If you absolute love high up views - there are higher places than Half Dome. That's the worst place to go if you want to get away from people, and one of the lower places to go as well.

Mt Dana, Mt Hoffman, Clouds Rest, any of the domes up around Tuolumne Meadows... walk ups at higher elevation. NO permits, NO crowds. Dana is my new favorite place, with Alta Peak (Sequoia NP) as a close second.

The route you describe here will be HOT. Glacier Point to Illouette to Nevada Falls to Half Dome is a HUGE first day pull - there is no camping!!! until you reach Little Yosemite Valley and the designated spots there, and the majority of the trail is exposed, very few trees, thanks to a few wildfires some decade or two ago. The alternative first day is to go to Illouette Creek and head upstream until you are four trail miles from Glacier Point, where you can legally camp. A very easy first day and then you backtrack two miles to get back on trail.

If I had your priorities I would go in from the Big Oak Flat trailhead - easier to get permits for. Plan to get the permit and stay the night in the valley backpacker camp, then jump on the hiker bus and get off at the trailhead first thing in the morning. Should take 20-30 minutes to get there from Curry on the bus. Book it up the exposed part of the trail before 10-11 am into the trees. Hike the north rim, going to the tops of El Capitan, Eagle Peak, Yosemite Falls, North Dome, Mt Watkins - you will have unparalleled views of the valley, Half Dome, etc. and hardly anyone (relatively speaking, this is still Yosemite and there will be people!) around.

It's about 30 miles with roughly 9,499 feet of elevation gain (cumulative, not all uphill, there are ups and downs along the way) to Tenaya Lake on trail - you cannot get off the trail on the road and take a shuttle - the minute you travel along a road you are out of the wilderness and the permit is no longer valid. So you would be hiking the north rim route to Snow Creek and continuing on trail to Olmsted Point, and beyond it to Tenaya Lake. Then you would have Clouds Rest, Half Dome and eventually Happy Isles in front of you going mostly downhill after Clouds Rest - about 16 - 18 miles depending. Highest points are going to be after Olmsted Point at 8,500 - which is about the same elevation as Half Dome, btw, and right on Tioga Road, so there will be tons of people there - the junction of the Clouds Rest Trail with Sunrise Lakes trail (go off trail to the top of the point here at 9,242 feet for excellent views of Tenaya Canyon), the top of Clouds Rest at 9,926 feet. And then it's all downhill, then uphill to Half Dome at 8,938 feet.

Nine days would make this a pretty slow trip. I would be going about 10-12 miles per day - but I hike in the Sierra all the time.

If you have never been to the Sierra, or hiked at higher elevations, it may be harder for you than you think. Starting at Big Oak Flat puts you at about 4,800 feet to start and goes higher from there. By the time you hit Eagle Peak you should be acclimated. You should read up on elevation sickness just the same since the only cure is to descend, and you need to be aware of it to do anything about it.

I should also add that if it's cloudy and rainy, do not go up any high point at all whatsoever. Lightening strikes the high granite places every month of the year. If you see what look like potholes in the granite slabs - those are where lightening has dug holes in the granite. Better to take a pass on one high place and live to climb it another day.

There are many bail out points - if you got to Yosemite falls and decided a couple of days was it, the elevation was getting to you, or the bugs, or whatever - you could hike down the trail there and hop on a shuttle back to Yosemite Village. If you got as far as Snow Creek junction that trail descends steeply to the valley as well. If you got all the way to Olmsted Point it would be easy there to hop on the free Tioga Road shuttle to Tuolumne Meadows, where there's a campground and the Lodge and store and the buses all stop, and make your way back to the Valley. If you had to spend the night waiting for a bus, the backpacker campground is the same as the one in the valley - walk in, bus in, bike in, it's $5 per night per person.