Day four:
Not our most productive day overall, but it was partially a travel day. First we packed up to check out of the Chancellor and go exploring to other parts of California. Luckily as I checked out I inquired from the little girl at the desk, “Do you know any good place to stay on the way to Yosemite?” She was completely stymied, but like a good employee, she called her boss on the phone. He quickly responded that we should try to get a room at the Groveland Hotel, a bed and breakfast just outside Yosemite and gave me the number. I called and talked with Diane and booked their last room of the night. I felt better knowing I had a final destination for the day. More about Groveland later. I walked over a few blocks to pick up a reserved rental car (a good thing for they were turning away everyone walking up to rent a car without a reservation and there were four rental car companies all side by side. The car is a grand prix, nice, gray, and almost new. It was easy to handle and zoom I was out in San Francisco traffic, which was challenging, dodging cable cars and deciphering the one way street system. It made me nervous, but we were soon zipping over the Golden Gate Bridge, which was totally fogged in and in a few minutes at the Muir Woods National Park to see old growth redwood trees. The weather was sunny, but unrelentingly cool with a cold wind (55 degrees). Muir Woods was a stunning cathedral of nature. I took many photos and it appears that luck was with me and I captured a bit of the place. There were lots of visitors so we took one of the many trails off the main one and left the crowds behind for a majestic walk along the “ocean view” trail. Eventually we turned back when some returning travelers told us the “ocean view” was miles on ahead. Oh well. We had climbed steadily for a mile I guess and we turned back to pick our way down. It was one of the most wonderful walks of a life. Sissy said that the trees seemed to have a spirit that you could sense and that was indeed the case. Muir Woods is an old growth redwood forest and the trees are over two hundred feet tall. Many of the trees we saw were also a thousand years old. They had a fallen tree cut and marked with dates and events back to 909 AD, the year it was a seedling.

After lunch we drove through Napa Valley to see the wine country and then cut across the mountains to Sacramento. The mountain ride passed two mountain lakes made by damming the valleys to create reservoirs between the peaks. The lakes were spectacular, as was the scenery of mountains and trees, an other worldly set of vistas that I felt could not be on the same earth that I have been on all these years.

Once in Sacramento we sped along trying to get to Groveland before dark, but the sun failed me. The last 8 miles to Groveland, called the Priest grade (T-shirts read “I survived the Priest grade.”) was the most exciting driving I have ever done. What a road, winding along the cliffs leading over the mountains to Groveland which was the starting point for the railroad to the Hetch Hetchy water project. Sissy had her eyes closed much of the time and was clutching onto the center of the car. A lot of good that would do her if I rolled her over the edge for it was easily a 1000 foot drop off and climbed higher with every switchback. Breath taking. I finished that drive in the dark which made it even more exciting. The Groveland Hotel was awash with people when we arrived. They had a play going on the back patio, with musicians and lights, plus the Victorian dining room was crowded with diners, serenaded by a jazz guitarist. The Groveland Hotel was established in 1849 and has been used more or less continuously as a hotel since. Our room was marvelously decorated with feather beds which swallowed us up and drained away all the tensions of traveling. The Groveland may be the best find of the tour so far. More about it tomorrow.