We had a little hotel room in Mariposa, just outside Yosemite Valley. We’d gone grocery shopping, and were day-tripping into the valley on the first bus of each day; the one the valley’s employees use each morning, so we were arriving before things were open. One morning we rented our own snow shoes, and packed a full lunch—hot soup and all. We bused up to Badger Pass ski area and took their guided snow shoe walking tour to the top of the pass. Eventually, everyone else turned around and walked back. We stomped some seats and a table into the deep snow, sat on our jackets in the glorious sun, and spent an hour having our lunch with this view.

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