Yoli writes about her getaway trip to California in October, fulfilling several longtime dreams of hers.
In 2002, when I was staying in Harrisonburg, Va., my friend Solange shared with me her travels — how she would watch videos of national parks and then visit them. One of the videos she shared with me was about the giant sequoias, and that started a desire in me to one day visit them.
More than 20 years later, my friend Munaba invited me to visit California with her. Our trip was short, but we squeezed in a lot.
The first day in Fresno we visited the Shinzen Friendship Garden, which had beautiful bonsai tress, and then we walked the rest of the park. We saw several quinceañeras posing for pictures.
The next day we climbed a tour bus that took us to Yosemite National Park. There we saw the impressive Half Dome and El Capitán mountains. The latter was significant because the documentary “Free Solo,” about Alex Honnold climbing the granite mountain without safety equipment, was still fresh in my memory. We also saw the Bridal Vail Fall, the Merced River, and Base Camp, where the crew that filmed “Free Solo” stayed.
I was a little disappointed to learn that the tour would not include a visit to the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. But Munaba thought we could make it, so we drove there. To our surprise, we didn’t have to pay an entrance fee to the park because of the government shutdown. However, there were shuttles running from the welcome center to the trees. We were told the last shuttle left at 6:30 p.m., and make sure not to miss it, otherwise it would be a 45-minute walk downhill.
When we got there, we quickly found trees and started taking pictures. But the more we walked, the more we saw, and we wanted to keep going. After the Grizzly Giant, there was one tree further away with a cut thru, the California Tunnel Tree. I didn’t think we would make it, but there it was, big and impressive. It was so huge and beautiful, a reminder of how small I was. After some pics, we walked as fast as we could, keeping an eye on the time. I was surprised to see people with kids starting their walk to the park when the last shuttle would leave soon. When the bus came, we squeezed in like sardines in a can. Just when we were about to leave, I saw a man coming with a stroller. The bus stopped, but left anyway without the late passengers.
Next we visited Oakland/San Francisco. I have to confess I had little interest in this area except for one place: Acme Bread Co. Two decades ago I saw an episode of “Baking with Julia” where guest Steve Sullivan taught how to bake rustic breads. Since then, I have dreamed of one day eating from his bakery. So, Munaba and I went there and arrived early in line to get bread. But we didn’t know what to get. We peeked through the window, and boy, there was so much to choose from. We asked the friendly people in line who gave us recommendations. For sure I bought the “pain epi”, shaped like a wheat stalk. That was one I used to bake, and one of Jadzia’s favorites. I also got a ham-and-cheese croissant that I ate immediately for lunch, plus a cranberry walnut loaf to take home to St. Louis.
After that, Munaba drove thru San Francisco and we took pictures with the Golden Gate Bridge. On the way back, traffic was really bad. Since we were not familiar with the area, we tried to merge at a bad spot. She made the point that people were not honking at us, but I observed that in St. Louis, despite the honking, we would have been allowed to merge. Oh well, we had to take a longer route back to the hotel.
Once it was time to pack, we had to be creative trying to pack the bread we bought that we wanted to share with our families. Somehow we did it. When I got home, I couldn’t wait to share the delicious bread with my family.
I hope I can have a slower and longer visit to California some day with my family. Maybe hike among the magnificent sequoias … but I have no plans to climb El Capitán.