Come See Yosemite, May 14-21, 2017

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A note about driving directions.  On the website for Yosemite Pines, under our location and directions from Southern California, there is a warning not to take CA HWY 49 as mapquest and other navigation systems recommend.  CA SR 49 is not a suitable road for RV's.  I can attest to that.  I would not recommend taking CA SR 49.  I have taken the alternate route recommended on their website and it is fine.  If you need any assistance with directions, send me a PM.  See you all on Sunday!

Steve
 
Brewers and Kuch's are  planning on a Sunday arrival. We are scouring Google Maps,  campground website for directions.  Mostly  counting on  Nesbit report. Happy  about the group meet up!
BB
 
If you are planning to go to Glacier Point bring extra clothing with you.  I was there yesterday and there is still a lot of snow.  We hit low clouds, mist and occasional rain.  When the clouds shifted the views of the valley were spectacular.  We never did get a full view of Half Dome!

We stopped on our way up at the trailhead for the Taft and Sentinel Trails.  There is still 3-1/2 to 4 feet of snow and the trail boundaries are not marked. 

So excited for all of you that are going to be able to enjoy this fantastic National Treasure!

 
Nesbit couple is here Steve Falchini also and Olga and I.
Park looks nice better than I expected. Great pick Steve. Everything is green.
I will be looking forward to welcom rest of the group tomorrow.
 
Nesbitt report for Betty.

Just do whatever's necessary to get from where you are to CA120 then follow it as directed to Old Highway 120 and all will be well.  Leave a little extra time for the last 20 or so miles to allow for climbing about 2000+ feet and negotiating the twisty parts. The road is plenty wide and your expert drivers will have no probs.

Look forward to seeing you all again!
 
Here is our first post of a few photos.  The weather is absolutely perfect! The early arrivals got together for a nice dinner at a local diner.  Food was great, company was even better.  After dinner we all went back to Jan & Olga's motorhome to enjoy some TimTam cookies from Australia for dessert.  Nothing like Framily!  Happy mother's day to all the mom's on the forum!
 

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Last night's  happy hour set the  tone for the rally! Lots of laughter, snacks, directions, information and an open schedule!

Ken Kuch won "Yosemite Sam" for his  diagnosis of Steve's electrical inverter problem.  Heard they spent today on the fix!

Terry missed Happy hour due to his Sunday Formula one race.  Today  I followed every one of Steve's directions and we saw Bridal Veil Falls,  Yosemite Falls , millions of tourists.  Terry was nearly  hit by a fast driving  tourist  while in a crosswalk, whew! We were about to give up at Yosemite Village as no parking spaces were available but  I navigated Terry  back around the loop in  stop and go traffic to  the  "Ahwahee Hotel."  where  again no parking places were available.  But suddenly a car  in front of us  pulled  out and we  had  a place to park  very near the hotel.  So we entered and decided to  have lunch.  Got a pager and were told we  had a 40 minute wait. While waiting we ran into  Bill and Corrine and spent a delightful afternoon in front of the  big lovely fireplace.  Finally we  were seated for  lunch.  Beautiful view, good food , great service.  A delightful day.  It rained all the way home!

Hope others have good enough internet to  post their activities as the rain ruined postponed Happy hour until  a group ventured out to a local old  bar.  They can tell that story!

 
 
So happy to have you reporting on the rally, Betty.  My favorite reporter!  If you're going to be stuck somewhere due to traffic or lack of parking room, I can't imagine anywhere better than the Ahwanhee Hotel.  Lucky, lucky!  Eager to hear reports of the rest of the rally.  Were the waterfalls at their most spectacular after the wet winter?
 
As Betty stated, first happy hour was a huge success minus Terry :<(  Everyone seems to like our RV park.  The company was outstanding as expected with RV Forum Framily.  Below is a picture of our first happy hour.  We are 15 total.  My first day here I simply asked Ken a question about my newly installed 2000 watt inverter.  Before you know it Ken is under my bed, in my breaker box, telling me that my inverter is wired in an unsafe manner.  That I need a sub panel and additional breakers.  He's insisting on fixing it for me, even though I didn't want to take advantage of his time, but he persisted.  So today, we're off to the hardware store, some 30 minutes away, buying all the materials for him to wire in a sub panel.  Below is a photograph showing his fine work of my newly (and correctly) installed sub panel behind my original panel.  Of course, everything works perfectly. 

I brought along "Yosemite Sam" to award to someone every day for whatever reason may seem appropriate.  I surely felt Ken deserved this for his generosity with his time and knowledge to fix a problem I really didn't know I had.  Below is a photo of Ken and his award.  I surely owe him a lot more than this!  Needless to say, Ken and I didn't make it into the park today, so no waterfall photos from me.

Tonight Bill Roscoe took 9 of us who wanted to go into town to the Iron Door Saloon, the oldest saloon in CA.  I think they said 1852?  Anyway, we went and had a round of drinks to honor a good friend if Bill's who passed away suddenly yesterday.  It was a nice way to honor a man's memory, and very generous of Bill to buy the round of drinks!  My phone had died by then, so no photos of that.

Tomorrow they are forecasting a little rain, so we'll see who all goes into the park.  The rest of the week is supposed to be sunny and beautiful.  Wish you were all here with us!

 

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Glad to see the Yosemite rally has had a successful start!  Steve, if there's one thing you can count on it's that we have a wonderful group who are very knowledgeable about a wide variety of subjects and who are willing to help.  Ken is right up there at the top of the group.  He's always willing to share his time and ability so it's good to have him be the first recipient of the Yosemite Sam award!  Enjoying the photos.  Have a great week!

ArdraF
 
Terry and I  ventured out  to the  Yosemite National  Park  again today, on our  timeline (late). It is roughly a  45 minute drive from  our RV park to  center of  "town" within  Yosemite. I took most of the  photos yesterday on my Iphone and am still figuring out how to get those  photos loaded.  So here I go  old school with my "OLD' Canon camera where  I  know how to post photos via Picassa. 

We had another adventure in the park  searching for parking places and shuttle stops and the Visitor Center. There is  much construction, detours and closed parking lots in the Village.  The names of  things have changed so the signs do not match what is on the  maps.  This  discrepancy is hard on a marriage! Seems the National News has  been  publicizing the  gushing waterfalls and MILLIONS of tourists are here!  We did  see the Kuch's  car  in the Ahwanee parking lot.  Heard they had a wonderful lunch with beautiful view,met new friends, got tips on where to visit. 

When we finally arrived at the Visitor Center we  entered the Theatre for two of the most informative movies on the history of Yosemite. Think Civil War times!  Yellowstone was first but Yosemite came before!

Terry bought a  magnet and I bought a mug.  We are  happy!
 
Hope I don't step on Steve's toes as I saw him snapping photos of this afternoon's  Happy Hour as well as me.  Better to have twice the news than none right?

Promptly at 4:30 the  entire group assembled  for tales of the day.  A group went berry picking.  Jan said he  got  twice his money's worth as he paid by pound but what  you ate did not get weighed! He shared a  basket of blueberries at the event this afternoon!  He did  also keep patting his  belly all afternoon !

Bill and Corrine went out to breakfast and did laundry.  Everyone needs a day off in this RV lifestyle. Ken and Sheila secured a coveted Ahwanehee Parking place and enjoyed lunch at the hotel.  Pam and Kevin told me what they did but I've already forgotten , forgive me.  Alan and Suzanne also got lucky with lunch at the hotel!  YUM and what a view!

So YOSEMITE Sam was Ken's to  present but alas he left Happy hour early  (it was very coolish) so  Sheila brought out the  Award and with a few heads together in private consultation, it was determined that  Bill Roscoe should win the Yosemite  Sam award for his generous "first  round" at the Ironhorse Saloon last night. This was in honor of  the passing of his good friend  Lyn.  We learned tonight  that  Lyn had  red hair and a handlebar  mustache, just like Yosemite Sam!

Thank you Bill and congrats on your award.  Now yours to bestow on someone else! 

 

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No worries Betty, you could never step on my toes.  Remember, those not here said post lots of pictures, so the more the better.  Since the weather forecast was iffy today, a group of us went blueberry picking.  We had a lot of fun.  We picked about 12 pounds of berries between the 5 of us.  Something unique and not expected on this trip.  Keeps life interesting.  Tomorrow we are going into the park.  Here are some pics from the blueberry adventure.  I think Jan ate his way through the field, but they said we could eat as many as we wanted while picking.
 

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For your information, if you happen to be in the area of El Cap Meadow today or tomorrow you will be able to see the YOSAR (Yosemite Search and Rescue) Team doing some short-haul training.  There will be PSAR (Preventive Search and Rescue) Volunteers keeping people out of the meadow itself and away from the Team.  The PSAR Team will be available to answer questions about the Park and/or Search and Rescue.

I'm glad you all are enjoying your visit to Yosemite.  Keep the pictures coming so those people who were not able to join you can at least live vicariously!

 
I have been struggling to resize pictures, but I think I can do it now. We went into Yosemite on Monday. This was our first trip, and all I can say is WOW! We left the RV park at 8:00, and only had moderate traffic at first. However there were true traffic jams beginning around noon until we left the park around 3:00. It was rainy and cold, and we hadn't dressed appropriately. We intend on going into the Hetch Hetchy area today, and then taking our bikes in for a ride around the valley tomorrow when it is warmer (it is still cool and rainy).
 

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Great photos, people.  Keep 'em coming please!  I never would have expected blueberries in that area.  We eat them almost every day and they're really expensive so enjoy them (and all their nutritious ingredients) while you can!

ArdraF
 
Another great day here. We had breakfast with some of the rally attendees, then we headed into the park. Just past the (closed) turnoff to Tioga Pass we saw a bear! Beautiful cinnamon colored brown bear with a collar just eating in the meadow. We also went to Hetch Hetchy. The water line was 6-8' below high pool, and it was lovely. We then continued with highway 120 to highway 140 to Mariposa. Cascade Falls was gorgeous. From Mariposa we headed back to the RV park by way of highway 49, a twisty, windy, and lovely road. Tomorrow we plan on eating breakfast in the park and riding our bikes around the valley before dinner with the rally attendees.
 

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