On the weekend of Dec. 11-13 I traveled back to Yosemite. This time my travel buddy was an OT from a sister facility who had expressed a desire to go National Parking- my usual buddy Lisa had planned to go but stayed home sick instead.
Friday night we stayed at the Comfort Inn in Mariposa, CA- right outside the I-140 entrance to the park. This hotel was pretty bad. As we were unloading our car, I paused on the steps and watched a fellow come and wiggle our door handle- which freaked me out. The ice machine was on the dark side of the building, outside, and was unplugged. I slept restlessly that night- thinking of the fellow who had tested our door. The next morning we found breakfast provided by the hotel: wrinkled hard boiled eggs, milk that came out of the machine SOLID, and wrinkled fruit. I brought the manager over to inspect the milk and he initially stated that it couldn't possibly be bad- then he sniffed it and said, "oh, yes, time to change it." Yes indeed-- as if solid milk wasn't a clue that it had gone bad! We cooked waffles with the idea that the cooking process would kill anything bad.
Saturday we drove up to Hetch Hetchy reservoir which required the placement and removal of snow chains each way. We decreased our time from 20 minutes to 5 minutes to completely place and strap on the snow chains- we are superwomen!!!
Hetch Hetchy had the potential to be quite beautiful, but much was occluded by the clouds of mist and rain. We started a short trail, despite the drizzle, then continued on a longer trail with the hopes of seeing a waterfall. Two ladies coming back from the waterfall informed us that there had been a rockslide and you could not get back to the waterfalls any more. A recent rockslide! We could have been crushed! Pretty exciting stuff. By the time we got back to the car our rain jacket pockets had filled with water and my only dry spots were the pocket with my car keys (I had folded my shirt around them to keep that area dry) and the inside of my shoes (my Timberlands still work after 13 years!) We drove into Yosemite, placing and removing the snow chains to navigate a snow covered pass.
That night we ate soup at the food court and hung the rest of the night at the bar at Yosemite lodge. We sat by the fire and merged with the group next to us that included a guy on a spiritual retreat from Hawaii, and a newly engaged couple from ?Alabama. The girl was filling out her Christmas cards, so we signed one, drew some bear pictures, and burned the edges to give her an authentic "Yosemite" Christmas card to send. While in the bar, the rain turned to snow and we had a couple inches on the ground by 2am. We made a snowman behind our lodge room.
The next morning we woke to a winter wonderland and our snowman was up to his waist in snow! We walked in the snow to see Yosemite falls and then wandered into the trading post- the most mundane things coated with snow appear quite beautiful. In direct contrast, the easiest paths became treacherous slippery treks of doom. We stayed on the easy ones and enjoyed the snow.
By the time we drove out that afternoon, the snow and ice was melted from the roads and the snow chains were no longer needed. We drove back to humanity and stopped at a christmas farm of sorts about an hour from home for some baked potatoes, snow tubing, and a quiet drive through some christmas lights. It was an excellent end to my stay in San Francisco, CA.
