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So we went to Yosemite, and met up with K/B/D, and it was really fun! We did learn a lot of lessons for future reference.

1. When there is a multi-hour ice storm the night before, and one is planning to go up to 8000 ft, one might… check… to see if the road is open? Just maybe? The fact that neither D nor I remembered to do this is kind of amazingly stupid; sorry, K/B! My only defense (or rather, explanation — it's still a terrible defense) is that in the last ten years, we've always visited either when Tioga Road was clearly open or clearly shut.

2. While it is tempting to try to pack as many things in the day as possible, it is actually not a terrible thing to go back to the hotel and relax there instead of trying to pack one last exciting thing in the day.

3. This goes double or triple when one of the two three-year-olds on the trip is not feeling well at the time.

4. This also goes when one of the adults gets really excited about the potential of taking pictures in a clearing ice storm. While I am terribly sympathetic to this point of view, if I were to do it again, I'd send D off by himself to take pics. (The ice storm did not in fact clear, so he didn't get the picture he was hoping for in any case, although he did get some interesting ones.)

5. That being said, three-year-olds, or at least our three-year-olds, actually appear to like running around in ice storms. Who knew?

6. Bringing a variety of clothing in spring or fall is a Good Idea. We had both an ice storm and 80-degree weather during a 24-hour period.

7. When hiking with a three-year-old and eating lunch on the trail, bringing a travel potty might be a really good idea. (K/B were prepared. We were not. All our previous hikes with E had not been over lunch.)

8. Three-year-olds are terribly unimpressed by gorgeous scenery, but RIVERS! And ROCKS! are just as fun as they are for adults. (Me: "What did you like about Yosemite?" E: "The bridges!")

9. Large expanses of rock to clamber on are basically THE BEST THING EVER. If you are a three-year-old. If you are a thirty-something-year-old, too.

10. Apropos of which, Sentinel Dome is still the best bang for your hiking-mile-buck in the entire park, and although I had remembered enough to insist that we do it, I had forgotten how amazing it was. 2.4 miles round-trip gets you a big mound of rock to walk up (Overheard: "This is the best playground equipment ever!") and some of the best 360-degree views in the park (D says Half Dome views are better, but let's face it, that's not happening for me). Seriously, if you are thinking of going to Yosemite, and especially if not everyone in your party is up for 16-mile strenuous hikes, this is a hike worth doing.

(Although 2.4 miles was just at the upper limit of what the kids could do. I was actually surprised that they both did almost the whole thing.)

11. Pothole Dome is still the best place to take small children (and bigger children, too, if my cousins' children that we took in July are any indication). Large 200-ft "mountain" of rock to walk up, easy slope, without the relatively-long trail heading to it — it's less than one mile, total.