What To Bring While You Relax In Yosemite National Park!
In order to enjoy your vacation you need to relax! The best way to do this is to know what to bring when you come. It is a good idea to bring a couple of folding chairs (enough for everyone in your party), a card table, board games, decks of cards, a personal fan (if you are coming in the summer) a good book to read and or magazines. If you drive your car here you can bring more than if you have to fly to get here. Since we drive we bring more than we probably should! In July it is really hot so we bring portable fans for our cabins. Cabins and tents do have outlets. It is hard to sleep when you are really hot and there is no breeze!
If you come to Yosemite in the summer or fall, I highly recommend that you bring mosquito repellent! The bugs are extremely thick in the month of July. You can buy repellent here in the park at almost every store. But it is much cheaper if you bring some with you. You will need to reapply the repellant about every four hours. The mosquitoes are the worse in the mornings and evenings.
 Bring your camera/camcorder! It is also a good time to pick up a photography magazine and read it while you are in this picturesque place! It is fun to read about a new way to use settings on your camera and then try it out right then and there! Click on the flashing Zinio ad to the left here and you can down load a single issue of any magazine you want and take it with you to Yosemite!!!
If you are in a camping site you will have a fire pit. Bring the graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolates for making smores! (Roasting sticks are easy and fun for the kids to find here!) There are no fire pits if you are staying at the Lodge, House Keeping or Curry Village. If you have musical talent bring your instrument! Guitars and harmonicas are a nice way to relax and have fun when camping.
Electronic books! This new gadget is FANTASTIC! It is a wireless reading device. You can download over 200 different books at one time. Get a memory card for it and you can dowload even more! It is called the Kindle. You can find, buy and read books instantly with the Kindle. It only weighs 10.3 ounces and is perfect to bring on your travels to Yosemite! Over 100,000 books are available for download. Magazines, newspapers and blogs can be downloaded as well. Downloading a book is cheaper than actually buying a book. Most books are only $9.99 to download. Bring this and you will be the envy of everyone and you can relax! Click on the adjoining picture to get yours now!
Bring a flashlight! There are no city lights or street lights in Yosemite (Yeah!). You have to walk to community bathrooms and showers if you are at a campsite, in a tent or cabin. It is dark in Yosemite a night! Bring a flashlight for everyone in your party (it is no fun hunting for a flashlight when you need one!). The kids love to make shadows on the tent walls...and you need a flashlight to engage in all that fun! Relax! I am telling you the things you need to bring for your trip...get your flashlights here!
Bring a very good camera and/or camcorder. In my opinion, a cheap camera just won't do the job when coming to Yosemite! I love my olympus camera. Each of my children have their own cameras. For years, I just gave them each a disposable camera to use while we are here in Yosemite. But this year, they have proven than they are responsible and they love taking pictures, so I recently gave them each a very nice camera. Kids take great, interesting and fun pictures! I love seeing the pictures that they come home with! Yosemite is such a photographers dream. It doesn't matter if you are a beginner or an expert with the camera...just bring a camera!!! I also bring a disposable waterproof digital camera every year. It is great for those shots that we take while floating down the river. (I never take my good camera on the river...to many water fights with the group of people I go with!) I also bring plenty of batteries for the cameras. Be warned that the camera batteries in the shops in Yosemite are very high priced. You will be able to relax if you just plan these things ahead of time!
 I have three kids that I take to Yosemite regularly. Relax and let me help you know what to pack! Pack extra socks! I take 2 pairs of socks for each of my kids for each day we are there. That's right! If your hiking...feet get sweaty. Down by the river...socks get wet! Running to the community bathroom...socks get dirty! You get the picture. After showers, they all want clean dry socks! Take a few extra pair of pants and a sweatshirt for the evenings. It is a good idea to bring easy to slip on shoes or sandles for running to the bathroom or showers. Tennis shoes, walking boots or a shoe that has a rubber sole on the bottom is a must. When climbing rocks the rubber will keep kids from slipping and falling. The Upside Over is a great place to get kids gear!
A Child Carrier. If you have a child under two years old, I recommend a pack that allows you to carry them on your back. So many people come to Yosemite with strollers. Strollers in the park are a pain! They hold up the line to get on a shuttle bus. I see people all the time pushing kids on the trails in strollers. The kids look miserable! It is to bumpy of a ride for the kids. We used one of these child carriers when our kids were young...they are worth their weight in gold! Kids can relax and enjoy the sceenery, the movement or take a nap! Here is a good link to get one!
A Camelbak for everyone! These are FANTASTIC! Your out hiking, riding a bike, floating the river or just out taking in the sites of Yosemite and your thirsty. Relax...you have water with you, if you brought your camelbak! These are very light weight and worn like a backpack. You fill them up with water and drink from the connecting hose when you get thirsty. They are better than carrying bottled water (and you don't have the empty bottle to deal with!) Bring one of these for everyone in your group. You'll see many people have them when you get here and they cost twice as much if you buy them in the Yosemite Mountain Shop. Where do you fill them up? Relax...the cafeterias will allow you to fill them up for free!
Whistles or bells for the little ones. When my kids were young, they all had a whistle around their necks or bells on their shoes! One of my children has autism, and cannot speak. But he has no problem blowing a whistle! Yosemite is crowded, a child can blow a whistle and no one cares! But you can relax because a whistle allows you to know exactly where your child is. They are cheaper to buy them here than in Yosemite!
Bandaids for blisters. Hike and you will get blisters! It just goes without saying. Relax and enjoy the evening after the hike by bringing a box of Moleskins to ease the pain!
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