We made our exit from Paso Robles and pointed ourselves in the direction of Yosemite. On the way into town yesterday we saw fields that were glinting silver in the sun and soft breeze. We all wondered what the fields were full of and on our way by today we realized what we had been seeing - a winery whose fields of vines had silver tinsel tied to the ends of each vine to attract attention. Well, America, you can bet it attracted ours and we pulled in for a taste.
The winery, Chumeia, was smaller than others we had seen in Texas and way back in New York, and didn’t seem to entertain guests much as it lacked any frills on the inside, but the wine was delicious and that’s all that matters. The woman offering the tastings was standing with her little puppy, and soon another patron of the winery brought in her little puppy and all of a sudden my experience was amplified by all of the cute cuddly puppies at my feet.
We thanked our host and headed down the road where we found a fast food joint that Tom was willing to try because it is one of the three that is specific to the West Coast - a Carl’s Jr. We headed in and ordered some scrumptious burgers, one with jalapeños, one with bacon, one with avocado and all with cheese.
But it was time to get serious, we had a national park to get to and the daylight was burning. The drive to Yosemite National Park was mostly uneventful and we finally arrived at the park around 5 in the afternoon. We parked the car, filled up our water bottles and headed off on a quick hike before going to find a camping spot. The lot that we parked in was amazing in its own right - which I know sounds weird, but it was full of giant sequoias and it felt like we were in the woods instead of a parking lot.
We wandered up an easy path and marveled at an immense sequoia that had toppled over in the early 1900s and was etched full of interesting graffiti, some from as far back as 1920. The pine cones that were scattered across the ground were pretty amazing as well - they were as big as my whole hand! And finally the squirrels that scampered around the forest floor had funny little fur coats on that looked a little like pine cones up by their necks.
On our walk we passed several Europeans speaking different languages which seems to be a theme in these national parks. Forget Times Square or the Golden Gate Bridge, America’s natural wonders are far more impressive, and apparently, world renowned.
After checking out a particularly large sequoia, it was time to set up camp before it got too dark. We hopped back in the car and began driving around looking for a spot to set up our gear. We came across Yosemite’s fancy hotel back among the trees and eventually found a turn in with open spots. While Tom and I worked at setting up our tents, Joey headed off to find a camping store where he could pick us up some food for dinner.
There was a Mexican family next to us with four children - three little girls and one boy. The youngest girls were maybe two years old and were twins. They each had a tiny little Dora the Explorer camping chair that they were amusing themselves by moving to one spot, then picking them up and moving to another spot. They didn’t sit down, they just followed each other around setting up their chairs then picking them up and toddling around to another spot. Adorable!… until they got up super early the next morning as we would come to find out…
Joey came back loaded up with good food and we started a fire. We had some cans of chili in the car that we added to Joey’s feast of corn, canned new potatoes, bread and cheese in a can.
Darkness rolled in and we retired to our tents after staring up at the mass of twinkling stars above us in the sky.
Until next time, America.
~Sarah
Darkness rolled in and we retired to our tents after staring up at the mass of twinkling stars above us in the sky.
Until next time, America.
~Sarah
