Winter in wonderland

Readers will recall my love of trains: European trains, Canadian trains, Lionel electric trains.  Even Amtrak!

Tomorrow morning, I once more board the Coast Starlight for points south.  To Yosemite.  Yosemite, you gasp?  Do trains run to Yosemite?

Well, no.  Trains don't, not into the Park.  But Amtrak does, through the magic of connecting buses.  I'll take the Coast Starlight as far as Sacramento, where I disembark at the ungodly hour of 6:30 a.m. (assuming -- always a dangerous assumption -- that it's on time).  A shuttle bus then takes me a few miles south to Stockton, where I jump onto a San Joaquin, heading south from the East Bay. I leave the San Joaquin at Merced, and board an Amtrak bus that will take me to Yosemite Valley, directly to the Ahwahnee Hotel.

Ah, yes.  The Ahwahnee.  Perhaps the crown jewel of the lodges offered anywhere by the National Park Service, one equaling in quality the excellent lodges found in the Canadian national parks.  As its web page proclaims:

The Ahwahnee was specifically designed to highlight its natural surroundings, featuring Yosemite Falls, Half Dome and Glacier Point. The destination of queens and presidents alike, this distinctive Yosemite hotel offers a perfect balance of history, hospitality and elegance.

Hardly the sort of place in which I'd ordinarily pass the night in a national park.  But this trip is special.  A family gathering, to celebrate Barton and Clinton's .... birthday.  Well, let's not embarass the twins by announcing their age publicly.  We'll just say that, as birthdays go, it's an important landmark.

So.  I'm about to pack.  A friend writes to advise me that I really should pack a sports jacket if I'm staying in the Ahwahnee.  A sports jacket!  In a national park?  The outdoorsman in me rebels.  As does the logic of a practical packer! How will I squeeze a cotton sports jacket (I know, I know, but it's all I have handy) into my bag without crushing the soul and spirit out of it?

Oh, hush, you barbarian.  You're not going camping.  It's a rare and special event at a magnificent and special place.  It won't hurt you to dress up a little.

Yosemite, here I come.  Temperatures in the low 20s are forecast.  I look forward to seeing your Half Dome dusted with snow, your many waterfalls brilliant with icicles.