Yosemite, Part 3

Thursday night we again stayed at Yosemite Lodge at the Falls (no more midnight raccoon visits however) but they were booked solid for Friday night, so Dick and I had a reservation at the Ahwahnee. Everyone needs to stay at the Ahwahnee at least once in their lifetime. The hotel, built in 1926, is spectacularly beautiful. There are at least 3 of these enormous fireplaces in the public areas. Carolyn and I were entranced by the little visitor we saw several times in the hotel lobby. He was perfectly calm, even when approached by tourists, and obviously was not new to the surroundings.

When we checked in, the clerk said she thought we'd like our room. We thought she was just making conversation . . . until we got to our fourth floor room. There was the king-size bed (as requested) - the sitting area (with leather sofa) - the rubber duckie in the bathroom (I thought about 'borrowing' it for Addy) - and . . . . . . our own personal patio, shared with just one other room. Not a balcony; we had the only full-fledged patio in the hotel. See the fenced area in the center of the photo below? That's our patio. We had a view down the valley, with Yosemite Falls to our right, and a smaller waterfall outside our bedroom window. We took advantage of our good fortune by having dinner with Bill and Carolyn in our sitting room (wonderful food, of course), and Dick and I had breakfast on the patio the next morning. Raisin brioche french toast. It was every bit as good as it looks. The grounds behind the Ahwahnee are like a private park. We spent several hours walking around,

View of Half Dome

taking photos and enjoying the beauty.
Saturday we drove out to Sacramento - past long, long lines of people driving into the park - so I could catch a plane home. Dick and Bill continued on to Andersonville for a day of fly-fishing and then to Monterrey to visit the Aquarium and 17-Mile Drive - where the guys found these deer grazing on the beach. Beautiful.