I never thought I would be hunting Thomas Dambo's famous giant wooden trolls in a forest, but here I am.

Life Lessons Carson Valley teaches my kids on Spring Break: "Don't wait," he said. I can't remember his exact words after that, his wisdom mixed with the wind, the nay of the horses, the crunch of earth beneath our boots. It was along the lines of life is short. People put off their dreams, or traveling for too long. Sometimes, you just have to go for it. This is a man who truly follows his passion.

We received a lot of advice about getting to Yosemite early, parking in one of the main lots and then taking the Shuttle, which takes you to just about every popular place, or you can hike from those popular places to where you want to be. This was our plan until my 14-year-old daughter sprained her ankle literally two days before our trip and ended up on crutches.  Our plans for hiking now had to be adjusted to Plan B: driving and parking as close to the sights as possible.