The Journey to Yosemite – now that’s a road trip!

Melissa and I left on Saturday, August 31.  Today we simply drove, and drove, and drove.

We covered 850 miles from San Antonio to Tuscon.  Were you aware that there are a multitude of shades of brown?  It was desert I know but it was lots of desert and open space.  We were more than ready to land for the night at the hotel in Tuscon.

 

Sunday, September 1, Day 2: Tuscon to Corona, California.  We joined our old friends Carmen and Alan Brown for breakfast at their new home in Tuscon.  They moved there from Santa Fe just 6 weeks ago and it was wonderful to catch up with them.  Alan happened to catch my blog post and called to see if we might be coming through Tuscon. Oh what fun it is to see old friends.  It had been almost 10 years since our last visit.

We left Tuscon around 11 am and thought we would stop at Joshua Tree National Park (which would be about 420 miles).  However, by the time we arrived at the exit and learned it would take us several hours to drive though, I tapped out on the color range of brown and we went on another 90 miles to overnite in Corona, CA.   I admit, I had hit saturation on desert and brown!

Monday, LABOR DAY, September 2, Day 3:  Today was a day of visiting.  We spent the morning at my cousin’s home with his children and their families.  I loved meeting their grandchildren who I’ve been writing to for several years.  What a treat to catch up on family and the chance to get acquainted with their spouses and children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I cannot believe we never got a picture of Joe and Kelly . . . the matriarch and patriarch of this family.  Guess I’ll get one on the way back home in December.

We left there around 1:00 and took a short drive to the Nixon Presidential Library.  Melissa and I both really enjoyed the exhibits and found it to be informative and enjoyable to learn more about the events surrounding his presidency.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From there we drove just a few miles to visit my dear friend Cappie’s who I met at my first National Park Service Volunteer job in Sitka, Alaska.  We were both newbies at volunteering.

She is an incredible gem that rolled into my life there and I’ve never let her leave.  She has the biggest and kindest heart, and her children are just like her.  She is a positive ray of sunshine every day.  I’m so grateful to get to see her again.  We had a great visit and a beautiful dinner together.  

While it was hard to say goodbye we moved on to overnite at Laguna Beach.  We stayed on the beach at the Surfside Hotel.  We listened to the ocean all night and walked the beach in the morning.  What a glorious evening and morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, September 3, Day 4:   Today we drove from Laguna Beach to Three Rivers, CA.  I thought we might have slow downs on the 405 and 5 through Los Angeles but overall it was smooth sailing.  Took us about 5 hours to get to our hotel in Three Rivers.  We were exhausted and had lights out at 6:30 pm for a full night’s sleep.  

Wednesday, September 4, Day 5: We started off today with me trying to figure out my YOSEMITE specifics.  Having not received any word from housing and knowing that my supervisor just had surgery I was a little uncertain about where to go and what I would be doing.  So we took the morning and it gave me time to make contacts and get a few more specifics.  

I learned that not only had my supervisor had surgery a week ago but she was to have another foot surgery the following week.  So I will be filling in with other groups at the park which were yet to be determined.  

Housing on the other hand was confirmed . . . cabin #9 in El Portal would be my new home.  Along with my housing agreement came several instructional sheets about bears, rules of housing, bat rabies, and hantavirus from rodents.  It indicated a minimum of 10 rodent traps would be required at all time in the cabin.  

Okay, I will admit that there was some anxiety about the bears in the area but I was dealing with that.  After all, this is their country and we are using it.  Plus bears were not my first experience as Sitka (where I did two stays) also had a plentiful number of bears!  But ‘rodent traps’ and 10 at a time . . . nope that wasn’t on my list.  But I was certain that I’d figure it out and it would be okay eventually.  Ah, the roller coaster of anxiety can be exhausting!  Next step now is to wait for move in and see what the reality is with this rodent thing.  Check in is 3pm Friday!

That afternoon we drove into Sequoia to see General Grant’s tree, the 2^nd largest in Sequoia in the country.  The over 2 hour (and less than 25 miles) drive from hotel to the tree took us up to over 6000 ft elevation.  It was a short distance but a very slow and winding drive over the mountains.  We stopped and walked to the tree which was a downhill walk from being halfway up the height of the tree to the lower base of the tree.  While only a ½ mile walk the elevation and return up was taxing for me.  Oh I may be getting old.  Another two hours down the mountain to the Three Rivers hotel took another several hours.  We stopped at a restaurant for dinner and called it a night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday, September 5, Day 6:  We drove from Three Rivers to El Portal and our stay at the Yosemite Valley Lodge.  I took the least expensive room but was still a bit pricey at $400 per night.  On the way we stopped at the movies and saw Reagan.  It was a nice break from the drive and we were ready for a nice relaxing evening before move in on Friday.

Friday, September 6, Day7:  We are here!  I check in to the cabin at 3pm.  I am reading about Hantavirus, Bears, local bus system, driving the roads, locations of work places, changes in what I’ll be doing, etc, etc.  We are going to drive up to Yosemite Valley to see the signs prior to cabin checkin at 3pm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The drive through the park was so much easier here than at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.  Took me about 30 minutes to get to the Valley from my cabin site.  And the bus stop is close by as well so I won’t have to drive in if I don’t want to.  

I also learned that the library and several working sites are outside the entrance gates so there may be days I will not drive into the park.  All things to figure out next week.  

Check in was at 3p and Gavin from Building and Grounds met me for check in.  Here are some cabin pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More pictures will come once I settle in.  Gavin was great.  He said no worries about hantavirus, and the bear in the neighborhood is called Purple Bear and has a tracker.  All good.  Gavin left his personal cell number (so sweet), we unpacked the car, turned on the a/c and realized all too quickly that it didn’t work.  Oh goodness, it is 4:30 on Friday afternoon.  We have no cell service here.  Gavin did leave his personal cell number for emergencies . . . I wondered if this was what he meant.  Just then my neighbor’s girlfriend (He lives in cabin #10, which is attached to #9)  stopped by, got me hooked up to WIFI from the market and we made the calls and waited.  Gavin came back at 6p.m. and got me hooked up with a portable air conditioning.  (He is now my friend for life!). By this time we have completely melted and decide to head to Fresno for a couple nights in the hotel (and cool air!) as Melissa prepares to return home.

Saturday, September 7, Day 8:  Today we spent shopping.  The battery on my iPhone failed and needed replacement.  Thanks to Robert for setting this up for us!  I had a list of items to pick up at Walmart and we made dinner at Cheesecake Factory.  Tomorrow Melissa will catch a morning flight and I will head back to my cabin.  

Please excuse errors.  I’m taking advantage of the hotel WIFI and getting this done.  I’m sure there are mistakes but you get the picture.  

First class mail will reach me at the local (by the cabin) post office but NO PACKAGES.  You can mail to me as follows.  John, the Postmaster here, will hold it for me to pick up.  And, of course, I’d love hearing from you anytime!  

Mara Yachik

General Delivery

El Portal, CA 95318

(Sorry, I cannot remove the extra spaces!)

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers for safe travel.  It was all a great experience!  Lovely to have Melissa share this journey with me too.