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At The Wawona Hotel in Yosemite


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2022 Apr 6, 3:41pm   876 views  25 comments

by Patrick   ➕follow (55)   💰tip   ignore  

I'm currently staying at the Wawona Hotel in Yosemite. Went there with my wife because it's her spring break from teaching, and she likes mountains and hiking.

At first I couldn't find any rooms in Yosemite itself, but then ran across this place on Trip Advisor, and noticed there was still a room available for about $180/night, which is cheap for a hotel in the park. Then I found out why it was available - no bathroom in the room. And the majority of rooms here have no bathroom because that's how they were built and there is no place to put them now.

But it's been great! I love this place. Built in 1876, with more buildings added later, but still all of them old. Rooms are small. There's no TV, no AC, no fridge, no elevator, no phone in the room, and no cell signal. There is wifi in the lobby, not in most rooms, but we got lucky that our room is in the old main building, so I can get wifi. In the evening it's really slow, probably because of people attempting to stream movies, but OK. Our room has a very high ceiling and a ceiling fan. Bathroom and showers require a trip outside on the second floor porch, but are clean.

It's nice how old it is, even if things are a little frayed and some of the paint is chipped. They give you a real metal key for your room. There was an occasional radiator ding noise at night, but that went away when we turned off the radiator, which we don't need anyway. I don't think I've heard any airplanes go by, which is also nice.

Most people are out hiking at the moment, and in the evening people sit on impressive veranda drinking and reading. It's like old times. Pretty quiet, though the place creaks at night as people walk around. There's a grand old dining room, and the food is good and not horribly expensive.

I'm enjoying just spacing out and looking at things and reading. I recommend the place if you and whoever you go with can take being rather removed from modernity for a while.

Took this picture this morning after most people had left to go hiking:


Comments 1 - 25 of 25        Search these comments

3   Patrick   2022 Apr 6, 3:57pm  

BTW, it's good for kids. Lots of kids around, and not that much trouble they can get into.
4   RC2006   2022 Apr 6, 4:10pm  

Put it on my list to check out.
5   RWSGFY   2022 Apr 6, 4:26pm  

Reminds me our stay at the old Sydney quarantine station turned into a hotel. Same situation with bathrooms and showers which turned out not a big deal at all.
6   EBGuy   2022 Apr 6, 4:47pm  

Hoping that the waterfalls are still running as it is early spring...
7   Ceffer   2022 Apr 6, 4:58pm  

That's the way we always did it, but not in the Wawona, just the cabins along the river. Haven't been to Yosemite in years, we used to go every year or two.

I don't know if you can still drive into the main park any more.
8   Hircus   2022 Apr 6, 10:53pm  

I need to go back there. I went some years back and it was so beautiful.

Remember the HantaVirus outbreak ~10 years back? It was found in the rats in the campgrounds in Yosemite valley. I happened to be there that very weekend, so on monday when I got home and saw the news talking all panic about some viral outbreak at yosemite, and showed camera footage of the area we walked through, it was ... a weird coincidence. We didn't sleep there though, so had no real risk of contracting it.
9   komputodo   2022 Apr 7, 10:51pm  

Do POCs hike and camp out?
10   HeadSet   2022 Apr 8, 7:02am  

komputodo says
Do POCs hike and camp out?


Yes, every day:

11   GNL   2022 Apr 8, 7:13am  

It looks pretty cool. Old timey roughing it. I'd imagine you don't need ac this time of year?
12   NDrLoR   2022 Apr 8, 8:16am  

Patrick says
Built in 1876
Would have originally been lighted by gas!
13   Patrick   2022 Apr 8, 9:40am  

WineHorror1 says
It looks pretty cool. Old timey roughing it. I'd imagine you don't need ac this time of year?


Right, no need for AC this time of year. I think it will be chilly next week, so they might need the heat.

I thought of it like very civilized camping. You don't get a bathroom in a tent either.
14   Patrick   2022 Apr 8, 9:50am  

komputodo says
Do POCs hike and camp out?


There were a few black people hiking and at the hotel, and a few Hispanic families. Most people seemed to be white or Asian. There were definitely a lot of Chinese and Indians. And I heard Italian being spoken a few times.

Very few people had masks on, and the ones that did looked silly because of it.

One guy working the front desk had a mask, face shield, and painted fingernails. I could not help thinking that the masking and the fingernails were definitely part of the same severe mental illness which he must have picked up in the SF Bay Area. But overall, the hotel and the hiking areas were blessedly free of TDS, BLM, masking hysteria, gay flags, and Ukraine flags. That was a nice break as well.

There were "Let's Go Brandon" flags in the Central Valley. There's definitely some cultural line you cross when you go between urban and rural areas.
15   komputodo   2022 Apr 8, 1:08pm  

Patrick says
BTW, it's good for kids. Lots of kids around, and not that much trouble they can get into.

Especially in their rooms playing video games and posting shit on tiktok
16   FortwayeAsFuckJoeBiden   2022 Apr 8, 1:16pm  

komputodo says
Do POCs hike and camp out?


mostly jog
17   joshuatrio   2022 Apr 9, 11:57am  

Patrick that looks great! Enjoy your vacation!!
18   AD   2022 Apr 9, 12:01pm  

Patrick says
At first I couldn't find any rooms in Yosemite itself, but then ran across this place on Trip Advisor, and noticed there was still a room available for about $180/night, which is cheap for a hotel in the park.


Tourism economy in Panama City Beach is as if there is no recession, and most of our tourists come from Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio.
19   Bd6r   2022 Apr 9, 7:26pm  

@Patrick,
If you/your missus like this kind of thing, try bigbendholidayhotel.com and specifically either Rock house (overlooks Rio Grande and Mexico) or if you want a little more civilization then some of their properties in Terlingua (=tres linguas, Comanche, Englush, Spanish) where you can walk to Starlight theatre. Best time to visit is Spring break when desert is blooming but reserve 4 to 6 mths ahead. Hiking in Big Bend is spectacular.
20   Bd6r   2022 Apr 9, 7:30pm  

Just dont tell locals you are from CA, they have switched from hating damned yankees to hating Californians...
21   Patrick   2022 Apr 9, 8:05pm  

Thanks @Bd6r that does look interesting, at least if we go before it gets really hot.
22   WookieMan   2022 Apr 10, 9:49am  

Patrick says
There's definitely some cultural line you cross when you go between urban to rural areas.

Rural is better. Just had 5 boys over for a sleep over (for my kids if anyone has a sick mind). All of them shoot, mow the lawn, drive ATV's/UTV's, etc. The oldest of them was mine at 11. They farm, pick up trash on the side of the road, volunteer time, etc. Basically good kids.

Are there goofy drunks or methheads in rural areas, for sure. You can spot them a mile away. But even the few pink haired lesbians by me a super chill. Not very many "out" gay guys, but I'm sure there's closeted ones. My town is like Cheers. Everyone knows my name even if I don't know them. Honestly of the female townies that I like the most, they're lesbians. They're not liberal and just want pussy I guess. And they don't push their gayness on you. If you didn't know it, you'd think they're hitting on you in a straight way. Rural areas don't put up with gays, so they adapt and lesbians specifically are super cool.

My only issues and this is the left part of me coming out is that they do treat POC differently. For my nephew it's generally in a good way as mixed, but looking black kid. A few ass holes give us the side eye. School wise all the kids want to be his friend. It's a strange dynamic having a black kid in a rural area. I wouldn't change it for anything beside my SIL being a cunt.
23   Patrick   2022 Apr 13, 9:48am  

BTW, while I was there, I met a Canadian policeman from Vancouver who thought the truckers' peaceful protest was somehow terrorism. He just regurgitated the proven-false allegations of Nazis and violence.

He did not seem at all disturbed by the fact that peaceful protest against government policies is now harshly punished in Canada.
24   GNL   2022 Apr 13, 12:36pm  

Patrick says
BTW, while I was there, I met a Canadian policeman from Vancouver who thought the truckers' peaceful protest was somehow terrorism. He just regurgitated the proven-false allegations of Nazis and violence.

He did not seem at all disturbed by the fact that peaceful protest against government policies is now harshly punished in Canada.

Fucking amazing.

I am a real estate photographer in the DC area. I met a realtor at a listing to photograph. We got to talking and he told me he was a realtor only part time because he was a full time capital police officer. He regurgitated all the bullshit about January 6th. I did not even hesitate 1 second to call out his bullshit. Haven't seen him since.
25   richwicks   2022 Apr 13, 12:48pm  

WookieMan says
It's a strange dynamic having a black kid in a rural area.


As somebody that grew up in the sticks, I can tell you that a black person, or asian - they are exotic. They are different.

When I was a kid, the town doctor was a black man. As a small child, I thought all black people were just super smart. He was a very brilliant man.

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