The exciting part 2 of the Tenaya Lodge familiarization weekend is here!
Saturday's schedule was full, starting with breakfast at 7:30am (there was a promise of no sales PowerPoint presentations) and ending with dinner at 7:00pm. Little did the group know we were in for a lot more . . .
First stop was the historic Wawona Hotel which was, indeed, very historic. With no TVs or phones guestrooms and huge porches engulfing every building, a stagecoach's arrival in the circle drive wouldn't be out of place here. You can see a poorly captured version of the main building above, with other members of the familiarization group making their way back to the bus.
The Wawona Hotel was followed by making our way into "The Valley," as it's called around those parts. Our group was treated to the tour guide stylings of Manny, our awesome bus driver. Manny's ability to tell stories about Yosemite, the land, the people, its history, was amazing. It would come in handy throughout the trip. In the park we stopped at Tunnel View which overlooks the entire Yosemite Valley. There are have been many amazing pictures taken from here, but none with the backs of the exact same heads as I was able to capture with my phone:
Take that, Ansel Adams!
Another interesting feature of Tunnel View is this relief model:
I'm not sure if they took wear and tear from wind and rain into account when setting the scale for the z-axis . . .
We made it to the valley floor with Manny talking about Yosemite the entire time. Stories about specific waterfalls, trees, and buildings. The bus made it to the Ahwahnee Hotel, the grand hotel in the valley. The
Ahwahnee is very nice, historic, and has a lot of stories both Manny and the hotel manager shared with us. Apparently, very late one night, there was quite a ruckus at one of the three Steinway pianos at the hotel. The manager was roused from his sleep by complaining guests. Upon further inspection, the manager found a number of guests rather drunkenly gathered around the piano, singing loudly and carrying on. When the manager approached the group to tell them to stop playing, he realized that the singer was Judy Garland accompanied by none other than Ansel Adams on piano. The manager shrugged and went back to sleep.
The
Ahwahnee is beautiful as you can kind of make out here:
After lunch, we loaded onto the bus to head closer to Yosemite Falls. I was very excited to walk to the falls since I'd come the whole way from Oakland to see some nature and had, so far, seen a lot of different hotel rooms. On the way to Yosemite Falls, we stopped at Curry Village where the famous permanent tent lodging is located. Here's a view of the exit from Curry Village:
While we were waiting for the bus to pick us up, it started to rain. Once we arrived at the main Yosemite Falls area, the rain started coming down really hard. Only a few of us were up for a wet walk to the falls. I was determined to commune with nature, even if I had to wear a rain jacket (my own) and a plastic bag poncho (supplied by Yosemite). It was a wet walk (no pictures due to the rain), but we did get to see frazil ice, which was very cool.
After recovering from the wet walk to the falls, we loaded back into the bus to see a final property which had been remodeled. The rooms were nice, but I forgot to get the name of the property as my pants were soaked (which I realize was my own fault), and I was ready to head back to Tenaya.
In the meantime, the rain had turned to snow. Manny drove/talked us back through the park toward the south entrance, the way we came in the valley. By the time we reached the road, it had been closed due to snow(!). We made another lap around the park to get another bus (our defroster wasn't working right and Manny couldn't see). We faced the prospect of a three hour drive around the mountain back to Tenaya. Which would have looked a lot like this:
When we picked up the new bus, our gracious (and VERY smart) hosts informed us that we should stock up on all the "supplies" we needed at the store for the long journey into night. That was great news! Manny got the bus together and we were ready to roll. At this point, Manny informed us that his dispatch office told him the south exit would be clear and we could make it over the pass with chains. We made another lap around the park:
View Yosemite in a larger map
Each lap took about 20 minutes due to the snow, bus, and tourists scrambling to buy chains for their cars. Unfortunately this time, the park ranger stationed at the exit told us the road would open in 20 minutes. So we sat in a nearby parking lot, hoping this 20 minutes would be what it took to get us around the short way.
After 20 minutes, the ranger sauntered over to the bus to let us know the road would not open. We had to take the long way around. Manny, being the good sport he is, just started telling more stories, kicked the bus in gear, and we headed out for what was turning out to be very much like Gilligan's three hour tour. Unfortunately for Manny, his microphone stopped working. This did not thwart his desire to share his stories and he kept on telling them, though no one beyond the fifth row of the bus could hear anything.
We eventually made it most of the long way around, with Manny having to put the chains on and take the chains off the bus repeatedly throughout the journey. The last six miles to Tenaya tested our mettle: chains were required but wouldn't stay on the bus. Manny had to stop three times in the last six miles to adjust the chains. It was amazing.
The group rolled into the Tenaya Lodge parking lot at 9:45pm, nearly three hours late. Manny received at least three standing ovations from the group and probably had more stories to tell the next group he takes into the park. The Tenaya staff who were with us were amazing and never lost their composure. The staff at the lodge kept an amazing Basque dinner ready to go so, upon our arrival, we sat down to a delicious and much needed dinner.
The whole point of relating this story is to let you know that WAML will be well cared-for during our meeting by a professional and responsive staff at Tenaya Lodge. Even in the most difficult times during the long ride home, the staff was nothing but courteous and professional even though it was their sixth day of work in a row and they were trapped on a bus with 35 meeting planners. Also, it's a warning: don't forget to bring snow chains with you for WAML 2013!
