Episode 38 - Yosemite 🏕️
Blokus, lovely hikes, and the greatest sunset I've ever seen!
This past weekend, I went on a magical and tremendously relaxing trip to the one, the only,
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK!
It was one of those trips that you didn’t realize until you were there how much you needed until you were there — away from UCLA and its stresses, with beautiful nature and great company all around.
Hooray!
We had nine people go — me and my roommates, Brooke and her roommates, and Charlotte! Here’s the full squad:
Me. Nuff’ said
Brooke, my girlfriend and Blokus protégé :)
Finlay, my Scottish roommate who calls pants “trousers”, backpacks “rucksacks”, and quantum physics “a good time”. lol
Vieri, my French roommate who instills fear in his basketball opponents
Mya, Brooke’s roommate #1 and semi-professional baking expert
Elizabeth, Brooke’s roommate #2 and collage master
Sabrina, Brooke’s roommate #3 and frisbee extraordinaire
Frannie, Sabrina’s girlfriend and CBO of the trip (Chief Biology Officer)
Charlotte, our co-op roommate and musician
Let’s go!
Friday, November 8th, 2024
Nine people going on one trip means two things — a great time, and two cars need to drive.
The earlier car left around 1, and the later car (with me in it) left around 3:30 pm. Also in the car were my roommates Finlay and Vieri, Charlotte, and our magnificent driver, Brooke! It was great company the entire way, with nice music and conversations the whole way there. I read a lot of the book Golden Son on the way up (the second in the Red Rising series), and ended up finishing another quarter of it on the ride up.
BUT THEN!
The start of an epic written work was begun — my linguistics analysis paper about Appalachian English! The paper’s deadline was that night for my Intro to Linguistics class, so I started about 6 hours before it was due. Nice!
Due tomorrow = do tomorrow, it seems.
In the paper, I needed to analyze the linguistic patterns of a dialect outside of Standard North American English, so I decided to focus on Appalachian English. It was actually quite the fun paper to write since I needed to rewatch the YouTube video several times to hear the specific accents of the Appalachian English speakers, and the highlight was definitely the scene where an Appalachian man says, “Yeah I like mah moped!”, gets on that moped, and drives away.
Amazing vibes, to say the least. The entire drive was punctuated by random utterances of “Yeah I like mah moped!” from everyone in the entire car, even if all the other occupants would say that it was me 95% of the time.
We made it to the house around 10 pm, and it was SUPER nice! Brooke’s family has a house in Groveland, and it’s been a staple of her family’s Yosemite travels ever since. We all picked out our rooms, ate SUPER YUMMY brownies that Mya made for us, hung out for a bit in the living room, put down a few beers, and were all off to bed!
Saturday, November 9th
We woke up around 8/9ish, had some delicious breakfast at the house (with even MORE delicious coffee), and then before we knew it, we were out of the house and on the way to Yosemite!
Brooke and I were the only ones who had been to Yosemite before, so we decided to drive the two cars in so that everyone else could have a “WOOOOOOOW” moment when we arrived in the valley. I drove Brooke’s car in, and Brooke, Sabrina’s.
On the way into the valley, we were blasting some music —> basically, just shuffling my liked songs on Spotify. This is an extremely diverse and random collection of songs, so the vibes were shifting like crazy with every passing song.
Not Charlotte’s particular cup of tea, I’ll say!
Along the way, Vieri commented on how tall all the trees were (and we hadn’t even seen the giant sequoias yet, lol), and before we knew it, our two cars had made it to the entrance station. National parks pass for the win! Free entry!
Once we were in, it was a short drive into the valley, and EVERYONE (including myself and Brooke, who had been before) was in awe. What an epic view at the start!
After our scenic start, it was time to descend into the valley! This time, we played some absolutely EPIC music (much more to Charlotte’s liking), and made our next stop at Tunnel View.
This is the super iconic picture-taking spot at Yosemite, where you can see Half Dome, Bridalveil Falls, and El Cap…
ALL IN THE SAME PICTURE!
It was just as epic as every other time I’ve been there! We took a couple of group pictures, then headed into the tunnel for a super secret surprise, courtesy of Brooke’s top-secret Yosemite knowledge.
If you walk into the actual tunnel, about a quarter of a mile into it, there is a mini SIDE tunnel for air ventilation. Walk to the end of the tunnel, climb through the open grate, and you have a perfect, PRIVATE, personal view of Tunnel View’s view! It is tremendous!
It was such a legendary time. The entire walk back, we were hooting and hollering in the tunnel to create the best echoes.
After the tunnel adventure, it was back to the cars to continue driving up the other rim for our next stop …
A Sentinel Dome hike!
This is Brooke’s “favorite hike for beginner’s slay”, and it was well worth the hype! We parked near the trailhead for Sentinel Dome, gathered the squad, and were off on our adventure.
On the way up to the dome, I was talking to Vieri and Elizabeth about the cool classes we’ve taken (and now I want to take the Russian film class that Elizabeth recommended) and my consulting internship a few months ago in Seattle (and in a TREMENDOUS coincidence, we actually ran into a recent UCLA grad I knew that now works full time at BCG SF 🤯), and in no time at all, we were at the top of Sentinel Dome.
EPIC VIEWS EVERYWHERE!
The top of the dome had the greatest Yosemite views I’ve ever seen, with clear views of Half Dome, El Capitan, and the entire Yosemite Valley. It was so picturesque and beautiful, and one of the most scenic locations I’ve ever eaten a sandwich in.
After half an hour at the top, we descended Sentinel Dome to continue our hike along the rim to Taft Point. Our destination — the Fissures!
What a momentous name!
Highlights of the hike included so many pinecones everywhere, using those pinecones as baseballs by hitting them over the cliffs with pine branches, throwing snowballs at Finlay and Elizabeth, and amazing views. On the way to the Fissures, we stopped by Roosevelt Point to see some jaw-dropping, 2000-foot cliffs, and caaaaarefully leaning over the cliffs to see the views and pinecones fly over the edge.
We eventually got to the Fissures, which are massive cracks in the cliffs overlooking the valley. I had surprisingly never been there before, and it was quite scary but exhilarating to see the huge cliffs. A few members of the group laid down on our stomachs to overlook the huge cliffs (over which I did a Rocktopus photoshoot, of course), batted some more pinecones off the cliffs (even more of course), and then we watched the most beautiful sunset I had ever seen in my entire life.
There seemed to be a bit of dust in the Yosemite air when we came to visit, which meant that we were treated to some beautiful vistas of the sun’s rays filtering into the valley, and we got so many beautiful pictures with the setting sun to top off the end of a magical day!
I know I keep talking about pinecones so much today, but the pinecones were really a minor highlight of the day. There were so many all over the place, and they were HUGE! It was super fun to bat them off of the cliffs (check out the videos here and here), and it was shortly after batting a pinecone off The Fissures at Taft Point that one of my favorite pictures of the trip was taken:
It was such a lovely hike overall, and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting Yosemite —> the loop is Sentinel Dome trailhead to Sentinel Dome, then to Taft Point, then back to the trailhead —> about 6 miles total!
It was dark by the time we got back to the cars, and in a desire to get home as quickly as possible, I drove Brooke’s car back (safely) in SPORT mode, meaning we were zooming (very safely) back to Groveland. I felt the driving was phenomenal the entire way back, and we were back to the house in no time at all with great music and great vibes the whole way there.
Back at the house, our group (but mostly the rest of the group, I barely cooked, they created the culinary adventures) made super yummy tacos for dinner, and then I sat down in the comfy reclining chair to quickly write my essay for my Geography of Cities class.
Also due that evening —> Due tomorrow, do tomorrow! (again)
Around this time, we also had a group discussion to cancel our planned Half Dome ascent (due to a complete lack of planning and preparation from our group, I suggested it around midday and I really shouldn’t have), and then …
WE
PLAYED
BLOKUSSSSSSS!
The greatest board game EVER!
I taught Brooke how to play when she stayed a few days with me in Antioch, and she bought a set for her apartment at UCLA. She brought the board game onto the trip, and the entire group quickly fell in love with the pure strategy domination game.
I’m proud to say I didn’t lose a single game that evening, and it was off to bed after an evening of victory (and chasing a shot with pickle juice). Hooray!
Sunday, November 10th
It was a bit hard waking up this morning, with the entire squad waking up at 8 am for a “9 am” departure.
I woke up at a smooth 8:50, and was the last person to leave the house at 9:30 after a delicious breakfast and sandwich-making session. Then, we were back off to Yosemite!
Along the way, my car stopped for me to try to catch some Canadian geese (unsuccessfully) and moo at some cows (successfully). Along the way into Yosemite, we also stopped by Rainbow Pool, a really cool swimming hole that was pretty freezing when we went to visit :) (I’d previously been there with my family in the summer and it was great)
Then, we were back in Yosemite!
This time, we went to the north side of the park, staying out of the valley today. We stopped at Crane Flats for the other car to get some gas, where we met another group of college students who were on a big trip around the Southwestern US. After talking to them for a bit, we learned that they were actually exchange students at the University of Victoria in Canada, and had rented a large RV for their fall break to travel around the US National Parks. Awesome!
I exchanged contact information with the Australian group leader, and hopefully they’ll come visit us at UCLA for the end of the trip. 💪
After that fun conversation, we drove the short distance over to Tuolumne Grove (stopping briefly to hear the lovely tree leaves whistling in the wind), parked our cars, and started our first hike of the day. The trees were BEAUTIFUL in their fall colors, the colors of the trees and sky were really bright today (which Vieri kept telling everyone about), and it was a lovely stroll down the road to the sequoias grove.
It was such a lovely time!
There was one massive sequoia tree that had fallen and you could climb all over it, another fallen over tree that you could climb through, and a standing one with a tunnel dug through it so that wagons could pass through. Talk about a tourist attraction!
My favorite part was seeing how excited Vieri was to see these massive trees (the biggest ones on Earth!), especially after he remarked yesterday that the pine trees were super tall.
lol
After Tuolumne Grove, we continued east along Tiago Road (with SUCH beautiful high Sierra landscape) to Tenaya Lake, it was such a beautiful drive! Brooke took over the driving, so I was able to enjoy the scenery in the back, read my book, and take a nap on Vieri:
Tenaya Lake was simply stunning, and such a gorgeous place for lunch. Since we were in a much higher elevation, it was much colder! We ate our sandwiches, skipped some rocks, and then Vieri, Finlay, and I decided to brave the cold and take a polar plunge in the FREEZING lake! It was quite possibly the coldest water I’ve ever submerged myself in, and such a tremendous time (in hindsight). (we also took a roommate naked butt picture, but that’s not going on Substack lol)
After our aquatic adventure, we donned our clothes and the group departed on a nice hike toward Cloud’s Rest for the rest of the afternoon. After about a mile, we found a huge boulder outcropping, where we took a break to enjoy the afternoon sunshine. The rest of the group continued ahead, while I elected to stay behind to read some more of my book.
After about a half hour of reading, I made it back to the trail to rejoin the group. Hearing them off in the distance, I hid behind a large boulder to scare the group, resulting in the most wonderful hike scare OF ALL TIME! Elizabeth and Finlay stood no chance against me!
We all hiked back to the lake in a group, and it was such a fun time. Back at Tenaya Lake, we played around on the shore (with Sabrina, Frannie, Mya, and Elizabeth running in!), where it was so cold that an entire ice ecosystem had formed.
Naturally, we made some patterns in the ice, cracked it with a big stick, and hit the gritty over the lake in the setting sun. You gotta do what you gotta do!
After our second wonderful lake adventure, it was time to head back to the cars to drive the long 2 hours home. We saw the most beautiful sunset over Half Dome and Yosemite Valley (during which Vieri and Charlotte seemed to achieve enlightenment), then I fell asleep as soon as the car started moving.
I woke up back at the house, where I quickly showered, chilled, then drove into town with Vieri to pick up some pizzas for a “pizza and pajamas” dinner. Hooray!
We had voted for the pizza and pyjamas dinner plan in the Tenaya Lake parking lot before we left for home — it was between the pizza and pyjamas or going to a saloon in Groveland (self-proclaimed oldest saloon in CA), and I had publically showed support for the saloon dinner option. Then, when it was time for a blind vote to decide where we’d eat, I realized I didn’t really want to go anywhere that day because I was quite tired, and the pizza and pyjamas option sounded LOVELY. Pizza and pyjamas won 5-4, so I guess my bandwagon voting behavior swayed the result (sorry Elizabeth!)
What I will say is that those pizzas were DELICIOUS! (even if the pizzeria staff did not seem happy lol, Vieri and I were shocked when picking up the pies)
The pizza and pyjamas evening was a great success, with me winning another game of intense Blokus, Sabrina + Frannie defeating Brooke + me in duos Blokus, and Brooke winning an intense game of spoons.
What a great day!
Monday, November 11th
I woke up around 9:30 to Brooke and Sabrina having already gone on a 5-mile run. Wow!
We had some delicious morning coffee, then it was time to deep clean the entire house. Brooke’s grandma, Nonnie, is very particular about how she likes her homes cleaned, so we needed to make sure to leave that place just as spotless as when we arrived!
During the morning, we also had a lovely morning game of Blokus on the porch, which was just such a great time. Vieri definitely won “most improved”, Charlotte enacted a personal vendetta against me after I said she was “collateral damage” in me and Finlay’s battle for her territory (sorry Charlotte!), but I still came out victorious in the end 😈
That result confirmed my status as the undefeated Blokus champion of the weekend 🫡
Brooke’s grandparents made it to the house just as we were leaving, so after saying our hellos (and subsequent goodbyes), we were out of the wonderful house and heading into town for lunch.
We went to the Iron Door Saloon (same place as where we thinking of going to dinner the night before. It was a super lovely place, with a pool table and delicious burgers. Brooke and I defeated the trio of Charlotte, Finlay, and Vieri in pool, with Brooke making the final 8 Ball in!
There was also a super funny thing about the saloon where patrons would roll up a $1 bill with a quarter and thumb tack and throw it against the ceiling to get it to stick. We didn’t tried, but there were hundreds of bills on the ceiling. Hilarious!
And after our lunch, it was time to drive home from the amazing trip. The drive was a smooth 6-hours long, so along the way we found a geocache (Vieri’s first!), looked at the beautiful countryside scenery, and I called a few friends and family while driving myself. Our car played some fun games on the Grapevine where you tell stories to have the guesser guess a number, and in no time at all, we were back in Westwood at the end of our amazing Yosemite trip.
I played one last game of Blokus with Brooke, and then it was off to bed!
And that brings us to the end of the magical Yosemite trip. Thanks everyone for joining, and see y’all soon!
Best,
Dennis
Some more pictures:
