DAYS OF WINE AND COVID

Masks, hand sanitizer and wine have been the best way to navigate through this year of 2020.

But before we get to details of this crazy ass year - 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Darrin spent forever working on the witch pattern while Charley carved her first pumpkins with an assist from Gaga. The white ghost was her own creation. The little one was tough.

Face masks are the universal fashion statement of the Year of Covid.

Our travel plans were no match for Covid-19.

Early March trip to Italy - CANCELLED

April trip to Georgia & Alabama - CANCELLED

May - June Carnival Cruise - CANCELLED

Instead of lots of fun trips our life became a never ending ordeal of sheltering in place, washing and sanitizing hands, wearing face coverings and "social distancing". Initially only grocery shopping and medical appointments were allowed. Everything else was closed!

When our Italy trip was cancelled the day of departure, we booked flights to New Mexico the next week before that closed down. 

The Sandia Peak Tram closed two days after we rode it to the top of the mountain.

My two sweeties!

The four of us enjoying the "beautiful view" of Albuquerque from Sandia Peak.

Old Town was more of a ghost town.

This outing turned out to be our last sit down restaurant meal for the next several months.

The following day we hiked in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains just a few blocks from Darrin and Charley's house in Albuquerque.

Remember when "Zoom" was what you said when your car went fast? In the year of 2020 it was how we celebrated birthdays and family "gatherings". Notice that in two of the get togethers Charley's Descendant dolls had to join in the conversation. Darrin set them up with the iPad in the kitchen while they were on the laptop.

Unfortunately, the summer pool parties never happened much to everyone's dismay. The pool (and both of us!) missed the squealing delight of Charley leaping off the side a hundred times. The flamingo and unicorn floaties will have to wait until next year to be inflated again.

Face masks of every size, shape and color are now for sale everywhere. An enterprising woman was selling handmade masks in a Safeway parking lot. Entrepreneurism is alive and well in the U.S.!

Not only are we in the middle of an unprecedented pandemic but we have dealt with weeks of wildfires and smoke in California, national racial unrest AND a president who is a raving lunatic incapable of leading himself out of a paper bag, let alone our country. This shirt pretty well sums it up for me.

In June when Yosemite National Park opened up on a reduced basis, Lou and I managed to snag one of the limited entry passes and made our first overnight trip in months (except New Mexico). It's Lou's favorite place in the world and you certainly can't beat the incredible scenery.

The view from Glacier Point.

Tunnel View, one of my favorites, with El Capitan, Half Dome and Bridal Veil Falls.

Valley View, with the Merced River in the foreground, is another favorite view to take in.

Visiting Charley is "essential travel" to Gaga. As soon as it opened up, I booked flights. I'm pro at it now after seven trips and counting. With the precautions of requiring masks, leaving center seats open and the top of the line air filtration systems, I feel safer in an airplane than I do in a grocery store. Seeing my son and granddaughter is the best medicine!

Of course, in between actual visits, I'm thankful for FaceTime and Messenger. At least it gives you a little visual contact but virtual hugs are not even close to the real thing! Louie and Charley had fun with the goofy face things on Messenger. Charley snapped lots of screen shots of them!

It has certainly been a crazy year! Never in my lifetime has there been anything like this. I hope and pray that 2021 will turn out to be a hell of a lot better than 2020. I'm sure it sounds like a broken record by now, but the one thing we can all do is make sure to GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!

AND DON'T FORGET TO OPEN THAT BOTTLE OF WINE AND ENJOY A GLASS, OR TWO, OR THREE!

My intent was keep this post fairly light with all the crap going on in the world this year but I would be remiss if I didn't mention that we lost Lou's sister, Judy, to this horrible virus this past August. She had a lot of health issues but she was a true fighter up until the very end. Rest in peace, Judy.

YOSEMITE REVISITED

Lou found out that Yosemite National Park was opening up last week in a limited capacity with Entry Permits required. After battling the recreation.gov website for a couple of hours, we finally had a permit for Wednesday, June 17 in our hot little hands. Woo hoo, an actual road trip even if it was only two days. We drove to Oakhurst near the southern entrance to the park and spent the night in a Comfort Inn.

This is the fairly new shuttle stop where the shuttle would have picked us up to drive us the two miles uphill to the Mariposa Grove if it was running. Yosemite has discontinued all of the park shuttles due to the social distancing requirement.

The park ranger who checked our entry pass and our Senior Parks Pass complimented us saying neither of us looked old enough to be seniors but it was indeed confirmed on our IDs. Now, don't ever believe a sweet, smiling woman who tells you that the two mile hike (just to arrive at Mariposa Grove) is "a gentle, uphill gain of 500 feet". Especially when it starts at a 5100 foot elevation. She lied! Gentle and easy it was not!

There were plenty of wildflowers along the trail to Mariposa Grove. They also provided a great excuse to stop for photo ops on the way up. I don't really know what most of these flowers are called but most of them were tiny, maybe an inch or so across. We were surprised at the array of colors and species. 

I will use this opportunity to tell you a bit about our stay in Oakhurst while you enjoy the flowers. The hotel told us they were keeping rooms empty for at least one day between stays to allow for deep cleaning. We took disinfectant spray and wipes and did our own cleaning of everywhere we might touch. There is no breakfast at the hotel but we planned to go to Denny's the next morning.

The trail to Mariposa Grove. Back to my story of our overnight. Getting an early start neither of the two sit down restaurants were open for breakfast. All we could find was a Carl's Jr drive through open. Neither one of us was overly impressed with their breakfast sandwiches but at least it was something in our stomachs.

This was an interesting plant. The green part is curved leaves that almost looked like a small cup with a small white flower at the end. 

Thank goodness for the beautiful wildflowers as we trudged up the trail.

We figured this must be some type of wild iris. It was only about two inches across but they were plentiful throughout the hike. This is Lou's photo since mine didn't show the colors as well. He was able to squat down and use the macro setting on his camera. If I did that I was pretty sure I wouldn't be getting back up anytime soon.

Wanted to get in some yellow to show all the colors. I also want to back up and mention that we did have a really nice dinner on Tuesday evening at the Oakhurst Grill and Whiskey 41 Bar. We had to wear masks to the table but then were allowed to remove them. Also there were no menus, we had to access it on our phones. Lou splurged and ordered the filet mignon and I opted for the spinach and artichoke ravioli with homemade alfredo sauce. Both were excellent! We made this an early celebration for our 19th anniversary on June 23. 

We arrived at the grove an hour and a half later. I was sweating like I'd just played a hard game of basketball and Lou looked like he'd enjoyed a nice walk in the woods.

In prior years you were able to drive up to the grove but a few years ago they stopped allowing cars. The Giant Sequoias are only located at the far south end of the park which is about an hour's drive from Yosemite Valley. I think this is the first time we had visited the Mariposa Grove together. 

When the renovations were made they built this .3 mile boardwalk which is handicapped accessible. The trails continue for miles. I decided to find a nice bench while Lou hiked another mile into the grove. He said it was pretty steep, too, so he didn't go any further. Maybe someday when the shuttles are running again we can do the two miles uphill back into the grove.

Some of the Giant Sequoias with the sun shining through the branches. The sequoias are the largest around while the coast redwoods are the tallest.

This is the shallow root section of The Fallen Monarch. As the name suggests the tree toppled over a long time ago. We figured this portion was about 15 feet high.

As I sat on my bench I thoroughly enjoyed just looking around at the huge trees and snapped photo after photo.

The trunks of some of the Giant Sequoias.

I even leaned back and took this picture looking straight up into the sky.

We walked back down the paved road which was only being used to allow cars with handicapped placards up to the grove. It made the walking a little easier and the downhill made it a lot easier. I estimated that I did a 4-1/2 mile hike with a gain of 500 feet. Not bad for an old lady with bad feet and a metal hip.

We spotted this butterfly on the side of the road on our way back to our car. I almost didn't even try to take a photo since I have many blank photos as a butterfly flitted away. But this one managed to stay still long enough to snap the picture.

Lunchtime near the Wawona Hotel. I keep threatening to find all of our road trip lunch photos and compile them into a photo book. We have a ton of them, some in crazy places.

With full stomachs and semi-rested feet we headed up to Glacier Point which is Lou's favorite view in Yosemite.

Even though it wasn't too crowded there were a lot of visitors there but somehow I managed to get this shot with no people in the photo.

Half Dome, one of the iconic landmarks of Yosemite National Park.

Looking down at Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point, over 3000 below. That's Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls on the left, it was still flowing but had slowed down quite a bit.

From there we drove the 16 miles back down to the main park road for a drive through the Yosemite Valley. I've always said that Tunnel View is my favorite place in the park but after the last few visits I've decided that Valley View is tied with it as the most photogenic view in Yosemite. Look at the photos and you be the judge.

Tunnel View - one of my two favorite views of Yosemite Valley with El Capitain on the left, Half Dome in the center and Bridal Veil Falls on the right.

Valley View - my other favorite view. Just as you are leaving the valley there is a small parking area where El Capitain and Bridal Veil Falls are visible with the Merced River in the foreground. Gorgeous!

Bridal Veil Falls and Cathedral Rocks from Valley View.

El Capitain from Valley View. The end of a wonderful two day getaway - something we hadn't done for awhile. It was well worth the long drive home with a few traffic delays.