Salad Is Slaughter

For our last trip to Yosemite, Janet booked the Ahwahnee’s Romance package.  On paper it sounds good:

• Two-night’s lodging at The Ahwahnee.
• A single spectacular five-course dinner for two in The Ahwahnee Dining Room on one of the nights of your stay. This includes a bottle of house wine.
• A single red rose and sparkling wine with two keepsake glasses delivered to your room at check-in.
• Rose petals sprinkled on bed and Chocolate Dipped Strawberries delivered to your room at first night’s turn down service.
• Turndown service second night with a special keepsake gift.
• Valet parking.
• Bathrobes for use during your stay.
• Afternoon tea in the Great Lounge.
• Late checkout (1pm).

When we walked in to our room we saw the rose petals, so we assumed that the process was in motion.  We were looking forward to the five-course dinner. We made our reservation, sat down, and told them we had the romance package. The waiter asked for the card that was left on the bed. Strike 1 for the house-keeping staff. They didn’t put the card there. The waiter was great, and after verifying that we had the package started us on dinner. He let us bring in our own wine, waived the corkage fee, and designated our champagne order for the house wine (which we’re sure would not have been up to what we usually drink.)

There were multiple roses in a bud vase on the headboard which we later found out was ours to keep. However, they didn’t deliver the keepsake champagne glasses or the champagne. Strike 2 against the Ahwahnee housekeeping staff.

We did not receive the chocolate-dipped strawberries on our first night, either. Strike 3.

On the Saturday evening Janet called the front desk about all the stuff we hadn’t received the first night, and confirmed that we hadn’t received the keepsake gift. The housekeeping staff was now on strike 4. They delivered the glasses, champagne, and strawberries a day late. We also got the keepsake gift, a nice model of the hotel.

The hotel manager gave us a ticket for complimentary breakfast, but that didn’t really make up for how badly they screwed up the Romance package. We thought that their incompetence was over, but then we got the bill. There was an extra $60 charge on it, which we determined was for the champagne. When questioned, they immediately reversed the mistaken charge.  Strike 5.

Finally, Janet called to confirm that we had a late checkout. Nope, they screwed that up as well but immediately corrected the problem. 

I guess I should commend them for making good on everything that they promised, but at those prices, and with the Ahwanhee’s reputation, the weekend should have gone flawlessly. The housekeeping staff completely and totally F’ed up, and while the free breakfast was a nice gesture, it couldn’t make up for the slipshod package execution.

I doubt very much that we’ll ever go back to the Ahwanhee. Next time we’ll try the Yosemite Lodge.  It’s not as nice, but it’s not as expensive either so I won’t be expecting the kind of service that the Ahwanhee promises but doesn’t deliver.

We got a bit of a late start Friday and didn’t get to the Ahwanhee hotel until about 3:00. Janet got us the Romance Package (more about that in another post) for the weekend and we had a good-sized cabin. We spent the rest of the day unpacking, walking around, and so on.

Saturday was our big hike. After loading up the backpack, we hopped on the free hybrid bus and went over to the Yosemite Lodge to catch a tour bus. We had one-way tickets to Glacier Point. When I bought my Tilley hat, the documentation said that people would stop me and ask about it. I didn’t believe them, but it happened; someone asked about where they could get a Tilley hat. I thought that was pretty funny.

We got to the top at about noon. We bought a couple of roast beef sandwiches and attempted to eat them. That was a mistake. Those were the worst roast beef sandwiches ever made. We ended up throwing away three quarters of each sandwich. I would be hard pressed to ever buy food from the store at the top of Glacier Point again.

We were just there last month so we didn’t spend a lot of time at the top. After looking around a little bit we headed down Four Mile Trail. Four Mile Trail was originally built in the mid 1920s. Later the National Park Service modified it so it wasn’t so steep in some parts. That lengthened the trail to about 4.6 miles.

The views from the Four Mile Trail are spectacular, and unlike any you would see from elsewhere in the park. There are some views of Half Dome framed by the trees that are just below what you’d see from the top of Glacier Point, but more toward the calved half.

The views of Yosemite Falls from the trail are amazing. You start off higher than the top of the falls, and you can see the pool the upper falls go in to, as well as the river that flows to the top of the bottom half of the falls. If you go, take a good set of binoculars so you can study the view across the valley in more detail.

You also get some spectacular views of El Capitan on one side, and Sentinel Rock and Cathedral Rocks on the other. As you make your way down the trial you get different views of the granite face. You also get unique views of the valley floor and the Merced river snaking through the valley.

The start of the trail is deceptively easy and we made pretty good time. However, it doesn’t stay that way for long. The Four Mile Trail is a hard hike, and it seemed like the further down we got, the steeper it became. At some places the rocks make the trail a bit slippery and you have to be careful.

Because you’re almost always moving down hill, you get a lot of stress on your knees. My right knee was screaming at me after about 2 miles in to the hike. Advil helped some, but not enough. My painful knee and the trail difficulty slowed us down. It took us a bit over three hours to cover the 4.6 miles.

When we stepped out of the door on Sunday morning, it started to sprinkle. We had planned to ride our bikes around the park, but this seemed to put a damper on that plan. But after a couple of minutes the rain stopped and we headed out. We spent the morning riding our bikes around the park, and it seemed to help get the pain out of our legs from Saturday’s hike.

We headed out toward Yosemite Falls, then crossed over to the other side of the valley, and made our way back near Mirror Lake, then the hotel. About half way through our ride it really started to pour down rain. We stopped occasionally, then continued on when it let up a bit. It finally stopped raining after about 20 minutes and we completed the circle relatively dry.

We took off for home about 1:00, stopping first at El Capitan where we pulled out the binoculars and watched rock climbers for a while. Traffic was horrible coming home and we didn’t arrive until after 6:00. Sitting in the car for that long didn’t do our legs any good and it was a real struggle to get moving when we got home.

My legs are still sore, but it was a good trip. The Four Mile Trail was difficult but worth the effort.

I guess I’m just as smart as Phil at Bad Astronomy. However, the quiz writers sure didn’t pass 8th grade spelling.

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

My brother Jim wrote a nice piece about what he would do if he were a senator in the embryonic stem cell debate; essentially he would try to inject some truth in to the debate. I commented “The zealots just out and out lie to their supporters in order to bolster their position. But that should come as no surprise to anyone; they have a history of telling whoppers to their unquestioning and gullible flock” and gave this link as proof.

When I wrote that comment I had no idea how low the religious zealots would stoop. I came across this piece at EvolutionBlog.  In a nutshell, Senator Chuck Schumer made a well reasoned speech in support of stem cell research. He also emphasized how much he respects people’s faith.

Read both the excerpt from the speech and the fundie responses in EvolutionBlog and then try to tell me that the Catholic website Fidelis, the extremist at The Town Hall, Catholic League President Bill Donohue, the religious news site Spero News, and the Christian News Wire are good, honest people of faith. Bullshit! They’re lieing sacks of crap who will say and do anything to keep their followers ignorant and angry. They just make shit up and attribute it to Senator Schumer.

What ever happened to that biblical admonisment about that false witness thing? Have the commandments changed and I didn’t get the memo? Sorry Jim. If the senator’s experience is any indication, you would have been crucified in the zealot press as advocating baby killing and demanding that everyone give up their religion. The fundies don’t care about the truth, as they have shown over and over again.

On July 7 I wrote that I would not be going back to Fiesta del Mar Too because the service was so crappy. The food is good, but I just couldn’t deal with the wrong orders, incorrect bills, and inattentive service any longer. Then I remembered that the orginal Fiesta del Mar is over on Shoreline Blvd, so I decided to give them a try today at lunch.

The food is the same; in other words great. But I noticed that the service (at least for my first trip there in I don’t know how many years) was a lot better than at the Mountain View restaurant. I didn’t have to wait nearly as long to get my check, or have my money picked up as I’m used to in Mountain View. It’s too soon to tell if the superior service is the rule or an anomaly but at least I’m willing to go to the Shoreline locaton.

It looks like the Shoreline restaurant doesn’t have a bar like Mountain View has, so I don’t know if they have the same selection of tequila and margaritas, but the next time I go I’ll take a look at the drink menu.

The good news is I have a place again where I can get my Mexican food fix.