Best use of a tank of gas

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, Mary and I drove up to Yosemite. We've always wanted to see Yosemite in the winter, but neither of us had been before. In 2000, when we spent our first anniversary at the Wawona Hotel, we bought a gorgeous painting from artist Letty DeLoatch. It depicts the snow turning into an early spring runoff at the base of the trees. Since then, we've been curious to see what it really looks like. In the past, we've mostly been to Yosemite in August and September, near our anniversary. At that time of year, the waterfalls are drying up or only weakly spraying mist. But we also happened to go in 2004 on Memorial Day, and in the late spring the waterfalls are overflowing to the point that it was not possible to get near Bridalveil Fall without getting drenched.

Anyway, it was plenty cold here at home and all around northern California last week, so we wanted to see what the valley would be like. We could not have been more pleased. The Merced River was covered with ice, and its small islands littered with snow. (We were told that if it stayed cold for three or four more days, the ice would become thick enough to skate on.) The valley meadows also sported patches of snow in the shadier spots. The southern valley walls had patches of ice in spots, but the northern walls did not, presumably because they get more sunlight.

We got a neat treat when a huge block of ice fell from Bridalveil Fall while we were watching it. It was nothing short of spectacular. I happened to be looking through the camera when this happened, but I was too stunned to snap it, not that you'd notice anything out of the ordinary in a still photo, anyway. When this happens and the ice hits the bottom, the noise is startling. We'd heard this earlier in the day but not known what it was. Our tour bus driver suggested that we might see the same occur at Yosemite Falls earlier in the day, since the morning sun on its southern face causes its ice to melt. We got up early Tuesday morning and came back, but no such luck. After we spent less than an hour eating breakfast indoors, we came back out to find much of its ice already gone ... we'd missed it. We hadn't even heard it.

We stayed in El Portal at the Yosemite View Lodge, only about half an hour from Yosemite Valley even with slow, careful driving through icy road conditions. Because they did not have a high occupancy rate, and because they had mis-quoted the price of our room over the phone, they gave us what they called the "honeymoon suite" at the price of a normal room. The amenities included a hot tub, fireplace, large-ish TV, kitchen, and balcony over the river. They did not include a room heated to a livable temperature upon our arrival. The room was 40 degrees when we checked in! It took about two hours to bring it up into the 60s, and Mary didn't want to get into the hot tub until the ambient temperature would make it comfortable to get in and out. This from the same gal who brags about having used the outdoor hot tub when it had snowed at her mom's house in the Sierras some years ago. Bah! But we both agreed that the room should have been heated before we arrived. This actually kept us from staying a second night in an otherwise very nice room.

On Monday night, we ate at the Mountain Room, with a view of Yosemite Falls. We were the first to arrive at the restaurant after it opened for dinner, so we got the best choice of seats. I'd never eaten here before, although Mary had years ago. The food and service are equal to that at the Ahwahnee, but the atmosphere is more relaxed and the dress is more casual.