Dear Family, Friends, and Diary,
After years, we returned to Yosemite National Park. The park is only a little over an hour north of Fresno, but it seems there have been so many distractions keeping us from making the short trip: Covid and the elephant, mostly, but we need to remember what a treasure Yosemite is.
Not being sure of in-park charging, we stopped for a top-off in Fish Camp, not far from the South Entrance. Despite the storms of the weekend, there was no snow on the roads or parking lots. In fact, there was little snow to be seen, reports of the generous winter snow-pack not withstanding.
We had booked two nights in one of our favorite hotels, the Wawona. A stay in this turn-of-the-century resort is a step back 100 years, but we have relatively short windows in the year when we like to visit. The old place closes in winter and the park is unbearably crowded in the summer, so we choose late Fall or, like now, almost-Spring.
We were placed in Clark Cottage, in a room with a bath. This later refinement bumps the price up, and we've stayed in the bath-around-the-corner rooms, but this is nicer.
We topped our settle-in routine with lunch in the elegant (but drafty) old hotel dining room. The food was acceptable, but never the highlight of eating here. In Summer, the huge windows can be opened to let in the mountain air. In colder weather, like now, the gaps still let in the air - and there are no heat radiators.
After lunch, we headed out to the real attraction: Yosemite Valley. We didn't plan a long excursion, but had to start at Tunnel View, the quintessential Yosemite Valley vista. We have stopped here dozens of times, and taken too many pictures every time, but passing up the opportunity would be impossible.
Part of the fun of stopping at Tunnel View is seeing and hearing all the other excited visitors. We offered to take pictures of any groups so that everyone could be in the pictures that proved they were having fun.
There is always a babel of language to over hear and today we identified German, Spanish, American, British, and a few Asian languages outside our ability to identify. What was universal was that everyone was happy and excited to be here, standing on the ledge, looking at the valley.
On the drive back, we pulled over two or three times. More pictures. Ordinary sights. More memories.
Tuesday started early, for me anyway. Before the sun came up, I headed over to the main lodge to do some diary writing. Walking there, I looked around at three of the six or seven buildings that house rooms of varying sizes and amenities. Our corner room, with bath, may be among the best, although it's still pretty basic.
The Wawona lobby is little changed over the last 100 years. Electric lights now, and a weak Wifi signal to accommodate 21st Century travelers.
The roaring fireplace offers a great backdrop for drafting these diaries.
Breakfast was an experience. The cavernous dining room is lined with two walls of old windows, pretty, but very drafty. With outside temperatures in the 40s, the air around the window tables was not a lot warmer. National Park food offerings are often limited, and they were at the Wawona: eggs and meat, three omelet choices, oatmeal or cereal, and coffee. All cold within minutes. Oh well, it's still a special place.
For the rest of the morning, we headed down into Yosemite Valley, passing Tunnel View without stopping. Of course, when we reached the valley floor, we paused a few places to ogle at the rocks and waterfalls. I don't consider these as wonderful photos, but they will remind us of how wonderful the place was.
Our drive ended up at the Ahwahnee. Only valet parking is allowed, so we handed a car card to the young man and asked him to be careful. Marianne asked him if they had electric car charging and he said "Sure, we'll plug it in." Convenient, even if we didn't really need it.
Inside, we wandered through the grand rooms. The largest had the feel of bygone ages, with a fireplace and views of Half Dome. In addition, there are a half dozen cozy spaces where guests can sit, read, and feel special. I think the shift to valet-only parking has kept the crowds down, but by the time we had lunch, the spaces had filled to the point they lost their magic for me.
Ahwahnee is the most luxurious accommodation in the park. Rooms run from $516 to $613 per night, plus tax. Suites can go up to twice that. I don't know if I could enjoy a stay at that fare, but the place stays busy most of the year.
It took over an hour to return to Wawona. It was a 44 mile drive and the road is twisty and speed-limited to 35 mph. The views and scenes are nice, of course, but the driver needs to be careful.
Wednesday morning, we passed on another chilly Wawona breakfast, choosing instead one of our favorite breakfast spots: The Wild Fig Cafe, in Coarsegold. We noted that it was significantly quicker from Wawona to Coarsegold than from Wawona to the Yosemite Valley hotels, restaurants, and shops.
And that was our little vacation.
Stay tuned,
John and Marianne