We spent Thanksgiving in Yosemite… this is a biannual family reunion.  The celebration takes place every two years or so, and has since 1968… We mostly go to Yosemite, but have met at Cambria, Monterey and  Sonora.

Our son and his girl friend Sienna flew in from Florida Thursday night…  This is our introduction to Sienna... We like her... Our daughter and a friend of the both son and daughter (Gina) joined us (she was born near San Francisco but this was her first trip to Yosemite) Gina has been with us in this blog before... She joined us on the SF - Ft Lauderdale trip a couple of years ago...

We left San Mateo (near SFO) a bit after 10:00 on Wednesday, traveling in two cars (there were 6 of us.) We were trying to get away a bit ahead of the crowd.  Generally our timing worked… We had traffic, but not bad traffic until Manteca, where traffic from southbound on Hwy 99 was backing up on to 205.   We got off the freeway and visited the Bass Pro shop…  I needed some stove fuel for later in the weekend… at least that was the excuse…  The Bass Pro is kind of a destination in itself, and a window into a non-urban lifestyle…  Yes, people still hunt, and there is nothing that cannot be made in camo…

Back on the road, past 99 traffic calmed… we stopped in Oakdale for sandwiches at Ferrarese's Deli… (Ferrarese’s is rated No 1 in Oakdale on trip advisor, for good reason… it can be crowded…  It wasn’t today) then gas (hint: if driving to Yosemite via 120 Oakdale is the last of the cheap gas.)   Back on the road we made good time through Chinese Camp (we didn’t stop, but if this is your only chance to visit gold country take a few minutes and drive about the remains of this almost ghost town.)    

From Chinese (locals drop the “camp”) you drive along the shore of Don Pedro reservoir.   The reservoir was almost dry… a statement about the ongoing drought.  At the end of the reservoir you reach Moccasin, home of a hydroelectric power plant and a fish hatchery (but no gas).  Here Hwy 120 turns to the left, eastward, and begins to climb in earnest, while Hwy 49 goes straight, through Coulterville, to meet Hwy 140 near Mariposa.  Hwy 49 is a very curvy mountain road, but if there is snow on 120 it offers a low altitude (if slow) option. 

We stayed on Hwy 120… taking the old stage coach road, Old Priest Grade … it’s a well marked right turn… note… Old Priest Grade is very steep, narrow, and curvy… I crawled up in first gear.  Cars can overheat… don’t try the road if driving an RV or towing…   The gates are occasionally locked.  But with all the cautions, it is a short cut… and a bit of excitement on the drive… and a bit of the old west…

Once at the top, we rejoin the old road… through Big Oak Flat… There are a couple of interesting buildings left from the gold rush, notably the IOOF hall.  Beyond Big Oak Flat you find Groveland… Also dating to California’s gold rush.. Groveland has services and restaurants… (some quite good.)  Groveland has a Christmas tradition of wrapping every vertical pole in foil and red ribbon, simulating a big candy cane…  the town is quite narrow, and the main street is Hwy 120… take it slow through town…  

Beyond Groveland you are in the Sierra… a 2 lane mountain road… a nice 2 lane mountain road…  10 miles or so from Groveland we encountered the burn… left by the Rim Fire… this was one of California’s largest wild fires in history… it is reportedly still burning, but fully contained and controlled.   We pulled over at an overlook, where the US Forest Service had set up interpretive signage.  This is a road that our family knows well… there have been 3 or 4 fires though parts of it in the last 25 years.  We are used to burned landscapes, but this one was bad…    As my wife and I tried to remember when each tract had burned our daughter discussed the biology of recovery (quick growing low plants to stabilize the soil, these eventually driven out by shade from the new trees).  Most of the rest of the way into the park was in or along the margin of the burn… 

At the Big Oak Flat entrance to the park we bought an Annual Parks Pass… For $80.00 a year you get unlimited entrance to National Parks, Monuments, as well as BLM sites… My old one expired in September.  This one will carry us though Yosemite (probably a couple of times), Death Valley in December, Lave Beds, Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Tetons in July…   It’s a passport to wonderful places…

We stopped at the entrance station… for a restroom break… We have a family tradition of a toilet paper census (19 rolls on the way in, 14 in one stall in the way out, 9 in the other… these bathrooms always have many, many rolls of toilet paper… it’s a family joke… we always take a census, and they never disappoint… and 19 ties the record for this site.)  Meanwhile I walked around back… the fire reached the entrance station… burning within 20 feet or so… but here the fire was “cool” burning only the under layer and fallen pine needles… leaving the trees green and healthy.

Leaving the entrance station we saw some snow along the road… not much… we continued to drive through the fire zone…  At Crane Flat we passed the last gas… there is no gas in Yosemite Valley… If you need gas get it here…  We didn’t need gas and didn’t stop…  This is where the Tioga Pass road takes off… It was closed by the last snow…  possibly for the season.

Dropping down into the Valley we were passing through burn zones… but most from a previous fire…not from the Rim fire… Back in 1988 or so Tina (aka the Dear Wife) and I were evacuated from Yosemite Valley when a fire burned through Floresta threatening to close roads into the Valley… in the years since there has been another fire… Floresta meadow is clearly visible from 120… a view once blocked by trees…

We finally reached the Valley floor about 4:30, 6 and a half hours after we left…  not quite a record.

We stopped at Bridal Vale Falls… walking up to the base of the falls… Water is low but the falls were still impressive.  Continuing up the Valley we saw a herd of deer near the chapel…   We headed directly to the lodge (as a kid growing up it was the “Lodge” or “Yosemite Lodge”, it is now “The Lodge at the Falls”) where we checked in.  The Lodge consists of “modern” 2 story motel like buildings surrounding a central dining/retail/check-in area…  There is a shuttle stop for the free Yosemite Valley shuttle…

Our rooms were grouped together (a surprise since we added one late) in the Hikory building… all on the 2^nd floor, all with balcony’s.   The children faced the center complex… they could see how long the line was in the cafeteria, or when the shuttle came…  We had a view of Half Dome… We won…

When you check in at any Yosemite lodging… at any campground… you are told about bears, and bear food safety…  To a bear, a car looks like a can of baked beans… and his claws look like a can opener… bears are dog smart… they can smell an M&M at several hundred feet… through a closed car window… they know what a ice chest looks like… they know what packaged food looks like… they like to eat… When you check in you have to a warning about bears… and how to practice bear safe food storage…  So, you have to remove all food or food like material from your car… and store it in your room or in a bear box if camping… If you don’t, you can be cited, your car towed (to a bear safe location) or, the bear can open you car, using his claws, climb about inside eating anything, likely including the seat backs… then poop before leaving…  We stored all food in our room…  (side story… I have visited Yosemite 50+ times… staying in the lodge or at Curry in cabins, camping in Valley floor camp grounds… backpacking… hanging a food bag from a tree, I have never been raided by a bear… following basic rules will keep you and the bear safe… Its not that hard if you follow basic rules)

Back to our adventure…

Having checked in, and having moved all food and such to the rooms, 4 of us went to the Awhannee, and walked about and had dinner in the bar… The bar at the Awhannee has nice, lighter menu… not cheap but not expensive… of course nothing in Yosemite is cheap… The ladies had desert for dinner… I had the pulled pork tacos… The Awhannee bar has the level of service and food for which the Awhannee is known… not Awhannee guest are welcome.

Back to the lodge… I walked about a bit and found family members gathered in the bar… (Since our last visit the Lodge has added a bar with food service… the menu is nice… the service is spectacular… It offers a new family friendly light dinner option.)  We planned the next day’s family hike…

Next morning… Thanksgiving… Son and girlfriend up early… hiking the falls… Daughter and I get coffee (coffee coupons included with room) then head to the old apple orchard above the stables near North Pines…  Once in the orchard, we find bear scat, cougar scat, coyote scat, deer scat… but no animals…  they have been here, but we don’t see them,  until we return to the Jeep… which is surrounded by deer…   Heading back to the lodge we see deer including  a 4 point buck and coyote.  All from the road.

The family has a group hike to the viewing bridge above Misty Island… this year we seem to spit up… some hiking all the way… others to Misty Island… some try the hike but turn back…  The family is getting old.  We all make our own way back…

We use the afternoon to walk around Yosemite Village and the visitor’s center…  We try to get a sandwich in the deli but the line is long… and we abandon the effort…  We buy some chips and dip, crackers and cheese in the store and return for a group picnic…

The family (now 40 of us or so) gather at 5:00 at the lodge… we had arraigned a private room for our group of 40… We are next to the Mt Broiler room and are served their Thanksgiving menu buffet style… Turkey and Roast Beef, all the sides… wonderful deserts… We had the room for some hours… sharing photos, and playing Bunko… a long time family tradition…

The next day we have a family picnic planned…  The girls get up and go to the Awahnee for breakfast…  I walked over to Swinging Bridge picnic area… early… and there are people starting to set up… walk back, grab son and jeep with supplies and head over… we claim some tables, a couple of Barbeques … set up for the picnic… it is about 9:30… about 11:30 the first of the family arrives to find a fire, a barbeque with charcoal burning, and a stove with two pots of chili cooking…

People eat, drink, talk… we take the traditional family photos… one for each generation, plus one of everyone… Friends, who are camping stop by and take the big “everyone” picture… by 3:00 people are leaving… some back to their lodging, others headed out for home… there are planes to catch.

We clean up… I “give away” the fire and left over wood to people who have stopped to picnic, then walk back to the lodge.   Eventually the kids decide to go ice skating at Curry… I ride over with them, then walk back as far as the village before catching the shuttle back to the lodge…  It is a moonless night, dead dark… the sky and stars are spectacular…

The next morning we rise… I go over and get coffee… then we pack the cars… The son, his girlfriend and the extra daughter head back early… the wife and daughter and I go to the Awhanee for breakfast…  Outside there are deer… a 4 point buck is chasing off younger bucks… a 5 point buck is collecting his harem… they fight… not seriously, but in the process scatter the people crowding around to take pictures… then head home… Yosemite had one more surprise… just after passing El Cap meadow, a bear and her cub run across the road ahead of us…

The drive home was quick… just over 3 hours…