Yosemite 2013

A couple weeks ago we made our annual March trip to Yosemite for my continuing education class. This was the first year that we went as a family of four… we had a blast. I was dreading the drive… it’s a 4 1/2 hour drive without stops… now with kids I was thinking it was going to take us an extra hour or two. Wrong. These kids are great traveler. Happy, napping, snacking kids. It was great. There was no snow on the valley floor, but there was a ton-o-snow just 45 minutes back up the mountain. The C.E topics were great and the speakers were brilliant but I have to say, the best part was where we stayed and how we got there.

The C.E talks are held in the Yosemite Lodge, so each year we get a room there… they are fairly cheap (for Yosemite), and the rooms are literally feet away from the talks. The rooms are nothing fancy, but do-able. This year they gave up a room in a part of the lodge that we had never been in. We walked up the stairs with our bundled-up babies in tow to our room. What we were given was more like an army bunker. No light switch (I still don’t know if there was any form of light), two thin bunk-beds made of metal WITHOUT any railings and no TV (which isn’t normally a big deal, but since Matthew was supposed to entertain them while I was in class, it would have been a nice option if he needed it). This would not due. There is no way we would have been able to keep either kid from climbing and jumping off these bunk-beds. Plus this is a little vacation for us; it would be nice if Matthew and I could at least have the option of sleeping next to each other.

 

We took the kids back to the lobby and I very nicely asked if we could simply change rooms, to a more child-safe room. Apparently they had over-booked the Lodge (due to construction that was supposed to be finished. But wasn’t)… so we were told that we could be upgraded to the Ahwahnee hotel for an additional cost. (For those of you who don’t know the Ahwahnee is a very swanky, very expensive hotel in Yosemite… the rooms go from $500-2000 a night).  I said to the gal behind the desk, ‘Really, so I have to pay more because you guys don’t have a room that’s safe enough for my children?’ Turns out ‘safety’ and ‘children’ are trigger words because she waved the upgrade fee and told us to head over to the Ahwahnee (about a mile and a half drive). We were told they only had a king size bedroom available. I said that’s fine. So off we went.

When we pulled up to the Ahwahnee there were valet guys, bellhops and doormen. I was feeling special! I went to check us in and was promptly given free bottled water for the entire family and the wonderful lady behind the desk saw that we were put in a king room and asked if we would prefer a private cottage. I looked at her kind of skeptically and asked if there was heat (all I was envisioning was those little white tents in curry village). She (politely) laughed at me and told me that the cottages were larger than most rooms and was equipped with a flat screen TV, fridge, safe, bay-window-seat, multiple rooms and our own forest. We’ll take it!!!!!!

So that’s where we ended up. Our own private cottage at the Ahwahnee Hotel!!!!! And even though I had to wake up a little early and take a bus to the class it was WELL worth it. We got to experience their tea-time, the history of the hotel, live pianists, yummy food PLUS have all of Yosemite literally out our front door! What a once in a lifetime experience!