Is it happy hour yet?

Thursday, August 24th, 2017

Yosemite National Park

It’s about 9am and we are waking up from a wonderful night’s sleep. Our hike to Half Dome is complete and we have a full day to hang out in beautiful Yosemite. After about 30 minutes of shuffling around we all head over to the main dining hall for breakfast. I struggle to get a plate without toast or potatoes and eventually end up with a bunch of side dishes. I also grab a cup of steaming hot coffee. I feel groggy.

Around 10:30am we are ready to see the rest of Yosemite! We are all in agreement that we do not want to hike up any more hills. Luckily Yosemite is drivable. We start out with El Capitan (which is a very, very large rock). We park next to the trail labeled “El Capitan” and start walking. The sun is excruciatingly hot and there has been a marked decline in air quality since yesterday (there are fires close by). After about 15 minutes the trail becomes narrow and difficult to follow. Since we already had a great view of El Capitan from the road we opt to turn back to the car.

Our next stop is the Majestic Yosemite Hotel. I luck out with a parking space right by the front door (we are happy we don’t walk very far!). We spend about 20 minutes looking around and taking pictures. We also make note of the outdoor bar seating.

From here we opt to drive over to Wawona, which is on the other side of the park. This is the oldest part of Yosemite and features a historical center and a redwood grove. However, it’s not clear whether or not the grove is actually open. 

The drive takes about 45 minutes. Upon arrival, we find a whole bunch of old stage coaches lined up next to the parking lot. This must be the Pioneer History Center. Huh. We spend about 30 minutes walking around in the hot sun. Aside from the old stage coaches we also find some replicas of old cabins and informational plaques all over the place. Eventually we sit down at a picnic table for a quick snack.

We make an attempt at visiting the redwood grove but the road is blocked off. It’s nearing mid-afternoon so we make the decision to head back towards Half Dome Village, but make a quick side trip to try to visit 2 other redwood groves. After about 45 minutes of driving we arrive at Tuolumne Grove. We all get out of the car and take a quick restroom break. As we are all stretching by the parking lot we take a look at the trail head. The sign describes the hike to the grove as “difficult” and taking 1.5 hours to complete. We unanimously agree to skip this hike.

On the way back we swing by Merced Grove. It is also labeled as “difficult”. Since it’s basically 4pm, we decide to head back to our campsite and commence happy hour.

It’s early and therefore easy to grab 3 rocking chairs on the deck. We take turns grabbing rounds of beer from the bar and thoroughly enjoy sitting in the shade. Around 6pm we decide to get some dinner. Not wanting to lose prime real estate we take turns getting food. Sarah goes first and returns with pizza. Laura goes next, returning with a full to-go box of pasta from the main dining hall. She announces there is meatloaf and my dinner decision is made.

After dinner we are tired and bordering on drunk. There is not much else to do here and we can not sit in the rocking chairs any longer without falling asleep. We decide to brave the Yosemite bus system and check out the bar at the Majestic Yosemite Hotel. 

This turns out to be a great idea. We grab an outside table near the courtyard and enjoy a beautiful view and a glass of wine. Once the sun has set we play a few rounds of Heads-Up on Laura’s iPhone. We’re having a great time.

Around 9pm we take the bus back to Half Dome Village. We have to transfer bus lines and it’s pretty confusing. Luckily the driver from our first bus basically holds our hands throughout the entire process (I can’t believe how difficult this is!).

Now that we are back at Half Dome Village we decide to open one more bottle of wine. This turns out to be a bad idea. As we finish our bottle we stumble back to our tent-cabin. I drink plenty of water, but I know that a hangover is coming. It’s okay though, tomorrow we drive to Monterey!