Yosemite National Park, CALIFORNIA

This. Was. Our. Super. Bowl.

The entire road trip led up to this moment. We were going to hike HALF DOME! 

Our week in Yosemite was sandwiched by two dreamy nights at our best friend’s family home in Modesto, CA. Without Jake home, the Dirkse’s welcomed us in with open arms and spoiled us with homemade food, stories, and many laughs. We needed this stay! We both are so close to our families so staying with the Dirkse’s felt like home. I even joked with Dom saying “I needed a mom right now!” as I stressed a little about heading to Yosemite to conquer the ominous HALF DOMEEE!! 

Sunday night is always homemade pizza night for the Dirkse’s. We kept with tradition and enjoyed multiple homemade pizzas with delicious toppings… including pineapple, of course! We laughed outside with Mr. and Mrs. Dirkse, Abi, Weston, and their little baby Warner while sipping on homemade old fashions - a dream. 

Our arrangements in Yosemite couldn’t be more picture-perfect. We were so lucky to connect with my cousin Ashton’s friends who are employees in Yosemite and live IN THE CABIN that hosts the Half Dome livestream video camera footage because…. their house has an immaculate, uninterrupted, clear view looking right at Half Dome. Jaw dropped. 

We explored the forest on Monday and mentally prepared for our Tuesday Half Dome hike. Until... I became overcome by food poisoning. I was up all night sick to my stomach unable to get any sleep. The plan was to wake up at 0130 to make our way to the Half Dome trailhead. Weak and on an empty stomach, I kept with the plan and could barely eat any breakfast before our 18-mile hike. 

We hiked 4 hours in the dark, admiring the stars, looking at the ridge line illuminated by the moon and then the slowly rising sun. We were all by ourselves. It was extremely peaceful juxtaposed with the grit and pain caused by the steep switchbacks for 7 miles straight ☹️.

By 0630 we made it to the “base camp” roughly 2 miles away from Half Dome’s summit. This is when the sun began to rise and we opted to slam a Gu. Let me tell you. The involuntary GAG that came from my body as I tried to follow Dom’s suit and get down a lemon-lime electrolyte Gu paste. It was awful haha I nearly threw up. Especially on an empty stomach. Showing me tough love and keeping me motivated, Dom encouraged me to “toughen up” lol, eat the Gu, and push on to the top. At this point, he didn’t admit to me yet that this was an extremely tough hike even for him and to think - I was doing it on two days of food poisoning! 

We hiked another mile and this was now our sandwich break time. I babied that sandwich for so long trying to muster up the motivation to finish the dang thing (the hike, and the sandwich). 

Then, we saw it….

Not Half Dome silly. Sub Dome. Don’t get your hopes up. Sub Dome requires hikers to endure yet another set of steep stair switchbacks before arriving at the base of Half Dome. Picture the most grueling stair master workout after hiking 8 miles uphill.

And then we were there… looking straight up at the vertical climb to Half Dome’s summit. I was scared! It was very daunting but after 9 miles the only option was to face all fears, grip the cables with all of your strength, and take the sheer cliff one step at a time. 

We used harnesses and I opted to clip into the cables for the entire assent and dissent. Dom was Mr. Adventure Man living on the edge. But he never missed an opportunity to tell me how proud he was of me and encouraged me each scary step up to the top. 

Once on the horizontal ground at the top of Half Dome we were both overcome with emotions. Dom was grinning and holding me in a huge hug while I was tearing up. What an accomplishment, what a view, HOW DID WE JUST DO THAT?! hahah. I think I couldn’t stop shaking with disbelief and pride. 

We took in the view, FaceTimed our parents, and snapped photos for our lifelong memories. I’m still smiling while writing this post because I often forget how important it is to do hard things with the people you love most. Dom and I both struggled in our own ways hiking Half Dome but the joy that comes from tough achievements alongside your best friend and fiancé is almost more rewarding than the view from the top of the mountain. 

Well, we hiked 9 miles up so that means there are 9 more miles to go allll the way back down. I’ll spare you the details because our patience and love were tested for those 9 miles hahaha. A good memory for Dom and I to personally look back on. 

We spent the rest of our time in Yosemite building a Half Dome Lego set, eating cookies, taking in the breathtaking view of Half Dome with a new perspective, biking, and sitting in the river on the 4th of July with some champagne, beer, and Zach Bryan’s new album. We earned every second of our time in Yosemite. 

As some of you may have heard, Dom and I were supposed to go skydiving this summer. Unfortunately, California was experiencing some fires and the airport was shut down causing our sky diving day to be canceled and refunded. Looks like we'll have to find a new destination! 

We returned to the Dirkse’s early for homemade pretzel bun burgers, sweet potato fries, and watermelon with Abi's famous peach cobbler for dessert. I’m crossing my fingers I can get the recipe someday from her!! 

The next morning we indulged in Mr. Dirkse’s homemade pancakes with the perfect amount of flakey sea salt and butter. We also toured the Dirkse's Blumen Flower Farm (@blumenflowerfarm) before having to head out to our next adventure. We could’ve stayed at the Dirkse’s sanctuary forever!!  

But our special road trip guest was landing in LAX and we needed to make our way through LA traffic!! Stay tuned for our LAST National Park post on 'D&A on the Road!'