Yosemite Association Fall Meeting
Sep. 10th, 2008 04:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
multipurposegoddessH was supposed to be moving officed last weekend, so he couldn't go, though that ended up being pushed back but not in time for us to change our plans. So I took the train down by myself, which was exceedingly cool. It's much nicer to ride the rails through the Central Valley than to drive. Transfer to a YARTS bus at Merced, which take s couple of hours to get to Curry village but it's comfortable and, again, I don't have to drive the windy roads or over the "temporary" bridges detouring around the rockslide.
My folks had gone backpacking before the meeting (it started out as going down a day early and turned into a whole week going from the High Country down to the Valley) and had left me a key to their car, so I found it and left my pack in the trunk. Stags with velveted antlers were wandering the parking lot eating windfall apples, and one of them startled my by appearing about 2 feet away from me. Lots of deer in the valley.
My cell phone had no reception, but I left a couple of futile text messages in case they should find their way anywhere and amused myself by taking the shuttle over to Lower Yosemite Falls. Completely and utterly dry, which thinned out the crowds considerably, and still a nice shady place to walk around for a bit. Caught the shuttle back to Curry just in time to see my mom near the stop as she gave up looking for me and walked away. Caught up to her and we all had pizza and they told me about the trip.
The meeting was in Wawona this year and we were lucky enough to get a room right in the hotel (overlooking the golf course, still seems weird but there it is), so we headed over there and collapsed. Free breakfast buffet was included - seriously delicious corned beef hash and potatoes. Highly recommended. My dad and I went on the History Walk, very informative and not too strenuous, but it went over time so we couldn't catch the Place Names walk after. Instead we checked out the silent auction and my dad fell in love with the old interpretive signs from Tuolumne Grove that were being sold as a set of 3. Met back with Mom in time for lunch and then relaxed on the veranda until it was time for the meeting. Good speaker, I need to remember to get his name and look for his first book. Dad checked in with the auction and found the bids beyond his comfort zone, but the winning bidder had his heart set on a different sign than my dad wanted and they tentatively worked out a split. A third person ended up making the winning bid, but as luck would have it they were able to agree to split the set 3 ways and my dad got his sign (and the YA got sizeable donations from everyone involved): win-win-win-win. We ended up having dinner with the winning bidder and her husband, which was so enjoyable that we closed down the dining room (they started sweeping before we left) and entirely miised the Barn Dance.
Sunday morning we caught the Natural Sounds presentation - very cool stuff. There's a concert at the Oakland Museum on Oct. 12 which I will be dragging H to so he can see how much he needs to get involved with those guys. Chatted a bit with the blacksmith and yarn-spiinner at the Pioneer Village before lunch, then headed out. To Hetch Hetchy, where I had not been before. It's still pretty, even if it's not as delightful as before it was dammed.
Coming home took forever. We left Wawona around 1:30 and I didn't get home until after 9. Coming home always seems to take longer than going.
Then I had to take H to the airport on Monday - he has explained what he is doing on this business trip multiple times, but it's just a garble of acronyms to me. Pretty soon I get to go pick him up, yay!
My folks had gone backpacking before the meeting (it started out as going down a day early and turned into a whole week going from the High Country down to the Valley) and had left me a key to their car, so I found it and left my pack in the trunk. Stags with velveted antlers were wandering the parking lot eating windfall apples, and one of them startled my by appearing about 2 feet away from me. Lots of deer in the valley.
My cell phone had no reception, but I left a couple of futile text messages in case they should find their way anywhere and amused myself by taking the shuttle over to Lower Yosemite Falls. Completely and utterly dry, which thinned out the crowds considerably, and still a nice shady place to walk around for a bit. Caught the shuttle back to Curry just in time to see my mom near the stop as she gave up looking for me and walked away. Caught up to her and we all had pizza and they told me about the trip.
The meeting was in Wawona this year and we were lucky enough to get a room right in the hotel (overlooking the golf course, still seems weird but there it is), so we headed over there and collapsed. Free breakfast buffet was included - seriously delicious corned beef hash and potatoes. Highly recommended. My dad and I went on the History Walk, very informative and not too strenuous, but it went over time so we couldn't catch the Place Names walk after. Instead we checked out the silent auction and my dad fell in love with the old interpretive signs from Tuolumne Grove that were being sold as a set of 3. Met back with Mom in time for lunch and then relaxed on the veranda until it was time for the meeting. Good speaker, I need to remember to get his name and look for his first book. Dad checked in with the auction and found the bids beyond his comfort zone, but the winning bidder had his heart set on a different sign than my dad wanted and they tentatively worked out a split. A third person ended up making the winning bid, but as luck would have it they were able to agree to split the set 3 ways and my dad got his sign (and the YA got sizeable donations from everyone involved): win-win-win-win. We ended up having dinner with the winning bidder and her husband, which was so enjoyable that we closed down the dining room (they started sweeping before we left) and entirely miised the Barn Dance.
Sunday morning we caught the Natural Sounds presentation - very cool stuff. There's a concert at the Oakland Museum on Oct. 12 which I will be dragging H to so he can see how much he needs to get involved with those guys. Chatted a bit with the blacksmith and yarn-spiinner at the Pioneer Village before lunch, then headed out. To Hetch Hetchy, where I had not been before. It's still pretty, even if it's not as delightful as before it was dammed.
Coming home took forever. We left Wawona around 1:30 and I didn't get home until after 9. Coming home always seems to take longer than going.
Then I had to take H to the airport on Monday - he has explained what he is doing on this business trip multiple times, but it's just a garble of acronyms to me. Pretty soon I get to go pick him up, yay!
