Day-28: Yosemite to Napa

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

With a long drive before us and a desire to see a couple more Yosemite sites we were up, fed, packed and out of the lodge by 8:30, a stunning accomplishment.

We began the day with a 30-minute drive to Glacier Point Overlook. The road up is narrow and winding (so what’s new). The morning temperature had been in the low forties but as we neared the high ridge the car thermometer actually registered a 29-degree temp. Once at the overlook we exited the cars for a 45-minute trek up & back to the overlook from where you can see the Yosemite Valley floor 7,000 feet below, nice! This is where pictures have been taken for many a years of people standing on an outcropping apparently with little stopping them from a long fall into the valley. In any case, no one in our group planned to scale the ledge but two younger fellows, much younger I might add, were up to the task. So we did see the risk takers and have a few pictures to prove it. Let it be said the views from Glacier are more than spectacular.

Yosemite - Half Dome

Wawona Lodge

Now it was back down the mountain and a turn to the south. We stopped at the Wawona visitor center and lodge for a few minutes but soon continued to the Mariposa Grove near the park’s south gate. The Mariposa Grove is home to some of the world’s largest trees, a grouping of Sequoias saved from the lumberjack’s saws and axes by the formation of the national park. As one might guess, the trees are huge. We all took to a circular walk through the grove. Here there are examples of the life cycle of the big trees, many young trees, many old trees and many trees laying on the ground that had lived their lives and fallen to be no more.

Sequoia Cone

The Mariposa Grove was our last Yosemite stop. We now departed the park and in an hour or so arrived in the town of Mariposa (where we had lunch on Monday). Today’s lunch was at the Bett’s Gold Coin Sports Tavern. I think we all liked the place, if perhaps for different reasons; personally I liked the country music and a great grilled cheese and bacon sandwich with fries that gave McDonald’s a run for their money. Jack rated his salad as the “Best Cobb Salad” he’s had, hopefully not the first and only Cobb Salad of his life.

Arriving in Merced, it was time for gas. With three cars running through the mountains and winding roads we were drinking up gas. As a note of interest, since we had all filled up on Monday and had driven similar distances we could compare car economy.

• Ford Expedition = 17 gallons (11.2 MPG)
• GMC Yukon = 12 gallons (15.8 MPG)
• Lexus = 9 gallons (21.1 MPG)
• Total = 38 gallons of gas @ $3.699/gallon to transport 8 passengers 190 miles

Altamont Pass Wind Farms

Benicia - Martinez Bridge

From Merced we continued north on CA-99 toward the Bay Area. After a brief join-up with the I-5 we soon transitioned via Altamont Pass (of wind farm and rock festival fame) to the I-80 system north through Livermore, San Ramon, Danville, Walnut Creek, Benica and into Napa. In a test of GPS directions and maybe just a bit of car-to-car competition, Denny and Jack leaped ahead of us at the Benica bridge toll booth and roared into Napa just ahead of us by taking the 680 while Greg and I took our time, enjoying the scenery along the 780.

Rolling Stones at Altamont

(NOTE ON ALTAMONT ROCK FESTIVAL: The event occurred in December 1969 four months after Woodstock. Performers at Altamont included Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and the Rolling Stones. The Grateful Dead were scheduled but pulled out due to the level of violence and problems at the venue.)

Best Western Ivy Hotel - Napa

Around 6:30 we checked in to the Best Western Ivy Hotel in Napa. Of note, the hotel lobby is prepped for Halloween and has a large bowl of candy ripe for the pickin’. My favorite was the mini-Butterfingers, Diane dived into the mini-Snickers and Greg took aim at the mini-3 Musketeers. This is not to say that no one else helped themselves to the candy; the others were perhaps more discreet.

Fried Olives at Il Posto Trattoria

After the long day, a local dinner was the preferred choice. Just down from the hotel after considering Tex-Mex we opted for Il Posto Trattoria. The meal was great with everyone enjoying the Italian entrees. One unusual offering was the fried olives stuffed with sausage; they were pretty good.

After a brief walk back to the hotel, it was lights out. See you in the morning.

The Napa trip was off to a good start.