From Riverside, we headed to Yosemite National Park and if
you’ve read my previous post on Los Angeles & Vicinity, you know that it
was quite an adventure to get there.
Thank goodness for In-N-Out burger which was our dinner on the road for
the evening. We arrived at our destination,
Inn the Woods Suites, at 2am and tiredly unpacked the car before crashing for
the night. We loved this well-appointed
and pristinely maintained inn. There are
only three suites available and each suite has a kitchen, two rooms, private
patio and a BBQ grill. There is a game
room and beautifully maintained grounds outside. Though, it is located 30 minutes from the south
park entrance in the town of Ahwahnee, CA and quite a drive to Yosemite village,
I was very happy with my decision to stay here.
The Inn provided some fruit, muffins and oatmeal for
breakfasts along with coffee, tea and creamers.
We packed our lunches to go in a backpack cooler since we planned to
hike most of the day and ate on the trails.
Lunch on the first day was simple sandwiches, water and bananas. On the second day, however, I made use of my
corn tortillas by making spicy chicken burritos in the morning which I wrapped
in aluminum foil. They were so good and
much better than boring sandwiches. I
simply grilled the chicken the night before alongside our dinner. I also grilled some onion and a serrano
chili. The next morning, I simply cut
everything up and put it on a roasting pan in the convection oven to reheat and
then wrapped it all in warm tortillas with some fresh cilantro, sliced avocado
and tomatillo salsa (also from Cardenas).
I did go a bit overboard on the serrano chile apparently, as my son (who
can usually handle some heat) was unable to finish his burrito after biting
into several of them. But he did admit
it tasted good which is really all that matters.
We grilled some prime ribeye steaks and asparagus for dinner
the second night and picked up some fresh sourdough bread at Vons to go with it. I used an herb and pepper rub on the steaks
and seasoned with sea salt. The
asparagus I simply grilled with some olive oil and sprinkled with salt &
pepper when cooked. A simple yet
satisfying dinner paired with a lovely petite syrah from Tobin James ended the
day on a very relaxed note. On our last
night, we had done far more hiking and returned fairly late. So we decided not to cook as originally
planned and instead picked up some cheeses, salami, more bread, grapes and
steamed some broccoli in the microwave.
We ate this all “picnic style” while chilling out in
front of the TV.
We loved our days at Yosemite National Park. We hiked the Bridal Veil Falls trail but took
it to another level by climbing on the rocks where the falls would normally
flow. My son even found a clear lake at
the top since he went much higher than me.
In the summer, the falls dry up significantly leaving this “trail” made
of large boulders open for the more adventurous at heart. We also hiked to the top of Vernal Falls
which is a 1000 foot vertical climb within a
distance of 2.4 miles, the Mirror Lake trail
with lots of wildlife present & more rocks to climb, and the Sentinel Dome
trail. To this day I can’t believe I
actually did the last one. It’s not a
long trail at 1.8 miles but the steep final climb up the dome is quite daunting
and even more so on the way down. But I
made it and the 360 degree view from the top made the journey worth it. We also walked around the base village area
but the true beauty of Yosemite is off the beaten tourist path. This was my second visit and again an
incredible experience especially since I got to share it with my son. 
Once again, we felt as if we hadn’t spent enough time but it was time to continue and as I drove the windy, hairpin turns through the mountains to San Ramon, the sunset made me wish I could freeze time for just a little while.
We stayed with friends in San Ramon who I’ve known for a
long time and recently relocated from the East coast to California. Yes, I know people everywhere!! We were only there for two nights and one
full day which was actually a work day for me full of meetings, but my son had
a great time touring around with my friend’s brother and his family who were
also visiting from New Jersey. Honestly,
it was fun to just sit around and do nothing but enjoy the conversation with
some great wines from their collection after our three days of hiking. I cooked again one night and made chicken
burritos with the remaining corn tortillas.
Since we were traveling with two coolers and freezer packs, it was easy
to transport the food to each destination.
This time I added some bell peppers and a couple of other
ingredients. I also made some fresh
guacamole while dinner was cooking. The
wonderful thing about eating in, is that conversations are always more
comfortable and open. And since there
were other kids around, my son enjoyed a little time to escape the adult world.
The next day we got a relaxed start after breakfast and a long walk to burn of some calories. We made plans to see our friends again in San Francisco when we returned toward the end of our trip and hit the road again towards Napa Valley and Redwoods National Park
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