She’s
got Brazilian leather boots on the pedal of her German car. Listen to the
Beatles singing ‘Back in the USSR’. Yeah, she’s goin’ around the world tonight,
but she ain't leavin’ here. She’s just going to meet her boyfriend down at the
street fair. It's a French kiss, Italian ice. Spanish moss in the moonlight –
just another American Saturday night.
-
Brad Paisley
What an amazing day! We woke this morning
to a winter wonderland. More than 11” of snow had fallen overnight (even more
than that north in Lake Tahoe, which makes Lauryn and I very happy Australian
tourists), everything was blanketed white, and still the white stuff was
falling. We had breakfast in the food court, and headed out, catching the
Yosemite Valley Shuttle around to Sentinel Bridge.
It was about that time when the snow got
really bad – I’m talking blizzard-like conditions where you could hardly see a
few yards in front of you. We were struggling there for a little while, keeping
to the edge of the road, but still occasionally treading on a small patch of
ice. Thankfully, those conditions didn’t last for very long, and by the time we’d
walked over to the Yosemite Chapel it started to let up.
The Chapel, which has a pretty long waiting
list, is nestled right up in the nook of the valley, just off the road in from
Mariposa, and is a very popular location for people wanting to get married. Today,
it was a nice refuge from the driving snow. Lauryn commandeered the piano and
gave us a taste of Billy Joel. By the time we left, the clouds had split apart
and sunshine was coming through.
Walking across to Sentinel Bridge, it was a
nice change to be able to see more than a few feet in front of where we were
going. Obviously, snow can be very deceptive, and some of us had a few close
calls. The tricky part is where there’s a dusting of snow over some ice. The
old windmill action was in high rotation amongst us.
I have to say, there’s nothing like wading
deep into a meadow covered with snow. We all did it multiple times, like we
were kids again – or at least our inner kids were coming out to play – and there
were some occasions where the snow was knee-deep to the point where the bottom
part of my jeans were actually frozen solid. It’s the softest and most awesome
powdery snow I’ve ever experienced, and it should be great to ski on when we
get to Tahoe on Monday.
The sun disappeared in favour of more snow
just before lunch, and we trudged through the meadows to the Ahwahnee Hotel. I
think the native American-inspired hotel is probably the most beautiful I’ve
seen. The closest that Australian can produce is Caves House in Jenolan, but
that has nothing on the Ahwannee’s feel and architecture. It was great to get inside, thaw out and enjoy
a hot chocolate and some souvenir shopping. Between Lauryn and Trevor, we’re
carrying home a mid-sized human’s weight in key rings.
Lunch was a buffet at the extremely
impressive Ahwahnee Dining Room. Think a medieval dining room sitting right in
the shadows of towering granite cliffs and that’s what the dining room is. The
high beamed ceiling and the tall windows allow a view that’s just as impressive
as the food. I’m highly qualified to comment on the honey-glazed ham. Why?
Because I ate just about my own weight’s worth. It was so tasty.
After lunch we headed back to our accommodation
via the visitor’s centre, where the excellent film The Spirit of Yosemite is
shown on the half-hour. It’s an award-winning documentary that charts pretty
much the entire known history of the park in a tidy twenty-three minutes, complete
with some breathtaking scenery.
It’s fair to say that our stomachs didn’t feel
much like a big dinner after our giant lunch, so we ate at the bar, which was
stocked with televisions showing wall-to-wall football. Today is Championship
Saturday for the country’s major college football conferences, and it was
possible for an American to sit on their coach for twelve straight hours of
games.
Needless to say, I didn’t watch anywhere
near that much, but it was great to sit down in front of a big TV with a beer
in hand whilst there was football on.
A perfect end to what was truly a magical
day!
No comments:
Post a Comment