Yosemite April 2010

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YOSEMITE APRIL 2010


4-7-10 Wednesday 6:30 pm …. And We’re Off!

Out the door, in the car, and on our way for our first ever visit to Yosemite. I’m expecting to see a bit of snow and a lot of beautiful waterfalls.

As we were leaving the house, Joey walked around saying goodbye to everything, as in “goodbye bedroom, goodbye bathroom, goodbye toilet.” Absolutely true: his voice cracked & he was kind of crying as he said goodbye to the toilet. He’s a very sweet, very sentimental kid, just like his dad was when he was a kid.

In the car, we teased Joey about the goodbye toilet thing and he was able to laugh about it, not taking it too seriously. He still kept saying goodbye to things: goodbye Long Beach, goodbye park, goodbye big round hotel, etc.

(SWITCHING TO PRESENT TENSE . WARNING - I MAY SWITCH A LOT.) Frank is driving. Traffic is light. Dodger game on the radio. Downtown LA is clear in the distance with a lovely mountainous backdrop. I’m writing this on my netbook from the passenger seat. .Life is good.


4-7-10 Wednesday 8:30 pm … McDonald’s

Barely an hour into the drive, Joey claimed to be starving so we stopped at a McDonald‘s off the 5 freeway on Van Nuys Blvd. Guess what - indoor Play Place. Super. I knew that would slow us down. We spent about an hour there. Frank agreed to go with Joey down the crazy pink curvy tube slide, and then Joey wanted him to go a second time. I tried to save Frank by pointing to the sign. “Look, the sign says kids 4 - 12. Daddy can’t go.” Unfortunately for us, Joey is an excellent reader. He walked over to the sign, read it, pointed at the “parents can play too” rule and looked back at us. Poor Frank! But he’s such a great dad: he went back over, crawled back up to the top of the Play Place and went back down the pink curvy tube slide again.



4-8-10 Thursday 1:00 am … Almost There

We could have stopped in Bakersfield, but with Joey finally asleep in the back, Frank kept on driving and we talked to pass the time. Next thing we knew, we were in Fresno. We maybe should have stopped then, since we’re totally unfamiliar with the road up to Yosemite, but Frank kept on driving and we got to our hotel not long after midnight. We were getting pretty tired, and as Frank carefully drove up 30 miles of dark and gently curving mountain road, suddenly the town of Oakhurst came into shimmering view, looking like some kind of sparkling jewels against a dark background. It was really lovely and a welcome sight for sleepy eyes. So we had a very late check in, but we were a full night early. When we wake up in the morning, we’ll be only about 15 miles from the southern entrance to Yosemite National Park. After a good night’s sleep we’ll all be very, very happy about that.

P.S. Being city dwellers, we were also quite struck by and very impressed by the majestic, magnificent blanket of stars overhead as we drove through the darkness on our way up Interstate 5.


4-8-10 Thursday 8 am … Oh What a Beautiful Morning

So after a scant 5 hours sleep (I’m an 8 hour girl, for sure!), I started up the standard 4 cup hotel room coffee pot and headed down to the lobby to get some milk to make Joey his morning Ovaltine.

Driving up in the dark last night we could tell we were coming up into the mountains but couldn’t see much beyond the trees along the roadside. Looking outside this morning, what can I say: it’s beyond beautiful. The sun is bright; the day is crisp. We are way up in the mountains, surrounded by trees and many beautiful shades of green. Oakhurst is a lovely little mountain town, cozily nestled in among the trees like an animal in its burrow.

(I think that checking out that online Yeats exhibit yesterday has had a lasting poetic effect on my writing. Sorry. Or not.)

After a few more cups of coffee, we’ll be off to discover the day. Yosemite, here we come!


4-8-10 Thursday 9 pm … It’s a Beautiful Day

So we got a bit of a late start, but headed out and up for Yosemite around 11am. Shortly before we even reached the National Park entrance, there was a sign that said “snow play” so of course we stopped to check it out. Wow! Super cool snow play area in a place called “Goat Meadow” though we didn’t see goats or a meadow, just snow, deep snow, like halfway up to your knee at times snow. I wasn’t expecting to see so much snow, but snow there was and lots of it, not just here but all over Yosemite. It’s funny: I was expecting a lot of waterfalls because of all the rain we’ve had this year, but it really didn’t occur to me that would also mean that there would be a ton of snow. It was strange, though, because some areas (mostly shady and higher elevations, duh) were still covered with snow, while in sunnier spots there was no snow at all. Logical, I guess, but it wasn’t always so obvious why some areas were a winter wonderland while others were perfect spring landscapes.

We had a perfect weather day, it was cool but not cold. We were a little underdressed; in fact, Frank was even wearing shorts, but none of us ever put on a jacket, though later in the day Joey was getting a little bit cold. In the snow play area we were already joking that it was “swinter” which is a made up Phineas & Ferb holiday that combines summer and winter so you can enjoy the best of both without it being too cold or too hot to enjoy it.

We took a leisurely drive up through Fish Camp (lovely tiny town) and Wawona, taking in the scenery, taking photos, and marveling at how beautiful it all is. After going through a long tunnel, we came out on the other side to a spectacular view of the Yosemite Valley and a huge waterfall. Just stunning. Frank and Joey took a short hike up above this big rock area that was kind of like a waterfall because water was running all down the face of it. I started to go too but the trail up was very similar to a creek - lots of water running down it, not much dry area for walking - so I passed.

It had been a long drive, with lots of stops to stare in amazement and take pictures, so by the time we got into the valley we were all pretty hungry. We headed over to Yosemite Lodge where we found a food court. Nothing special but it did the trick. The best part is that, completely coincidentally, one of Joey’s best friends is also in Yosemite with his mom & dad, so we all met up at the food court thanks to the magic of cell phones.

After lunch, we all walked up a nice, easy trail to the bottom of Yosemite Falls. Yosemite Falls, so I’ve read, is actually three waterfalls. The highest fall you can see from the road; the middle fall is hard to get to see, and the lower fall is the one we walked right up beneath. This is when Joey started getting pretty cold, because the mist from where the waterfall crashed into the rocks was blowing on us. We took some photos, and marveled, marveled, at being up so close to such a truly awesome sight.

On the walk back to the car, we saw some people bunched up together and as we approached them realized why: there were several deer just hanging out, eating grass or shoots or whatever it is they eat. They weren’t scared of people. They were so close you could touch them, literally. You could have hugged them around the neck. No one tried, that I saw, so that’s good. Apparently more people get injured from deer than from bears around here. They look so sweet, but, you know, don’t fuck with them! We later saw deer in various places around the park, which didn’t spoil the wonder, not one bit.

Joey’s friend’s parents saw a couple of bears in a meadow earlier in the day before we met up. Frank saw a bear later while I was driving us back to our hotel. I hope I see a bear. Or two or three or a lot of bears. That would be definitely cool.

Anyway, it was a long and tiring day. Driving back to the hotel, I noticed the road was much wetter than it was on the way in. It must have been due to today’s beautiful swinter weather melting all that unseasonal snow. I dropped Frank and Joey off at the hotel and was happy to find a Von’s grocery store in town. I picked up some supplies then headed back to the hotel for an early night in. More tomorrow.


4-9-10 Friday 10 pm … Just Another Beautiful Day in Yosemite

Yes, it certainly was another beautiful day. This morning, Joey insisted on having a swim in the unheated outdoor pool. Frank took him down; I stayed in the room; they were back in about 10 minutes. Joey did jump in a few times but his hair wasn’t even wet all the way.

After that, we headed up the mountain. We stopped at the Sugar Pine railroad, but apparently the steam engine was having issues, so we didn’t stay for a ride on the rail cars. We’ll probably head back there tomorrow to try our luck again.

So we drove on up and into the park. No snow play today. We drove back through the tunnel then stopped to take a short walk up to see Bridalveil Falls, the waterfall you first see when you come out of the tunnel. It was a very short, easy walk to a very awesome waterfall. You get right up at the bottom and the mist is flying everywhere. If you stood there for 10 minutes you would get very, very wet.

After that, we headed down into the Yosemite Valley to the Ahwahnee Hotel to meet up for lunch with Joey’s friend Charles and our not so new but I would definitely now say our friends, his parents, Martha and Charlie. The Ahwahnee Hotel is an enormous, beautiful place, full of gigantic stone fireplaces and huge windows looking out upon fantastic views. It’s kind of Arts and Craft meets Native American in style and décor. Very nice. If you don’t mind spending the money, it’s totally the place to stay here in Yosemite. I had checked it out online and it was listed as starting at something like $429 per night, so that was a no for us, for this trip anyway. It was lovely having lunch there, though. We talked and ate delicious food in a gigantic dining room with maybe 3 story high wood beams on the ceiling.

After lunch, we let the boys play outside for awhile. Then we all took a walk up to check out another waterfall, name unknown, that was very near the hotel. Then two of Martha & Charlie’s friends also met up with us, then we all took about a two mile, poop you out, bit of a workout hike to Mirror Lake. The lake is named for the fact that the surface is very mirror like, reflecting back a perfect mirror image of Half Dome and other surrounding mountains, rocks, trees, etc. It was really beautiful. I sat on a rock along the edge to take a good rest after our hike. Just spectacular.

I didn’t see any bears, darn it, but I did see something really cool on our hike to Mirror Lake: a deer - a big one! - ran through a clearing right by where we were walking. I joked to Frank later that we all froze when we saw it just like deer freeze in car headlights. We all froze and watched it run by us, scared of us, running for cover. It was awesome!

All of our feet were hurting, so we walked back along a paved road instead of taking the hiking trail back that we had taken to get to the lake. Back at the hotel, we said our goodbyes and headed over to Yosemite Village. Unfortunately, it was almost 8pm by this time, and everything was closed or closing. I’m sorry we didn’t get to check it out, but we all felt pretty wiped out so, oh well, we were tired anyway.

On the drive back to the hotel, we stopped several times to look at the stars. We just don’t get to see stars like this back home. There aren’t a mere few constellations here and there. Up here the sky is literally a blanket of stars, stars everywhere that come way down low in the sky. The only problem was that it was also really, really freezing cold out, so after about a minute I would jump back in the car and crank up the heat. Amazing beauty, but, brrrr….

So after a long and tiring but wonderful day, we’re now back at the hotel, ready to sleep the sleep of the dead and rest our poor aching feet….until tomorrow!



4-10-10 Saturday 8 pm …. Home Sweet Home

No rough hikes today but still plenty to see. The weather changed; swinter was gone. Today was quite chilly. We drove over and took a ride on the Sugar Pine Mountain Railroad, pulled in open cars behind an old steam engine built in 1913. It was a beautiful ride, a little over an hour, through snowy woods full of tall pines, cedar, and oak trees. A cold, beautiful, friendly, relaxing ride though the half melted winter wonderland.

So we were ready to head for home, but Frank was getting hungry and remembered seeing a BBQ sign at a restaurant in Oakhurst, so we made a lunch stop at Todd’s Cookhouse BBQ something - can’t exactly remember what the sign said. Anyway, we both agreed that it was probably the best BBQ we’ve ever had. Frank had ribs and brisket; I had a pulled pork sandwich. Oh, and Joey had fries, which he said were very good also.

So, an easy afternoon, then a long drive home. It’s good to be back, because we’re all pretty exhausted. All in all, a wonderful trip, with two days of perfect warm weather to go exploring and one chilly, relaxing afternoon to top it off.