on an early tuesday morning laura and myself packed up our car full of snow gear, games, books, snacks, and of course, 3 darling children, and headed to yosemite, for a little play time in the mountain snow! now, that sounds quite nice doesn't it? well, about 2 hours into our journey we missed a turn and then relied on the handy "google maps via the blackberry" and ended up taking the scenic way. we saw lots of fog, flat plains, a few farms, and some small cowboy towns....yep, it sure was scenic:) then on our drive we decided that we need to have chains for the tires (for you readers that don't know the CA law; you need 4 wheel engaged if roads are R2-which is a light dusting of snow, and you need chains on your back wheels if roads are R3-which must mean there is snow covering the entire road, can you even imagine....how would one drive in that?) so anyways, we were then on a mini adventure within our adventure to locate some chains (remember we are out in the middle of now where, on our scenic road). after stopping at one over priced garage, we got directions to a walmart, a right, a left, a left and another right. we managed to find it and purchase the chains, with the intentions of returning them:) so back in the car and away we drive. after a few "how much longer" and laura replying "about an hour" (which she said to them 4 times and they never got sick of that) we finally landed in yosemite, with 1/8 of a tank of gas left;) we got our heated tent cabin, ate some delicous pizza, and then went ice skating (which ryder had to end early due to an altitude induced headache). the kids went right to sleep and us ladies sat outside sipping some wine letting snow flakes fall lightly on our faces....that moment was worth the 8 hour car ride!
day two: mission get gas! so since there is no gas stations down in the valley of yosemite, we had to drive out crossing our fingers we wouldn't run out, and thankfully we managed to get gas. then back down to the valley, hiked to the falls and had a picnic (which was gorgeous), then up the mountain to badger pass for snow tubing. the kids had a blast and we were there until closing. so we all got into comfy driving clothes and drove out of yosemite (well, it took about 2 hours). we arrived in groveland, right outside of the park at around 630pm and had some food at a little diner. after chatting it over with laura we decided we should just stay in a hotel for the night and get up early and drive back. now when i was thinking about this i was thinking (clean rooms, nice bathroom to shower, kids take a bath and get cozy into the beds, have a nice glass of wine.....). well, we stayed at the yosemite motel and that is NOT what we got. the lady running the motel was straight out of a x-files episode, the room was the furthest thing from being clean and cozy. i sat on the corner of the bed all bundled up refusing to get comfortable, trying to figure out a different plan, while laura was trying to be her positive self and show me that the bathroom wasn't so bad, she wanted to be brave and take a shower....ha, no that didn't work.....it clogged up, was dripping with rusty brown sludge, and disgusting! we shut the bathroom door, brought in our sleeping bags, checked for bed bugs, watched a movie, had a glass of wine, and let ourselves drift off to sleep.
day three: woke up, stopped at a cute coffee shop, gave the kids yummy breakfast snacks and hit the road at 7am. feeling like this was going way better and it was worth staying the night in groveland we drove ahead with smiles, until quinn threw up all over herself and her car seat. ugh!! we pulled over, changed quinn, clean the car, put dirty clothes in a bag, quinn back in the seat, toby was in charge of the puke cup (he wasn't that thrilled about his new promotion). and on we went. thank god, she was fine after that. i think it was just too much car time, and excitement for her little body! we managed to get back to the city in record time 4 hours (well for us), and we all have great memories of our adventure to yosemite.
one thing i know for sure, is this trip could have been quite the disaster, but it wasn't! we all had a wonderful time and kept smiling and laughing through it all.....and so we have called it our "yosemite adventure"! i will post pictures as soon as i get them from laura.
ryder snow tubing at badger pass....weeeeeee
put on the brakes, we're gonna crash!
snowball fight at yosemite falls, boys against mom, i totally won!
the three amigos at yosemite falls, does it get any better than this?
What a lovely post, a bit telling when traveling with kids you never know what happens next. Sorry to hear your Groveland overnight wasn't the stop of your expections. Perhaps next time you are in town you will look us up at the Hotel Charlotte, www.HotelCharlotte.com right in the middle of downtown Groveland with rooms for families and good wine. Until then!
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