I’m sharing part II of our Yosemite trip and a few pictures from a day in San Francisco with my family.  Yesterday’s post featured pictures from our first two days at the National Park and today I am giving you a look at the historic Wawona Hotel and the giant Sequoias in the Mariposa Grove.

The hotel was about a forty minute drive up into the mountains from the valley floor.  We stopped to take pictures of the main structure and the cottages on the property and decided to stick around for lunch.  It was the best meal that we had during our three days at the park.  I had homemade tomato basil soup and a little bit of Chris’ roasted turkey club sandwich with avocado.

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I’m back to my normal routine this week after a fun week with my parents are older brother last week.  They stayed for 8 days and I had a jam-packed schedule for them.  Normally I let our guests relax but it was my brother’s first visit to California and he had a lot of sites on his wish list.  He wanted to see Pebble Beach, Carmel, Monterey Bay, Yosemite, Big Trees, Tahoe, and San Francisco and I tried my best to fit everything in.

Yosemite was definitely the highlight of the week, we spent 3 days at the National Park.  None of us had been there before and we couldn’t believe how beautiful and magical it is.  My pictures hardly capture how grand it really is, there is a stunning view around each bend and all of the waterfalls were running full force.  It really seemed surreal at times.

Because the park can be so busy this time of year I set up our reservations to stay back in January.  I did a lot of research and ended up finding a great room for us at Yosemite View Lodge.  We had a two room suite with two bathrooms a kitchen and a large balcony over the river.  The lodge had a nice restaurant where we had breakfast and dinner and we were able to pack a cooler with lunch goodies.  I would highly recommend staying at the lodge, it is just a few miles from the north gate of the park.

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Chris and I headed up to Napa for a quick trip late last week and we had such a great time.  We wanted to get up there before it gets too crowded this summer and before the winter special ends at Indian Springs Resort.  They offer discounted rooms and free mudbaths from January to April.

Business is going really well for Kuzak’s Closet and it is just going to get busier so it was good timing to go.  I needed a few days to chill out.  April is already full booked with organizing sessions and 4 estate sales and May is booked out until the last week, crazy!  I am so blessed to be able to get paid to do what I love!

I brought my DSLR camera to Napa but I never got it out of the case.  Instead I snapped pictures on my phone so I could edit them in Instagram.  On this trip we hit all of our favorite places and tried a few new restaurants and wineries along the way.

This is the picture I took after we dropped Harper off at Klub K-9 Doggie Daycare, I was so excited to hit the road!  We made it in record time, only a 90 minute drive…

Our first stop (after some brief Napa outlet shopping) was at Bottega.  It is my favorite place to splurge on a great meal.  Everything on the menu is great!  We had grilled short rib meatballs, calamari, spring risotto, lamb pasta and homemade donuts, yum!

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Besides our time spent on the beach my favorite excursion in Maui was attending a luau called The Feast at LeLe.  Most luaus take place at the resorts and there are long lines and tons of people, the Feast is different because you have a private table.

The event was right on the ocean with a great sunset view.  When we walked into the luau we were greeted with leis and mai tais, you can’t get better than that!

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I had way too many good meals in Maui and now I’m paying the price, none of my pants can zip!  Today I wanted to share some of the tasty treats with you!

There was a beautiful fruit stand outside of Lahaina that I thought we had to stop at.  Maui used to produce a ton of pineapples and the company that farmed them went bankrupt so now there is a much smaller supply of pineapples that they call Maui Gold.  They are really bright on the inside, tart and sweet.  I wanted to buy one but I knew we wouldn’t be able to cut it at the hotel so I asked the man running the stand and he said he could cut and wrap it for us.  It was a nice snack throughout the week.  I was tempted to bring a few home but I had to be realistic, it would take us a long time to eat 5 pineapples!

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Our trip spanned 8 days so I wanted to have a few outings on the schedule that would keep us busy.  I love spending time on the beach but I also think it is important to learn a little about the place I’m visiting .  Before we left our travel agent Kathy from At Leisure Travel sent us a packet with day trips and activities to do while on the island.  She has been there several times so she was a great resource and was able to go over the packet with us over the phone and give her opinions regarding the options.

Chris spotted “Ride Down the Volcano” on the list and decided he HAD to do it.  It involved us getting picked up from our resort at 3am so we could drive for 90 minutes to the top of Haleakala, the large volcano/crater on the island.  Once we arrived on the top we were given warm coats, pants, and gloves (it was 40 degrees on top) and we stood at the very top to wait for the sun to rise.  The wait seemed like it last forever, it seems so quick when it sets!

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