California Trip Blog

Day 1 (Wednesday)

Enterprise car rental advertised hybrid Ford Escape but they did not have one. Substituted Chevy Trailblazer for same price. Arrived at wrong terminal. Bought Jelly Belly tins as gifts. In 'N Out burger. Amber's ears plugged a bit. East at Manteca. Old Priest Grade road up to the top. Saw a few animals on the way through the park. Everything was fairly comfy. Rangers still out at 7:00 p.m. checking passes. Stopped several times on the way through the valley to see views. Honked in the tunnels going through. Arrived at twilight to the hotel. Checked in with no problem. Bought two large pizzas (garlic chicken, green pesto) while everyone else schlepped the luggage up to our third floor room. People watched a bit. Listened to a few people from other countries ordering pizzas. Ate pizzas and ended up joking around until around 10:30 p.m. Threw socks into the ceiling fan and played with the fireplace. Put the waters into the fridge. The Merced River outside our hotel room was swelled to overflowing its banks, roiling and frothing as it roared by. The hotel is right on the banks and the dropoff to the river is immediate. The deck outside the hotel room looks down immediately to the river. We left the screen shut but the sliding door open a crack so we could hear a muted roar of the river as we slept. Adam slept on the rollaway bed. Mom shared a bed with Amber and Dawn and I shared the other bed. Mom remarked that sitting for long periods of time makes her sciatic nerve sore, but walking feels good. Watched a bit of the end of Get Smart before shutting off the lights and going to sleep.

Day 2 (Thursday)

Awoke gradually by 7:00 a.m. Adam and Amber went for a walk and found a few plates. Mom made coffee. Ate bagels and pizza for breakfast and left by 8:30 a.m. Stopped at several places on the way into the park. Adam and Amber walked down to the Merced River. Stopped for scenery of Bridalveil Falls and El Capitan. Parked and walked to the Village Store, where I purchased a loaf of bread and peanut butter. Dawn purchased a Very Berry muffin with three servings of 30g of fat each. Mom purchased a deli sandwich. I ate fig newtons and half of Dawn's muffin. As we waited, Adam purchased some swimmer's ear ointment to alleviate the discomfort Amber felt after her flight landed. She reported it sort of helped, though administering it was quite discomforting. Amber helped a woman use a water fountain in front of the Village Store. We rode the shuttle to the trailhead to Mirror Lake. On the walk to Mirror Lake, the mosquitos made their appearance. Quiet, somewhat slow, and relatively itch-free (compared to mosquitos from Minnesota and Wisconsin). At Mirror Lake we took off our shoes and waded. The water was painfully cold at first. The pebbles under foot in some spots dug into the soles of my feet. After about five minutes, I realized that as long as I was moving, the water was not as cold. I waded across to a nearby sandbar and then across to the other side of the small pool. I detached a stranded fishing line and found it had caught both a bush and a submerged branch. After completely drenching my pants, I waded back to shore. The cold water and the feeling of my toes on sand and mud was very sensual and exhilerating; I found my spirits immediately picked up. We completed the small loop trail near Mirror Lake, then proceded back to the #19 bus stop. As we rode the bus back to the Village, it began to downpour. We exited at the bus stop near the store and purchased ponchoes, then proceded to the trailhead for Lower Yosemite Falls. In the driving rain, we walked through puddles and streams flowing down the paved trail. My running shoes were completely soaked. Dawn's waterproof hiking boots were the only pair that remained dry. At the base of Lower Yosemite Falls, the wind drove great walls of mist across the bridge. The rain continued as we snapped photos. As we walked away from the falls, the rain abated. Adam, Amber and I scrambled over some rocks. We proceded to the Yosemite Lodge, looking at the gift shops and the cafeteria, where we had a small lunch. After lunch, we mailed several postcards Adam had purchased at the Yosemite Lodge post office (open 12:00-2:30 p.m., I think). We also stopped and had ice cream at a stand close to the post office; the ice cream attendent called Dawn and I love-birds. From there, we proceded to a ranger walk about Bears. After several interpretive stops, Adam expressed his impatience with listening to the talk, so we decided to walk back and change out of our wet clothing. As we walked back to the bus stop, it began to rain again. As we waited for the bus near Curry Village, we noticed two young black-tailed deer feeding in the meadow. The downpour did not seem to affect them one bit! Attempting to enter the extremely crowded bus from the exit door prompted the driver to chastise us for not reading the sign. Instead, he demanded the people in the front move farther back. I did not appreciate his authoritarian sense of humor. After changing clothing, it began to thunder and lightning, so we headed over to Degnan's Deli for dinner. Unfortunately, we arrived just after 5:00 p.m., and it had closed. Instead, we decided to go to the Yosemite Lodge cafeteria. As we waited in our ponchos, Dawn pretended to be a monster from the Sesame Street show. Yup-yup-yup-yup-yup.... At the Lodge we walked through the lobby, and I purchased three tickets for the Ron Kauk movie, "Return to Balance". Dinner consisted of a meatball sandwich (Adam), a salmon burger (mom), grilled cheese and fries (Dawn), sandwich (Amber), and a brie plate with fruit + split pea soup for me. After dinner, we rode the shuttle back to the Visitor Center. I discovered the water fountain there has a broken button to dispense water for bottles. We browsed the gift store, passing a Mennonite family, and looked at the sister city display for Yosemite. Adam and Amber split off to explore Yosemite on their own. At the entrance to the movie theater, Ron Kauk's daughter took our tickets, and Ron himself greeted us. What an extremely openly honest and admirable guy. After the hi-def movie, he answered many questions. We met back up with Adam and Amber, who ran up to the bus just as it arrived. They had encountered a bear! Approximately 30 feet away, the bear noticed them but kept on going. It had a rollercoaster effect for Amber, at once petrifying and electrifying. They also had seen some deer eating in a meadow. We proceded back to the parking lot, where we assisted a couple with jumping a dead battery. Back at the hotel, I ate a few more slices of pizza and then we relaxed in the hot tub for 15 minutes before calling it a night.

Day 3 (Friday)

Left the hotel by 8:30 a.m. and arrived at the Ahwahnee around 9:00 a.m. On the ride in, discovered I can simply wave my parks pass and the ranger will let me in via the second lane. The breakfast buffet this time was arranged in a half-circle. An omelette chef prepared custom creations. Foods available were waffles, pancakes, hashbrowns, cheesy eggs, banana-cream pie dessert, cereals, fruits (pineapple, strawberry, cantelope, melon, red and green grapes), yogurt, sweet breads (cinnamon and caramel rolls, muffins, scones), meats (ham, bacon), bagels with lox and cream cheeses, oatmeal. Also included was fruit juice (apple, orange, carrot, and grapefruit). As I sat down I banged my knee against the table again, spilling juice. Happily, this time they had placed double linens over the table. Apparently this is a common occurance. I ordered a custom omelette: (1) jalapeno; (2) mushrooms; (3) salsa; (4) black olives; (5) tomatoes; (6) feta cheese; and (7) chopped dill and an herb blend (which included chervil but I am not sure what else). While the food cooked, the omelette chef told me about how her parents did not appreciate her odd sense of humor; she had been encouraged by her grandfather. She shared how he had challenged her to a jalapeno eating contest, but cheated; he did not place the peppers in his mouth. As a result, she always ended up crying and with a burning mouth. Eventually, she shared this helped her eat just about anything spicy. As an adult, she no longer can tolerate it as much as she could earlier. As we chatted one of the wait staff heard I was from Wisconsin and said he was from Michigan (Grand something, about 40 minutes from Grand Rapids on Lake Michigan). We continued to eat ourselves silly. I spied Dennis the waiter serving another table, but did not get a chance to say hello. He looked the same as he did two years ago. After breakfast, we toured the lobby, then walked out to the lawn and sunned ourselves briefly on Aiderondack chairs. The bridge over the creek near the pool still has little cubby chairs, and we took a few pictures. Then we walked past the pool to the side emergency exit stairs. There is a circular staircase that runs to the third floor. Arriving at the third floor, we walked down the hallway to the elevator, then took it down to the second floor and overlooked the lobby area. Returning to the lobby, we toured the gift shops, then exited the building. In the parking lot, we watched rock climbers near the Royal Arches scaling the walls. An Ahwahnee employee arrived to share that the most difficult part of the climb is a part where a lot of white exists: this represents the place where climbers fall. He said he had watched a climber fall 10 times. The man also said that the climb only goes up to about a dead tree (3/4 of the way to the rim). We watched through binoculars, then Adam and Amber took us a short distance to the base of the falls to the north of the Ahwahnee where they had seen the bear on Thursday. Adam and I scrambled up quite some distance, then returned to the parking lot. From there we parked in the day use lot and geared up for rafting. The clouds had changed from sunny to cloudy. When we arrived at the rafting rental location, a sign said rentals had been canceled for the day (probably due to chance of thunderstorms). The cancelations proved wise--about 30 minutes later, the rains began. While using the portable restroom, mom noticed a wasp nest. The young attendent did not seem to care after reporting it. Leaving the rental location, we walked into Curry Village, visiting the gift shop and mountaineering store. Dawn found a Columbia hat she liked, but it was not in purple. Major construction is underway at Camp Curry--the amphitheater and the adjacent lodge are under restoration. We walked into the cafeteria across from the amphitheater and had coffee, a brownie, and ice cream. Squirrels had come into the cafeteria area and were hiding under tables! Adam and Amber relaxed into a giant wooden chair with leather-bound green cushions. We took our pictures with the bear, then exited and took the shuttle back to the truck. On the truck, a Jewish man probed a Mennonite man about his faith. This irritated me--just let him enjoy his vacation! After exitting the shuttle, we watched him and a company of women (multiple wives?) walk back to their car. We decided to drive to Bridalveil Falls. When we arrived it was raining, so we donned ponchoes and walked to the base of the falls to take pictures. The drive to Glacier Point was through the rain. The sun finally poked out as we arrived at the overlook. On the drive up, we noticed patches of snow along the way in shady areas. A bus we were following curiously departed up to Badger Pass past a "Road Closed" sign. Dawn and I discussed the possibility of holding a reception at the Geology Hut, but logistics were unknown as to how to make that happen. The views were incredible, and as we watched, a rainbow appeared below us. From Glacier Point, one can see the top of the north rim above the Ahwahnee, as well as the trail leading to the top of the Yosemite Falls. We saw Nevada and Vernal Falls, as well as snow creek falls. Adam saw a red patch near the middle of Half Dome's western face. Through a free telescope, I failed to see anyone on the top of Half Dome--perhaps the cables are down due to bad weather? Dawn bought a book for Cammie, her niece. Squirrels are everywhere in Yosemite--at altitude (8000+ feet) and on the valley floor. The muscles in my right foot were feeling very sore from the constant brake/gas application for hours on end since Wednesday. We stopped at the Tunnel View and took more pictures. Returning to the village, we stopped briefly at the Yellow Pines picnic area. The mosquitoes were thick and heavy, but we discovered a fish leaping out of the water to catch bugs! After leaving, we parked at the Village Store. As we parked, we noticed a crow tearing open a Happy Meal box. After the crow departed, we removed the trash, then walked to Degnan's Pizza Loft for dinner. We ordered a large pepperoni and a medium, but the cashier got flustered and had to ring it up again. The second time, we received two large pizzas, so he comped us a drink. For the large pizza, I decided to experiment and got four toppings: (1) pineapple; (2) jalapeno; (3) mushrooms; and (4) black olives. It was OK. Nothing about it was bad enough to make me stop eating, but nothing about it was good enough to make me want to try it again. As we ate, about 28 middle-school kids arrived. After eating, we walked to the Visitors Center to learn more about the ranger talk for the evening. One of the two female rangers was the leader of the bear hike from Thursday (Jennifer ?). We attempted to strike up small talk with her as she returned to the desk but she seemed emotionless. Adam reported his encounter with a bear, and she reported that there is a bear near the Ahwahnee that likes to steal backpacks. Adam and Amber chose to walk to Lower Yosemite falls, while the rest of us attempted to find the American Dipper bird. Instead, we found a few gopher holes, a black bird with bright orange markings on its wings, and lots of mosquitoes. The walk in the meadows is always beautiful though. Birds were chirping everywhere and a lone frog was croaking very loudly. As we crossed a bridge, we noticed a number of photographers setting up to photograph the setting sun on Half Dome. We all rendezvoused at the truck in the parking lot, then drove back to the hotel for hot tub and sleep. Want to try rafting again and Adam and Amber want to hike to the base of Vernal Falls on Saturday. Kind of a weird situation, but as we went from place to place, we kept running into the same people. Amber remembered a European child that had thrown tissue paper on the ground during our Bears walk. I remembered a guy who looked like John Cleese showing up in numerous places.

2009-05-30 (Saturday)

Departed the hotel around 9 a.m. Adam was feeling pretty sick. Discovered a line of cars at the gate. Taking the approach of the previous day, I pulled into the empty right lane around three cars and displayed my parks pass. The attendent barked, "Next time wait for the ranger to signal you to move into that lane." Arrived at the park and accidentally locked our keys in the vehicle! Happily the Garage unlocked it in a jiffy. They have a large rubber spudge that separates the door jamb from the frame, into which they insert an inflatable bladder which keeps the door open. They then insert a long metal rod through the crack and open the latch. Very clever. And it only cost $50 to do so. The electric cart the Garage attendent used to cart me over to the truck had a rear-view mirror with skulls on it (not his idea) and a custom steel push bar on the front which they used to push vehicles into the garage. He claimed they had about five cases each summer where people lock their keys in their vehicles. He had worked for four years in the Valley, and had lived outside the park in the valley for several years before that. Really nice staff all around. Apparently they take AAA but Better World Club I have to reimburse manually. We walked to the Village Store and purchased some stomach medicine for Adam, then walked to Degnan's Deli. I was sad to see the menu had changed. Instead of the old names like "Tuolumne Meadow" sandwich written in chalk, they now had an aesthetically violent black and white print of names indistinguishable from any other deli in America. The guy behind the counter attempted to share the positives of the move, but I sensed he did not like the aesthetics either. He had just returned from his "weekend" in which he had hiked into the back country to fish, but had not caught anything after three days (water too violent). Adam was not feeling well at all and decided to take a nap in the vehicle. The rest of us walked over to the Ansel Adams gallery. We purchased a thank-you gift for Lanna. Mom purchased a necklace. We then decided to walk back to see how Adam was doing. Adam was still not feeling well, and he insisted we go do something while he rested. I checked with Visitor Information and they said rafting was dependent on the level of the river. After a call, it was determined the rafts would not be available until "Monday at the earliest." The news was relayed, then we decided to drive south to the Wawona area to see the Mariposa Grove. The only hitch was taking a right off of South Shore Drive onto the road to Wawona. Everyone wanted to get into the Bridalveil Falls parking lot, and it took a good 10 minutes to complete the turn. The drive south was pleasantly slow and free of traffic coming from behind. I took it as slow as I could (~35 mph) to give Adam the peace he needed to rest. After filling up the truck with gas, it began to rain. We circled near the natural history museum and did not see Burrl and his horses. We also circled the Wawona Hotel drive and saw the tables and chairs setup for the Saturday BBQ. The fountain was covered with a tarp. The outside of the Hotel looked freshly painted. Parking at the Grove, we donned ponchoes and walked through the trees to the Grizzly Giant in lightning and thunder and a bit of hail and pouring rain. What a show. I joked that it sort of looked like Jurassic Park with the big trees and I expected a T-Rex to jump out at any moment. Rivers of water streamed over the compacted earth of the trail, making things muddy. Looking up was difficult due to the falling water. We walked back on the paved road, watching the trams carry people down from the upper Grove area. We also spotted some fiery red Snow Plants on the side of the road. Adam had wrapped a piece of plastic garbage bag over his head, and several people noticed and laughed. At the bottom, we attempted to look in the gift shop, but it was packed full of people staying dry. Tram tickets, we discovered, were $25.50 per person! Amazingly expensive. As we left the gift shop, the rain dried up for the most part. We left Yosemite Park via the south exit, and drove to the town of Coursegold, where we ate at Subway. While eating, we overheard a local educate two motercyclists on the path they had planned to take through Yosemite. He recommended motercycling through a place called Bear Valley Road, and swore it looked just like the Zoom-Zoom commercials from Mazda (up and down hills?). The drive home went through Madera, then up 99 to Sacramento. We stopped at Gunthers and had ice cream, then drove to Curtis Park, then home for the night.

2009-05-31 (Sunday)

Napa Valley. Stopped for gas. Stopped at the Yolo fruit stand. Mom really liked the vegetable chips. Adam and Amber purchased a watermelon and other fruits. The Jelly Belly factory tour wait was about 30 minutes. Noticed for the first time Jelly Belly sells clearance candy. The tour guide requested everyone say "Jelly-Belly" three times. Since it was Sunday, no workers were present in the factory. Instead, we watched videos on monitors. One of the robots waved and smiled at us. Received a free sample of candy and declined to pay $22 for 2 5x7 photos of the experience. Purchased three bags of belly flops and received another two for free, which I gave to Adam and Amber and mom. Noticed they sell jelly bean shaped burgers and pizzas. The current Jelly Belly promotion is "Where's Mr. Jelly Belly?" While leaving Jelly Belly, we smelled something like ramen noodles in the air. The Budweiser factory, perhaps?
Napa Valley
Abstaining from tasting so I can drive
Provenance vineyard; mom and Dawn purchased a bottle; Debbie

Sterling Vineyard; Tram car to the tasting room; mom purchased six bottles;

2009-06-01 (Monday)

San Francisco. Forgot my wallet and had to go back.
Called en route and rescheduled Alcatraz tour from 9:30 to 10:30
Fogged in golden gate bridge from Marin Headlands
Walked to Pier 33
Split up for Alcatraz visit; sat in back on way over.
Audio tour; breakout; overturning tables because they did not like the spaghetti
Have made major improvements to the gift shop and were remodeling the audio tour headset distribution room (showers)
Returned; sat in front (we sat inside)
Walked back to pier 39; seals; Al the magician "push head through metal hoop";
Ate at Boudins; Adam and Amber had seafood; Mom had clam chowder bread bowl; Dawn and I had tomato soup with sourdough bread crumbs and grilled cheese on sourdough
Cable car (45 minute wait) to union square.
Shirt purchase (Rick) at Macy's
Chinatown walk
Cable car back to Hyde and Powell
Ghirardelli square for chocolate; adam + amber went to purchase gifts
Drove to beach along Ocean View drive; Adam + amber wet from ocean; very cold; foggy and nearly dark;
Cliff House
Lights of san francisco

2009-06-02 (Tuesday)

Wedding, Lake Tahoe

Flowers in the morning at Raleys
Mom paid for certificate
Pictures at Lake Natoma
Regatta
Lunch at Safeway (Mac & Cheese) and McD
US-50 to Lake Tahoe; Emerald Bay; Eagle falls; beach; low-hanging fog/clouds
rain storm on the way home