a line when checking in.  Even in the off-season, we had to wait in a line to get our tent assignment.

Move In

Move everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) from your car into your tent.  We brought tons of extra blankets because it was going to be very cold.   That immediately went on the bed.  Valuables were locked into our safe that was provided for us, and everything else went immediately into the bear-proof box outside of our tent.  All food, supplies, and clothes went in here.  Keeping all these items locked up kept a bear from coming to look for them.  Even lingering perfume on clothes could be enough to spark a bear’s interest. 

Dinner

When we visited, the only option available was the Pizza Patio.  The line to grab a bite to eat was long (over an hour long) but being the only hot food to eat, we waited with the rest of our fellow visitors.  While we stood in line, we had the amazing opportunity to watch the sun set on Half Dome and light it up to a beautiful shade of pink.   This is a view that is not to be missed!

Stargazing

When living in a city like Los Angeles, stars are something rarely seen.  While we didn’t find the most remote spot, we found some open space on the edge of our camp sight and looked up at the stars.  The numbers of stars in the sky that night were incredible. 

Sleep

We had big plans to wake up mighty early the next morning, so we got to bed early, too.  We had opted to not have the added expense of the space heater in our tent (something that my more financially stable self would never do again) so getting to sleep was very difficult in the bitter cold.  We had the beds pushed together so we could huddle under the same blankets for warmth. We wore almost every piece of clothing we brought. Yet it seemed sleep would not come for a very long time, and when it did, it was short lived.  (The next day I bought sleeping pills from the gift shop and had much better luck the second night…)

Early Risers

It was still very dark when we woke the next morning.  We ran back and forth between our tent and the communal bathrooms to get ready.  We jumped in the car, and drove in the pitch black dark to mirror lake.  At this time of day, we had the lot completely to ourselves (something the late risers would not get to experience.) We began our trek just as the sun was starting to rise.

Mirror Lake

We spent our morning hiking around Mirror Lake.  The entire trail around the lake is just at 5 miles.  There is no water on the trail, but there are a few bathrooms along the way.  For the first hour or so, we didn’t see a single person on the trail.  It was just us and the reflecting views in the lake.

The trail was generally flat, with a few rocks or branches to climb over sporadically.   There was snow at one point along the trail in an area that rarely sees sunlight.  It was an easy trail that took little preparation or experience, but still offered breathtaking views of rivers, lakes, and of Half Dome. 

The Lodge

After our half-day hike, we went back to the gift shop to buy lunch.  We brought plenty of food with us, but with the cold temperatures, we really needed something to warm us up.  We opted for some Mac and Cheese and sandwiches.  We took all of this into the lodge where plenty of other visitors were playing games and relaxing.  We ate lunch and played cards.

Yosemite Valley Shuttle

After we got our energy back, we hopped on the free shuttle and went over to Yosemite Falls.  At this point in the day, there were lots of people out on these accessible trails.  Hundreds more than the handful of people we saw on the trail early in the morning.

Yosemite Falls

You can see Yosemite Falls pretty immediately after hoping off the shuttle (you’ll also have a view of half dome!) Here you’ll find a very short and very easy trail to the Falls.  About a half-mile in total, you can walk out to the Falls in a matter of minutes, snap some photos, take in the view, and then walk back.  We spent a while at the foot of the Falls just admiring it. 

At this point, the shuttles were very over crowded, there were people everywhere, and we would have probably been better off walking back to the campsite.  But the shuttle was free and, despite the fact that we had hiked two easy trails, we had been on our feet all day and we were tired. 

We grabbed dinner at the cafeteria again that night, and went to sleep shortly after the sun went down.

Pack-Out

The next morning, we woke up early once again, this time to pack up our car and hit the road. 

El Capitan

We couldn’t leave Yosemite without visiting the iconic El Capitan.  Lucky for us, it was on the way as we left the park.  We stood in the shadow of El Capitan for a while, and made a few other stops at pretty destinations along the way.  We stopped at Valley View, and again at Tunnel View. 

Follow in our footsteps, and you’ll get to see as much of Yosemite as you could possibly see in such a short amount of time.  You’ll have time to see all of the iconic stops, get a few quick hikes in, and have a little bit of time to relax before heading home. 

Did we see all that Yosemite has to offer?  Of course not!  But we got a taste.  We can say that we’ve been there, but know that we will have to go back again some day.  I’m dying to get back as soon as the opportunity presents itself, but for now, I’m happy to say we made it work the best that we could. 

Until next time, Yosemite.

The post How to make the Most out of a Short Weekend in Yosemite first appeared on Greetings From Kelly.

I had an amazing internship that lead to a connection who helped me find my “big break”.  Jason had a job he loved, worked with some great people on the Fox Lot, and was learning the ropes of the movie business.  We were making real strides towards fulfilling our dreams.

And we were miserable. 

I couldn’t stand my job.  I had the typical Hollywood boss who got angry with me about any little thing.  I was warned she would be “difficult” to work with, but I had no idea what that meant until I was staring it right in the face.  I was afraid to ask questions, I hated going into work every day, I felt my self-worth increasingly diminished. 

The whole time, in the back of my head there was this voice that said, “If you can’t handle this, then you’re not good enough, and you might as well just give up on your dreams.” So I dealt with it.  I told myself I was tough enough to handle this and I would make it through.

Meanwhile, my life became more and more consumed with work.  I had a miserably long commute (sometimes as long as two hours one way depending on traffic). I would wake up early, drive to work, feel miserable while I was at work, then drive home for another two hours, work more while I was at home.  More times than not, I was not getting paid for this work, but I was constantly told that if I wanted to work in this business, this is what was expected of me and this is what I had to do.  I would eat dinner, sleep, and repeat the whole thing all over again.

I had no time for myself.  I had no time to do anything I was passionate about (because I was supposed to be passionate about work and nothing else.)  I tried meditation to help deal with the stress of my unhappy life, but I just couldn’t figure out what was wrong.  I had everything I wanted.  I was working towards everything I had always dreamed of.  I was doing it.

Why wasn’t I happy?

Getting out of this miserable place started with a quick weekend trip to Yosemite…

I had gotten to the point at work where I stopped caring to do what was asked of me.  I was done spending my evenings and weekends reading and writing coverage and turning in my reports Monday morning.  I took a stand.  I said I would not be reading anything at all, not for a moment, over that February weekend, because I was taking the weekend off (and less than a month later, I would quit my job on a whim…but we’ll get to that later.)

We packed up the car (and had ordered tire chains online, a necessity in Yosemite this time of year) and were headed for the mountains.  The drive took about five hours in total, and we stopped at a few roadside attractions along the way.  This was something we had grown fond of doing on our drive out to Los Angeles; stopping at fun, kitschy places along Route 66, but was something we had completely abandoned while living in Los Angeles.

When we finally reached our destination, the first glimpse at Yosemite from Tunnel View, I lost my breath. Like physically stopped breathing.  I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.  That view looking out into Yosemite would be etched in my mind forever. 

It had been over a year since we had taken a trip anywhere.  This was what I was missing in my life.  The freedom to disconnect from technology and reconnect with nature.  This moment, looking out at Yosemite Valley, was when I knew I needed a change.

Any career path that keeps me from doing the things that I love, any job that forces me to miss out on exploring new places, couldn’t possibly be my dream.  My dream was here, in Yosemite, with the mountains.  I needed moments like these for the rest of my life.

This is what I needed to be happy.

But how would I get back here?  Traveling was almost impossible, because it took so much just to get back home; an expensive and long plane ride, our families living in two different states.    Any chance we had to travel, we traveled to see our families.  We couldn’t possibly see the world one weekend at a time.  My boss would never allow me to take every weekend off (despite the fact that I was not paid for this work.) I needed to reform my life to get back to this feeling I had in Yosemite over and over again.

To make a big change, you have to start small.  As I mentioned, I started by quitting my job on a whim.  One day, my boss asked the same question she’d asked me a million times before: You’re not working hard enough, you’re not asking enough questions.  Do you want work in this industry or not?  Every single time she asked me this, I said, “of course I do.”

This time. I said, “No, I don’t.”

And with that, without thinking it through, I had submitted my two weeks notice.  I didn’t have another job to fall back on, just some freelance work that I had been doing on the side.  But I knew this job wasn’t making me happy. We had plans to leave Los Angeles once our lease ended, I was planning to ride out this job until it was time for us to move.  With only six months to go, we would make ends meet one way or the other.  I just couldn’t fake it for one more second!

On a complete turn of luck, I was offered a job with Universal just one day before my two-weeks notice was set to end.  My schedule with them was so much more forgiving.  I was given time off and vacation days.  I was not only allowed but also forced to stop working once my workday was over.  I was able to have my life back.

With a bigger, more consistent paycheck that reflected the time I spent working, I was able to find time to balance the work with the travel.

That didn’t mean I was suddenly able to spend weeks at a time in Yosemite (but that would have been awesome, right?)  Now that we knew we were leaving Los Angeles, we knew it was time to finally start exploring it.

There was so much to see that we never had time for.  We saw the Getty Museum, we went to the beach, we visited the La Brea Tar Pits and the LACMA. We saw three more National Parks that were all a short drive from the City.  We met with Jason’s parents in San Diego.  So many things that seemed impossible before, were suddenly available to us.  It was all because of a change in our path and a change in our perspective. 

We had spent the previous year thinking of all the things we hated about Los Angeles, without ever really seeing anything it had to offer.  The closer we got to leaving, the easier it was to see past the things we didn’t like, and start looking to the things we were going to miss. 

We were going to miss how accessible all these destinations were, but when we moved back to St. Louis, the place that has always been home for us, we knew to look for great opportunities in our back yard once again. 

We began looking for weekend trips, for nearby destinations, for roadside attractions.  I found a job that I loved that kept me involved in production, but that allowed me to log off at the end of the day.  It allowed me to pursue my other passions, so that when I’m at work, I can give it my all.

Most importantly, I learned life isn’t about sacrifice.  

It’s about finding balance.

Finding balance helped me to pick a career that I was passionate about, but one that let me have time to grow as an individual. Balance helped me to find time to volunteer with a dog shelter, travel, and start this blog. It’s not easy. I am constantly in motion and constantly working. The difference now is that the work I am doing is bringing me fulfillment. It’s giving me balance.

Does this story ring true for anyone else? If you’re feeling stuck and unfulfilled, check out my free “Yosemite Moment” download with five questions to guide you through steps to unlock your Yosemite Moment. You can check that out and more in my resource library! Request your exclusive access below!

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The post The Lessons You Will Learn from Yosemite first appeared on Greetings From Kelly.