yosemite
Yosemite!! Beautiful snowy mountains and valleys!! Wonderful picturesque vistas!! Incredible traffic!!
I did not expect so much traffic in Yosemite. This was my first visit to Yosemite and everything I had read said winter was the least crowded time to visit. Apparently I did not understand exactly how crowded this national park can become.
It took us about 5 hours to get to our hotel on Saturday (we detoured through Turlock when manwhoreforhire somehow lost HW120 while I dozed). We were staying at a hotel on the south point of the park, which was about a hour's drive on windy mountain roads from the park's entrance. After some unwinding from the drive and a little nap, we caught a late dinner at the hotel's somewhat fancy restaurant. Overall, we were not impressed. The cheese plate was delicious as was the basalmic vingrette salad. manwhoreforhire wasn't fond of his pork though he did like my steak and my mashed potatoes (which I didn't think were that good--shouldn't all mashed potatoes have garlic in them?). For dessert, we shared a creme brulee, and then we went back to our hotel room stuffed and tired.
The next morning we went to investigate the "free breakfast" and discovered it more than made up for the okay yet expensive dinner. It was buffet style with two types of scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, waffles, sausage, ham, fruit (creamed bananas one morning), and baked goods. It was also free, which was most exciting.
manwhoreforhire insisted upon a nap after breakfast so around 11ish we headed off to the ski area near our hotel for some tubing only to discover the road there was closed. So we shrugged our shoulders and headed down to the valley instead.
manwhoreforhire wasn't fazed by the crowds of people though I did not expect there to be so many people. It took us awhile to find parking, and then we stood in an hour long line for sandwiches for lunch. Quite a few of the food places close in the winter so our lunch options were quite limited. Fortunately the sandwich was delicious though hardly worth an hour in line while his chilli in a bread bowl was just okay. We picked up some snacks (nuts, jerky and powerade) and then began a two mile hike in the snow to the trail head for lower Yosemite falls.
Even though we walked on flat land, the ice and snow made walking treacherous at times (though I only slipped and fell once the whole trip, and that was on a brief walk near the hotel where I was quickly introduced to the dangers of ice). manwhoreforhire kept trying to convince me to try a few switchbacks of the hike. Sadly (okay, not so sadly for me), the trail was closed and snowed over so we had a hard time finding it and an impossible time following it. He then decided to see how aware I was of our surroundings by leading me in a couple of circles before figuring out I was quite content to follow along with him and focus on not killing myself on the ice. The exhaustion didn't really hit until we decided to grab the shuttle back to our car. Tired, we drove back to our hotel where I had the best hot bath EVER.
There were more naps before dinner at the hotel restaurant. This time we opted for salads and desserts. He got the warmed apple blueberry crisp and I got the chef's creation--an orange cake with grand marnier and coconut frosting, and homemade passionfruit ice cream. It was the best thing we ate all weekend.
The next morning we had our free breakfast buffet (this time with pictures), and then napped before packing up. We played in the snow near the hotel before driving home. Since he had driven the entire trip (letting me appreciate all the scenic beauty), I gallantly drove the last three hours home while he was passed out.
Once we'd gotten home, we unloaded the big stuff in one trip, then flopped on the couch to finish our books. We went out to eat dinner at Cafe Bernardo, and then read. We were still on vacation time and it was wonderful. I don't think I even turned on my phone until Tuesday morning.
All in all, it was wonderful weekend. We even talked about maybe hiking the complete Lower Yosemite Falls trail in the spring. Once we've had a chance to not be so out of shape.
Pictures are here!! I'm so happy I finally remembered my camera.
I did not expect so much traffic in Yosemite. This was my first visit to Yosemite and everything I had read said winter was the least crowded time to visit. Apparently I did not understand exactly how crowded this national park can become.
It took us about 5 hours to get to our hotel on Saturday (we detoured through Turlock when manwhoreforhire somehow lost HW120 while I dozed). We were staying at a hotel on the south point of the park, which was about a hour's drive on windy mountain roads from the park's entrance. After some unwinding from the drive and a little nap, we caught a late dinner at the hotel's somewhat fancy restaurant. Overall, we were not impressed. The cheese plate was delicious as was the basalmic vingrette salad. manwhoreforhire wasn't fond of his pork though he did like my steak and my mashed potatoes (which I didn't think were that good--shouldn't all mashed potatoes have garlic in them?). For dessert, we shared a creme brulee, and then we went back to our hotel room stuffed and tired.
The next morning we went to investigate the "free breakfast" and discovered it more than made up for the okay yet expensive dinner. It was buffet style with two types of scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, waffles, sausage, ham, fruit (creamed bananas one morning), and baked goods. It was also free, which was most exciting.
manwhoreforhire insisted upon a nap after breakfast so around 11ish we headed off to the ski area near our hotel for some tubing only to discover the road there was closed. So we shrugged our shoulders and headed down to the valley instead.
manwhoreforhire wasn't fazed by the crowds of people though I did not expect there to be so many people. It took us awhile to find parking, and then we stood in an hour long line for sandwiches for lunch. Quite a few of the food places close in the winter so our lunch options were quite limited. Fortunately the sandwich was delicious though hardly worth an hour in line while his chilli in a bread bowl was just okay. We picked up some snacks (nuts, jerky and powerade) and then began a two mile hike in the snow to the trail head for lower Yosemite falls.
Even though we walked on flat land, the ice and snow made walking treacherous at times (though I only slipped and fell once the whole trip, and that was on a brief walk near the hotel where I was quickly introduced to the dangers of ice). manwhoreforhire kept trying to convince me to try a few switchbacks of the hike. Sadly (okay, not so sadly for me), the trail was closed and snowed over so we had a hard time finding it and an impossible time following it. He then decided to see how aware I was of our surroundings by leading me in a couple of circles before figuring out I was quite content to follow along with him and focus on not killing myself on the ice. The exhaustion didn't really hit until we decided to grab the shuttle back to our car. Tired, we drove back to our hotel where I had the best hot bath EVER.
There were more naps before dinner at the hotel restaurant. This time we opted for salads and desserts. He got the warmed apple blueberry crisp and I got the chef's creation--an orange cake with grand marnier and coconut frosting, and homemade passionfruit ice cream. It was the best thing we ate all weekend.
The next morning we had our free breakfast buffet (this time with pictures), and then napped before packing up. We played in the snow near the hotel before driving home. Since he had driven the entire trip (letting me appreciate all the scenic beauty), I gallantly drove the last three hours home while he was passed out.
Once we'd gotten home, we unloaded the big stuff in one trip, then flopped on the couch to finish our books. We went out to eat dinner at Cafe Bernardo, and then read. We were still on vacation time and it was wonderful. I don't think I even turned on my phone until Tuesday morning.
All in all, it was wonderful weekend. We even talked about maybe hiking the complete Lower Yosemite Falls trail in the spring. Once we've had a chance to not be so out of shape.
Pictures are here!! I'm so happy I finally remembered my camera.