El Capitan Hotel

On May 23, 2024, I wrote that the night before I did my final check to see if I had packed three backpacks correctly. I did a bunch that night and I knew I was pushing it. I went to sleep pretty late.

I left at 10:30 on BART that morning. I was very fortunate because I missed a bus and my bikeshare bike was hard to manage with so many bags. I also had trouble finding a bikeshare dock. The whole thing made me very emotional.

My boys were looking for me when I arrived at Emeryville station. Their mom had a couple of extra bits for them to carry and that put me on edge because I had to repack. However, knowing I was on time for my train cooled my agitation. I bought coffee and a muffin. I let it go and I figured there was no use beefing with her. We boarded the San Joaquin train with the boys just fine and she took a picture of us.

Once we were comfortable I got better. I had my coffee and a cold brew from the fridge back home. I snapped a picture of the stop and took the boys to the café Car at Stockton for a hotdog. We settled in with iPads until Turlock. Then we packed and got off at Merced station. One of my boys absolutely hated the 11 block walk to El Capitan Hotel and I gave him too much flack for it.

When we checked in, I set them up in their bed with iPads and had a cup of coffee in the lobby. At 4:30 we walked over to investigate the Yosemite Area Regional Transit System office (aka YARTS) a block away. While I had looked at the schedule online and knew how easy it is to catch the bus there, I felt it was necessary to make doubly certain.

After that we ate at the hotel’s restaurant. I was happy with the beet salad. My boys ate most of their chicken tenders and grilled cheese. We then went for a walk to eat ice cream at Bob Hart Park and visit the park in front of the Merced county courthouse. We did pull-ups and other exercises along the par course there.

The boys enjoyed the walk. I told them some day they would ask about this trip and I’d say I didn’t remember. I also tried to run away, but they took my hand and held it really tightly and wouldn’t let go. I noted to them they were seven after all.

We walked back to the hotel via the UC Merced downtown campus and then entered through the back. Upstairs, we wound down alone together, and I kept reminding them to go to sleep. Finally, I was alone and got my stuff together to write and have a beer.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.