Days Thirteen and Fourteen of Western Adventures

The morning dawned clear and crisp again.  Bob and Joyce enjoyed their 30 minute walk before breakfast. The little town of Sutter Creek is a unique blend of the very old and some nice, new homes.  Bob read in the paper today that in California, there are now more buyers than houses on the market and people are knocking on doors to see if people will sell.   Breakfast was a feast of several courses. We met several other travelers who were staying at the Inn and enjoyed sharing stories with them and adding them to our travel blog.

 

We started on our journey into Yosemite which turned out not to be quick one.  We were on the road for nearly  three hours through more rolling hills and into the canyons of Yosemite.  This lake was along our our tour.

           

 

The remaining afternoon was spent with a lot of “oh, man!!” and OMG as we saw one after another awesome photo opportunity.  The first white men to see Yosemite were members of the Mariposa Battalion—organized to resist the Indians.  Lafayette Bunnell was a member of this battalion and these were his words, “  None but those who have visited this most wonderful valley can even imagine the feelings with which I look upon the view that was there presented….a peculiar exalted sensation seemed to feel my whole being,  and I found my eyes in tears with emotion.” 

Yosemite is a land where you can lose your perspective.  This is a land where everything is big. REALLY BIG.  There are big rocks, big trees and big waterfalls.  Here it is easy to realize what breathtaking really is.  ( paraphrased from Fodors.com/parks)               

 

We knew that Yosemite Falls would most likely be dry, but we didn’t expect Bridal Falls to be sparse, too.    One of the neatest things with our Ipads is the National Geographic National Parks app.  Here you can see how we are following along on the map exactly where we are.  The little yellow arrow is our car.  Now, how cool is that! The app costs $3.99, but we all agree this is the best $$ we have spent for apps. 20 National Parks are featured. There are some really neat National Park apps that ARE free, just check out the App Store. The above map shows our trip into the Yosemite Valley toward the Village.  This was not high tourist season and it was still a crowded mess.

By mid afternoon, we decide to drive toward south Yosemite and our cabin for the next two nights.  We came to the cabin address, and Bob exited the car to check it out. You should have seen the look on his face….. he is thinking, “There is no way the girls will stay in this place!!!  Jerry hops out on the other side and goes a little farther up the road and says, come on, we are on up the road….. whew, Joyce says as she is thinking maybe this is the first big “screw up “ with lodging.   This is a real outhouse that is about 50 ft. from our cabin. Our real cabin is fine, once we all found the code to access internet.  You cannot imagine the angst while we all awaited the code.  ( Are we nuts or what?)  The inn owner at our last stop thought we were a really tech-savvy bunch.

 

We relaxed a bit, then headed for the grocery before it closed and on to the famous Wawana Hotel for dinner.  The main building was built in 1879 and is indeed a grand dame of the old wooden inns.  Our meals were great and perfect for sharing.  In 1882, it was suggested the Indian word, Wah-wo-nah - meaning Big Tree was a more fitting name for the hotel complex than Big Tree Station. 

 

We wanted to make sure we headed back before dark as the cabin was not easy to find in the daylight and who knows how difficult in the dark.