Thelma & Louise, Butch & Sundance, and now, Mich & Zelda!
What was to be a family vacation to Yosemite, in part to attend a family reunion, ended up becoming a mother-daughter adventure instead.
How? Why?
Well, Zoe’s school put together an 11th hour Chinese exchange program for students…and their departure date? Right smack dab in the middle of our reunion. Which meant that half of the Offermann/Reeves family now needed to stay home, so Tom could put Zoe on a plane for Shanghai with 14 other middle schoolers last weekend.
Meanwhile, Zelda and I took off for Sacramento, where we spent the night before meeting up with my Mum, Dad, Brother and Sister-in-law for a family caravan to Yosemite.
Condensed highlights of the drive to Yosemite:
- We got separated several times.
- I lost the new camera Tom had purchased the day I departed on my trip.
- I had to stop and call every place I had been in Sacramento onward to try and locate camera. I was unsuccessful.
- I found the camera…in the car…in a place Zelda and I had looked about a thousand times. Oopsy.
- We ate lunch in a Costco parking lot in Manteca outside my parents’ cute little Casita. (pictured above)
- We had to navigate without GPS toward the end. (How did I live without my turn-by-turn voice navigation on my telephone?)
Never a dull moment.
Finally though, we made it to the Evergreen Lodge, which is near the Hetch Hetchy entrance to the park. We loved it there. Even though it was high season, Evergreen and surrounding attractions were blissfully remote and quiet without the hullabaloo found in Yosemite Valley. In short, the perfect spot to enjoy a major national park in June.
I think one of my favorite moments was Zelda making herself at home in her room. All she needed were her books on the nightstand and her stuffed animal on the bed, and she was good to go! My little traveler.
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We stayed at Evergreen Lodge 2 years ago, visiting Yosemite to see my daughter and grandson, both of who worked in Yosemite for the summer. Great place to stay and amazing restaurant. We had a ball and sounds like you did too. Have a fun Summer, Rita
Rita!! Great to hear from you and thanks for the lovely summer wishes. Yes, we adored Evergreen; as my brother pointed out, it’s so comfy, you could just stay there and not go hike a single trail!