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. 

Coast Starlight and Sacramento

 We left the Conrad and headed to Union Station to board the Coast Starlight Amtrak train from Los Angeles to Sacramento. We had a one bedroom and it was fantastic: 

In Sacramento, we enjoyed Field Work Brewing for lunch and then headed to Sutter Health to see the Oakland A's play. It was so fun seeing a major league team play in a minor league ballpark. 

Warner Brothers Studio Tour

 Yesterday morning we had a very fun studio tour at Warner Brothers in Burbank. We stayed at the Best Western Plus on Riverside Drive in Burbank which was only a five minute drive away. We booked the Deluxe Studio Plus tour which includes two hours with a guide and two hours on our own at the museums plus lunch. It started at their lounge where we had it all to ourselves to enjoy some snacks before we met up with our guide Ken. He used to be a camera operator but had become a tour guide about seven years ago. He took us around the various backlot sets which have been used for so many movies and television shows. He would point to a street corner and tell us that is where Chevy Chase drove his car during Christmas Vacation. Or this is where Peter Parker kissed Mary Jane upside down. He was also a very big fan of Gremlins, using that movie more than any others as he would point out where things had been filmed.

The most interesting part of the tour for me was the prop warehouse. It's four floors of what you first describe as a Hoarder House!! But there is an organization to the suspected chaos. Every item is carefully barcoded and tagged. Each area is generally one theme or style of props. Such as one area having a lot of Egyptian statues or art. One area having everything you'd need for the West Wing or any other White House show.

A whole section of any type of phone imaginable. And many famous props such as the leg lamp from Christmas Story or a couch from Casablanca. Some props, including that lamp and the couch, are designated to never be used again. Sort of like museum pieces. Although they are just sitting out, collecting dust. The leather from the Casablanca sofa was thick with dust and cracking. I thought they'd be more preserved. They also have an electronic inventory system where you could search for nearly anything and up will pop a list of what is available and where it's located. The productions will rent out the props for the number of days they feel they'll need it. And the warehouse isn't just for productions filmed at Warner. We saw trucks for other studios pulling up for their pickups.

The studio also has several replica sets of Friends and Big Bang Theory where you can get your picture taken on those iconic coaches. And there is also the famous Friends fountain. Not being a fan of either show, that moment was lost on me. But if you are a fan, you'd really enjoy it. There was also another museum that has interactive sections about sound and sound editing. Plus an impressive collection of some costumes from Batman and Wonder Woman.

We checked into the Conrad Hotel downtown. Loved it. We took their included car service to Union Station to ride the free bus to the Dodgers' game. Another ballpark off the list. It was a beautiful night for baseball.

Los Angeles: Nixon and Reagan museums

 We flew from IND to LAX on Saturday night. On Sunday we got our rental car and continued our Presidential library quest by visiting the Nixon and Reagan libraries. The Nixon one was more memorable and transparent, with a whole exhibit on the Watergate coverup. It was a good bookend for the excellent post-Watergate exhibits they have at the Ford library in Grand Rapids.

The Reagan library wasn't as transparent with only slight mentions about the Iran-Contra scandal. It also had a really strange section featuring all the dictators of the time. It did have the Ronald Reagan Pub although I was disappointed there weren't bar stools or draft beers. The best part was the Air Force One and Marine One you could walk through. We also took a quick look through the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit.

We celebrated all the driving with margaritas at the Mexican restaurant across from our hotel.