Day-26: Crossing California - Monterey to Yosemite

Monday, October 21, 2013

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GREG!

Following breakfast we checked out of the Best Western Victorian Inn, by far the best Best Western of the trip to date. A lead car ventured down the street for a Starbucks stop, and the Starbucks queens, Pat and Chris, even brought me a hot chocolate to go, a vente or grande or something; good in any case, thanks for that.

By ten we were en-route for the 4-5 hour drive to Yosemite with planned stops for “special water” (at a Safeway), sightseeing and lunch.

Along the route from Castroville across the northern end of the central valley to Merced we passed through the amazing agricultural section of the state. There were thousands of acres dedicated to a huge variety of vegetables and fruit, along with kiwi, pistachio and pomegranate orchards, all possible because of the aqueduct and related irrigation systems available to the farmers and ranchers.

Tourists

We varied from our GPS track at Merced for the “special water” and targeted a local Albertson’s in lieu of a preferred Safeway. After a ten-minute detour we found the Albertson’s to be closed. As we were operating on a no backtrack policy, there was literally, no turning back. After finally shutting down the GPS “redirecting” voice commands we found our way out of Merced onto alternate routes, mostly roads paved over ancient rabbit tracks, in other words, narrow and winding. Those of little faith were silently or maybe not so silently wondering who was navigating.  However, with full confidence and knowledge of sun position as well as compass head we charged on. By now our 10-minute detour had expanded to 20 minutes and of course it was past feeding time, so we kept a sharp lookout for food options.

Well into the drive we arrived in Hornitos, California, possibly something out of the Twilight Zone. It may be a small town, well actually a ghost town but it did have a small mall, well actually one building, but of importance was the word “Café”. After a quick turnaround we were in the Café parking lot. On the porch of the café sat “old Jake” (an alias assigned to protect his identity), we queried Jake as to the status of the Café as it didn’t appear to be open (not unusual for a Monday). Jake told us that the café had been closed for about 20 YEARS, so we were a might too late for lunch. After a little softening up, Jake began to tell us about all types of restaurants, none of them close. He thought our best bet was the airport café down near Mariposa but there would be several options in that area. We thanked Jake, wished him a good day and moved on. Some suspect that “old Jake” is a remnant of the old café of 20 years past.

Arriving about a ½ hour later in Mariposa we found the Miner’s Inn, a suitable place for lunch. The place was huge but we were the only customers, save one lonely man, perhaps the “miner” sitting at the bar. Actually the lunch was good, notable was the chili and helpful and polite service. The waitress offered tips on where to buy groceries and gas before entering the high priced Yosemite NP.

After a grocery stop and gassing up, we continued along CA-140 into the park. At one point we encountered a two bridge one-lane detour around a huge rockslide. Again we were driving narrow and curvy roads as we climbed into the Yosemite Valley.

Yosemite National Park

Arriving at the park we all proudly displayed our “Get-In-Free Senior Cards” for entrance to the park and headed for our lodge. Actually we had little idea of where the lodge was or how to find the office for picking up the key and directions. In any case we headed toward West Yosemite and hoped for the best, however before we had gone too far we came upon a “tunnel under construction” sign. We stopped at the tunnel and waited our turn in the one-way traffic pattern, fortunately for only a few minutes. Onward to the GPS projected lodge location we proceeded, a drive that seemed like it would never end but as usually happens, good triumphed over evil, we found the office and quickly arrived at the lodge. What had been forecasted as a 4-5 hour drive had taken almost 8 hours but we had seen parts of California few have seen and parts that we’ll likely never see again; an exciting drive and a drive of many stories for future times.

Sunset Over Yosemite

By now at 5:45 we were only about 45 minutes from our dinner reservations with a 30+ minute drive through the one-way tunnel. Foregoing a change into more suitable clothing, we all piled into the biggest car, the Expedition and drove to the Awahnee Hotel for dinner, the birthday celebration dinner for Greg. En-route we did stop for a sunset over Yosemite viewing and photo-op.

Awahnee or Hogwarts?

The Awahnee Hotel’s dining room is cavernous and for those knowledgeable of Harry Potter, much like Hogwarts in appearance. We were shown to our table, toasted the birthday boy and Sheila our traveler coordinator, then proceeded to order and down a great meal all the while entertained by a pianist at one of the largest grand pianos I’ve seen. With dessert and a candle-lit cupcake (not the wine type) we honored the birthday boy with a song and good cheer.

With dinner complete we began the ride home, accented by a constant lookout for deer, a long wait at the “one-way” tunnel (15-minute wait) and a dark poorly illuminated winding road. Nevertheless, Denny safety delivered us to the lodge and by 10:30 we were in and watching television for Monday night scores and the like. Actually, no one lasted long; after a glass of wine and few TV channel checks everyone turned in for the night.