Got back on Friday 9/11 from our trip to Twain Harte (near Stanislaus National forest and 1.5 hr drive to Yosemite). Had booked a cabin back in July to get away and celebrate Tanush’s 9th birthday. It was an “interesting” trip.
The day before our trip a fire started 4-5 miles south of Yosemite. Our entire trip was with bad air quality and closures – from either covid or bad air quality/fire risk 🤨. Also, our Airbnb Host told us that due to fire risk the electricity was going to be shut off from Monday night and might come back up on Wednesday night 😳. Our trip was starting Tuesday night 9/8 and checkout Friday 9/11. We were wondering what to do – we decided to go 😐.
Had booked a restaurant in Danville to celebrate Tanush’s birthday before we start driving. Wonderful lunch and tiny celebration before the drive.
As expected there was no electricity when we got there, unloaded stuff from the car and were wondering what to do along with the realization of our dependency on electricity. Decided to checkout if any restaurants were open nearby, nobody was answering phones + there was no cell phone reception. Decided to drive up to a place and thankfully it was open and there were people dining out. And pleasantly surprised when they said power just came back. 🤞had dinner and went to the cabin – no power yet. Found torches, lamp, candles and turned on a movie for the kids on my iPad. Thankfully I had downloaded some. With nothing to do we were getting ready to sleep at 8 pm 😄 and lo and behold power came ~8:30 pm! A day early! Such a relief, able to unpack more easily and actually see the cabin.
Before the trip, we found out that due to covid you now have to buy tickets online for entry into Yosemite park. It was sold out for the days we were there. Two days before the trip, we did get tickets and booked it for Wednesday. Started driving to Yosemite on Wednesday wondering wondering why the air quality was so bad! The park was open but the rangers said the air quality was bad due to a fire very close to the park. Got lunch in the valley, this area is so beautiful but we could barely see anything through the smoke. The ranger had said air quality was slightly better further north and that was true. The good part is we got to explore an area we had never driven through before. Made a note to come back in better times and visit here first. Kids watched 2 movies back to back in the car 🤷♀️. All they had done was eat and sit in the car. When we got to the meadows further north we did a small hike with masks on. Kids finally had some fun even though there was smoke everywhere. Drove back and got to the cabin ~6 pm.
Next day we thought we will drive to nearby dam which is known for family friendly hikes – closed due to covid 🤨. Then drove to Columbia historical state park – thankfully open. Kids had fun, there was place with rocks that people mined for gold, T & R climbed them and played there for a long time. Then decided to drive to Pinecrest lake – got there – closed. Due to fire risk in nearby forests all state parks were closed from Monday 🤔. Got home, dad made yummy tortellini, everyone ate together, played a board game and kids went off the bed.
Friday was checkout day – Had brought the kids laptop and had planned for them to dial in to their school meeting and do their usual school work until we checked out – Tanush was not happy! 😄 Finally time to leave!
sareethsblog 
The pics are lovely! even with bad air quality, looks like the you guys made most of it 🙂
LikeLike