Onto Denver

 We had a smooth drive from Angels Camp to SMF yesterday.  We needed some lunch and the Escape airport lounge was in Terminal A, so we made our way there. They had some good bites including pork meatballs and a turkey, Brie and caramelized onion sandwich.  We boarded our flight to DEN at 3:30. We had seats 8D and 8F and were lucky enough to not have anyone in the middle seat.  We landed early, arranged for our Lyft and got to the Ramble hotel by 8:30.  The Ramble is a great hotel. 

We needed some dinner and I had spotted a place called Work & Class across from the Ramble that was busy.  Always a good idea to follow the Bourdain Rules. And its name was appropriate for Labor Day!!  The menu is primarily small plates for sharing.  We started with some tasty plantain empanadas. For our main we had hickory smoked picanha, cooked a perfect medium rare!! And sides of mashed potato and hatch chili Mac and cheese.  Everything was so good but a special shout-out to the chef that knew how good goat cheese and green onions tastes on mashed potatoes!!   We'll be trying that at home. 

This morning we will check out Snooze which is a breakfast restaurant with an interesting menu. Later today we have tickets to see the Rockies at Coors Field.  

Columbia State Park

 With one last look out the window of our room at Half Dome, we checked out of the Ahwahnee this morning about 8:30. We drove two hours to Columbia State Park. This was one of the prominent places in California for the discovery of gold in 1850.

Some of the town buildings still stand today, many with the same purpose as before. Such as the Bowling Saloon, the apothecary and the Wells and Fargo office for trading in your gold. Although sadly, we didn't find any. They have a free daily tour of the town where you learned about the history of the town. There is no admission and free parking. Definitely include this as a stop when you visit this area.

We had planned for lunch somewhere in Murphy's, but our tour guide raved about the pizza at the St Charles Saloon so we were persuaded. They had a great beer list. I tried the Apricot Wheat and Angie had the Must Be The Honey from Belching Beaver. Both really good!! For lunch we had an amazing pickle pizza!!

A delicate garlic white sauce topped with prosciutto and sliced dill pickles. I'd only had pickle pizza once before last year at the Indiana State Fair. It was decent but the St Charles version knocked it out of the park. Great crust, balanced sauce and the brininess of the pickles brought out even more flavor in the sauce.

After lunch we headed to Calaveras State Park to find some sequoias. It was a bust. The North Grove trail was partially closed and we couldn't find a parking spot. We took a little scenic drive around the park. Here's a photo of us with NOT SEQUOIAS.

We headed to the Best Western in Angels Camp. We decided just to grab some meat and cheese at the grocery store and call it.

Yosemite: Valley Floor and Glacier Point

We had a morning tour of the Valley Floor. Lots of scenic views of El Capitan (or frequently referred to as El Cap), a very popular 914 meter cliff face which is very popular for climbing. And of course perhaps the most famous mountain here, Half Dome, named that way since it looks like a sphere was cut in half.

After the tour we took a walk to Yosemite Falls which usually is dry in August. But they had a huge storm one week ago which turned on the faucet!!

In the afternoon we took an eighty minute bus ride to Glacier Point for more views of Half Dome, Nevada Falls and Ventral Falls. This wasn't our best tour. The guide talked for 80 minutes on the way up and 80 minutes on the down about whatever he wanted. It was a good view at the top.

We had dinner in the lounge. Then, we watched the sunset over Half Dome. This is what makes it worth paying more to stay at this hotel. 

Yosemite Day 1

We had a great breakfast at Con Azucar Cafe. The coffee was fantastic and the avocado toast was delicious.

 We headed to the airport to pick up a rental car and drove from Sacramento to Yosemite!! Our first stop on the way was the Lodi Wine Center. We will definitely be coming back here. Wonderfully curated wine tasting. We picked up some bottles for our Yosemite stay.

Then, we headed towards Yosemite. We stopped at California's Oldest Bar: Iron Door Saloon for some delicious wings and burgers. 

Then, it was a windy, up and down drive to the Park. 

We checked into the Ahwahnee and this was our view of Half Dome from the room: 

We headed to Yosemite Valley Lodge's Mountain Room for a great mussels and trout dinner.