Ahwahnee Buffet — Yosemite National Park

Posted on July 13, 2012 by kidsviewtravel

John -12

The Ahwahnee Buffet is located in a lodge/hotel in the Yosemite. The hotel is almost 100 years old and is still working. The buffet that we went to was for fathers day. The buffet was during brunch. They had many diffrent foods to eat like fish and shrimp to omletes and cresonts. The buffet has two stations where you get to make and pick the type of food you want. One of the station is and omlete station where you get to pick the type of omlet you want. The othere station is where you get to pick the type of meat you want and the cut it fresh right there. The buffet is expensive with prices that are fifty dollars for adults and twenty five for kids. but the buffet is worth the price. So if you don’t mind paying then you should really try to go.

Hadley-10

The Ahwahnee Buffet is in a lodge/hotel that is almost 100 years old and is still in business. When you get to Yosemite it is located in the valley. You want to make sure that you make reservations becuase the place will get very packed. You will also have bring your money because it is almost 40 dollars a person for the Sunday buffet. The food there though is definitely worth the money. They have a omelet station that you can pick from toppings to put in your omelet. When you go, you want the brunch meal not just breakfast. At the brunch there is more than just breakfast you can get shrimp and a lot more lunch stuff. Plus if you want breakfast stuff, then you can get that too. Those are the reasons we went to the Ahwahnee Buffet.

Barnett-7

The Ahwahnee Lodge is in Yosemite National Park. We did not stay there. We just ate breakfast there. The Lodge is beautiful. It has a ton of fireplaces and is really old. They served hot chocolate and coffee in the lobby – near the restroom. I went to the bathroom twice just to get more hot chocolate. They had a big ice sculpture at the buffet. First in the buffet, you could make an omelet with all of your favorite foods. Then, there was a butcher. He would cut off meat for you to eat. I did not like the roast beef, but the ham was really good. Then there were fresh foods, veggies, shrimp, oysters, probably everything you could ever ask for. It was all good. Biscuits, gravy, and eggs were on another table. Cereal and desserts were on other tables. The service was good, we had a nice waitress. You should try to eat there.

Fireplace

The Buffet

The Ahwahnee Dining Room

Tenaya Lodge — Yosemite National Park

Posted on July 13, 2012 by kidsviewtravel

John-12

Tenaya Lodge is a hotel that is just outside Yosemite National park. Tenya Lodge has regular hotel rooms, and they also have cottages in a different location next to the hotel. The cottages have three apartments in each building. The cottages are a little bit more expensive then the regular hotel rooms. Tenaya Lodge has two restaurants in the main hotel. The first one is called Jackalopes – it’s a place that sells burgers and fish and chips. They also have a restaurant called Embers, but it is really expensive from food that cost ten dollars to food that cost forty-two dollars. They have three pools and one splash pad. One of the pools is in the cottage area so only people who stay at the cottages can swim there. The pool at the cottage area is smaller than the others and the walk over to the hotel is worth it. The outdoor pool they have is connected to the splash pad. The pool is outside and has many toys like foam balls and noodles. The splash pad has sprinklers and water shooters. The splash pad is more for little kids than older kids. The indoor pool has toys like footballs and frisbees. There are also three hot tubs – one in the outdoor pool and two in the indoor pool. If you don’t mind paying a little bit more than you should really try to stay in the cottage area, but the hotel rooms are good too. So, if you are in the area then you really should try to stay there.

Hadley-10

Tenaya Lodge is a hotel that is just outside Yosemite National Park. Tenaya Lodge has a lot of rooms for guests, but there are different rooms you can stay in. One is a house that is cut into three. That has the most room, and that is what we stayed in. It was really nice. Also there they have 2 restaurants. One is for adults and one for families; the food at the family restaurant has pretty good food, so I would eat there because there are not a lot of restaurants in the area. Also if you go in the summer or winter they have a pool – one indoor and one outdoors. There are hot tubs indoors and outdoors too. If you stay near the cottages then they have a restaurant there. It is a pizzeria. Tenaya Lodge is definitely worth the stay.

Barnett-7

Tenaya Lodge has a ton of cottages. Every cottage has three rooms in it. The rooms are have a separate bedroom and bathroom from a living room. In the cottages, one room is on the second floor up high. The rooms are nice and big. The rooms are clean and have a fireplace. They have a pool outdoors and indoors. The outdoor pool is a zero entry pool. If babies go in the pool they can stand in the zero entry water. The pool is nice because they have toys in it to play with. There is also music playing for you to listen to while you swim. The indoor pool has two hot tubs with it. One is for adults and one is for everybody. We even snuck into the adult hot tub – no one else was in it. They have pool toys inside too. There are noodles and footballs. It is a good place, and I would stay there again.

Mist Trail / Vernal Falls / Curry Village

Posted on June 22, 2012 by kidsviewtravel

John–12

Have you ever seen a waterfall, and do you like hiking? Then the mist trail is the thing to do. It is in Yosemite National Park. It is a really steep hike up. The hike up is about a mile, and you come to a bridge with a really good view of white water rapids and of the wildlife of Yosemite. There is also a drinking fountain to refill your water bottles. Then, it is another hard walk up to Vernal Falls. When you are close to the top, there are steep and tricky stairs that are really slick too. It looked easy at first but then when you look over the edge you see straight down to the bottom to the white water rapids. When we made it to the top of the Vernal Falls it was so beautiful that the mist even made a rainbow. The mist also gave off cool water that made us feel so much better. On the way down my sister slipped and almost fell off the side but luckily where she slipped there was a railing which stopped her.

When we finished we were all tired and hungry so we took a bus to Curry Village. There was a buffet and a pizzeria. The buffet is one of the worst places to eat at Yosemite National Park. The pizzeria had really good pizza but their salads were frozen and tasted really bad. As they thawed, the lettuce became slimy like cooked spinach. So, I recommend not getting the salad but getting the pizza instead. My mom took the salads back to let them know to turn the refrigerator temperature down and to quit selling the frozen lettuce, but they acted like she was crazy and didn’t care. They have a bunch of different toppings you can choose from and eat. I recommend going if you like hiking and are in good physical condition. But, I also recommend you packing your own food, because there are not a lot of good inexpensive choices there.

Hadley — 10

The hike to Vernal Falls was hard, but when saw the view it was definitely worth it. Vernal Falls is located in Yosemite National Park; it is near the famous Ahwahnee Hotel. When you get to the parking lot, you need to get there in the morning so that you can get a good parking spot. Once you get there, you can either walk to the starting point which is .5 miles away. But if you just want to hike from the starting trail, then you can take a shuttle which is free – but you might have to wait in a line. From the starting point, it is about a 1 and a half mile hike that is really steep. Once you go about a mile, there is a bridge that you can see the waterfall from. It is a good veiw, but if you want the best view, then you have to hike the extra half mile. At the bridge there is a drinking fountain that you can drink from. If I were you – I would hike the whole trail. (When you get to the top don’t try to touch the water you can drown.)

After the hike your going to be hungry. (I do recommend taking the bus this time because your going to be tired.) You’re going to want to get off at Cury Village to eat. You will want to eat at the pizza place. They have good food there, but you do not want to get the saled. It is frozen and gross. That is the reason I think you should hike Vernal Falls and see Yosemite National Park.

Barnett – 7

We went to Yosemite. There are a lot of waterfalls there. My family hiked one of the waterfalls named Vernal Falls. It is nicknamed The Misty Trail. Part of the way up the hike there is a bridge with a drinking fountain. You can stop there to get a drink and take pictures. Then you have to hike up very small steps to get to the top of the waterfall. The steps are slippery. I slipped and fell, but I caught myself on a small piece of railing. If I fell I would have gone over the edge. Many people have died on this trail. They try to touch the waterfall and get sucked into the undertoe. The view at the top is very pretty.

After you are done hiking, you are hungry. We were. We went to Curry Village to get pizza. The pizza is OK. The salads are not. Ours was frozen. When my mom took it back, the workers still sold them to other people. We also got a pitcher of Mountain Dew and Pepsi. My brothers like to mix the two drinks together. Finally, we went to the gift shop and bought magnets to remember our hike. I would like to do it again. The end.

View of Yosemite

Vernal Falls

Big Tree Tram Tour / Mariposa Grove — Yosemite National Park

Posted on June 21, 2012 by kidsviewtravel

John–12

We had the opportunity to take the Big Tree Tram Tour through Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park. The Giant Sequoia trees are some of the largest trees I have ever laid eyes on. They are in with the rest of the many tall trees at Yosemite. They are the tallest and the widest at Yosemite National Park. The tram ride taakes you through most of the Sequoia trees they have at Yosemite. The tram ride talks all about the history behind the trees and the ones who saved the trees from getting chopped down. It also shows you all the unique trees they had there. Some of the trees that are unique are like the clothespin tree; it looks like a clothespin from the many wild fires they have had there. My favorite tree is the Giant Grizzly. It is one of the largest Sequoia trees, with one limb or branch that is seven feet wide. The other one that is my favorite is one with a hole so big that a pickup truck can drive through it. It cost $26.50 for an adult, $25.00 for seniors, Child $19.00, and children under five are free. I recommend going on the ride instead of walking the few miles to see the entire grove.

Hadley–10

In Yosemite there are big trees called sequoias. They are so big one is 31 feet wide. The tour we did is the only one you can do in that area. It is called the big tree tram tour. On the tour there is a free audio tour that you can listen to. There are 2 stops they make one is near the end and the other is closer to the back of the trail. The first stop is at a small museum. The museum has samples of the pine cones and seeds. You cannot take any of them with you from the park. The second stop is to see the Great Grizzly tree and one of the trees that you can walk completely through. All of the trees they have there are unique — one has been growing for over 4,000 years. One of the other trees is able to have a bug car that can go threw it, but they won’t let you try. That is one of the reason we went to see Yosemite to see these amazing trees.