There is such a thing as a free lunch!

Posted on 04 Mar 2014 by WH

Today was Yosemite Day for everyone. Well, almost everyone - James felt he had exhausted all the skiing options at Badger Pass, so decided to stay at the hotel. Something about having work to do. Or perhaps he'd be enjoying the pool and arcade that most had missed the night before.

The remainder of the skiers returned to Badger Pass, some of them stopping on the way to enjoy Shrove Tuesday pancakes, which Steph simply couldn't miss. The skiers were accompanied again by Ian Shaw, who loves to ski but who would spend the day reading a book in the sunshine as he was in limb preservation mode ahead of the summer's Commonwealth Games. He was joined at various points of the day by other team members, including the Adjutant who was enjoying skiing for the first time since before Euan, Steph, Niall and James had been born, and the Veterans' Van whose occupants apparently found chatting on a sunny balcony to be a fine alternative to exploring the splendour of Yosemite! Niall and Jon kept boarding and skiing until the lift closed at 4pm, while Iain Hindshaw bravely went cross country skiing solo to Dewey Point.

Even those who wanted to see everything in the National Park had a relaxing time though, as it was easy to get to all the many highlights, walk a few trails and take an awful lot of photos before heading up to Tunnel View for the classic shot of El Capitan, Half Dome, Sentinel, Bridal Veil Falls and the valley floor all in one shot in the ideal afternoon light. Among the most stunning sights were Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls, together the tallest in North America and fifth tallest in the world, and today rather more jaw dropping than usually at this time of year because of the weekend's snowfall and subsequent melt.

The grey van explorers had planned a slap-up meal at the upmarket Ahwahnee Hotel, whose cavernous lounge, enormous fireplaces, posh shops and supermodel and other guests gave the impression that prices might be on the toppy side. On the contrary, they were more than reasonable. Once again there was lots of goodwill from those around the Scottish group; two ladies at a neighbouring table even asked for the volume on the conversation to be turned up because they loved hearing English spoken properly! They also joined in when the waitress was quizzed as to what on earth Italian soda was (now we know, and it's rather nice). Then they said goodbye and left the waitress to come over to the table and tell the Scottish group that the ladies had already paid their bill for them... apparently because they'd loved eavesdropping so much!

We love California. Actually, make that "we love the USA". A gentleman in Nevada who proclaimed Scottishness by descent had also paid the bill for eight of the team at dinner in Las Vegas, all in return for some friendly conversation. It appears that the team's natural tendency to be nice to strangers is paying off. And how lovely have ALL the Americans been to the team, with the shooters going out of their way to help. The Captain says he has seen a lot of kindness on many previous tours, but never so much as has been experienced so far on this one, from shooters and randoms alike. God bless America.

Onto our hotel for almost all the rest of the tour, the Shenandoah Inn in Plymouth, via the forest fire memorials at Rim of the World, parts of Gold Country and Will's favourite - Angels Camp right by Glory Hole.