Day 11

Let's just say last night was not a great night. Two in the morning, I was awakened by a noise that sounded like the crinkling of a food wrapper. I was deeply asleep. I woke Joe up. He claimed it was the styrofoam cooler with the ice melting in it. Didn't make sense to me, but I thought I was dreaming it. Ten minutes later after falling back asleep, I heard it again. This time Joe heard it. He got out of bed to investigate (the man's job.) I told him I suspected it came from the dresser where we had left a half eaten bag of corn chips (last night's dinner.) He did a look around, and a shake up of things, with no answers to be had as to what the noise was. Then he looked at our styrofoam cooler that we had sitting on the floor. Sure enough! A rodent of some sort had been chewing on the corners of the cooler! SOB! Pieces of styrofoam littered the floor! Now that there was positive proof that we were sharing a room with a rodent, I just know I am not going to be sleeping until he is taken care of. I called the front desk. Maybe they can set up a mouse trap for us. Of course, no one answered. Joe is now clearly annoyed by the entire situation. Thinks I am being a baby. I'm feeling fearful that the rodent could climb into our bed. Joe says that won't happen. I told him about my Grampa who told the story of waking in the middle of the night once, to see a rat staring him in the face, as he lay on his chest. Joe says it must have been during the Depression and surely that couldn't happen now. Not sure of that logic. At any rate, with no support from the hotel front desk, and apparently, my husband, I set off to devise a plan of my own to catch this critter. I took our blue recycling container and emptied it out. The I took a handful of fragrant, yummy corn chips and placed them into the bottom of the blue container. Next, I laid it on its' side where the cooler used to be. Then, Joe and I laid in bed in wait. A few minutes go by. A noise was heard somewhere, not sure where. Joe sprang out of bed to tip the blue container up, capturing the rodent. Instead, we discovered that the rodent had out smarted us and quickly, and quietly, taken his corn chip back to his/her home in the cozy base board hot water heater in our room! We could hear him munching away. Joe is now even more annoyed. Mad at me for poking him and mouthing words to him about what was going on and what he needed to do about the container. At any rate, I had him move the container closer to the bed so he could reach it quickly without scaring the rodent off. Again, we lay in wait. Now we hear the rodent, not in the blue container, but closer to the head of our bed. I poke Joe. And, mouth to him, "I think the rodent is by the head of our bed." He tries tipping the blue container up, hoping for a capture. No such luck. He tells me to be quiet that I am scaring the rodent before he can be captured. He tells me that if I poke him one more time, he will be angry. To me that is not too scary. So we wait. We can hear the rodent munching on a corn chip in the base board heat. We wait some more. Now the rodent, with his full belly, is ready for a nap, and we don't hear from him again. Joe announces that he is wide awake. He takes out his computer and starts working on ebay, or Kodak, or what ever, I am not sure what he is doing. I try and sleep, but keep thinking about the rodent getting into bed with us. I lay there, unable to sleep. Finally, at four a.m. (with the rodent now deeply asleep) I say to Joe, let's try and go to sleep. He says, "I suppose you mean with the light on". I'm like, of course with the light on. He agrees, but reminds me he will be angry if I poke him again. Some how we manage to fall asleep for two hours. Now we wake up our stretch of early morning, wake up early to beat the crowds is broken and no rodent is in the blue recycling bin! I walk over the the base board hot water heater and give it a good hard kick! How do you like that, you rodent!? Sorry, are we disturbing your sleep!? Then, I got nervous because I could hear him stirring, and was afraid he would come running out. I tell you, I was not sorry to check out of that place! I told them at the front desk about our resident rodent. They said, "Oh yeah, it is cold out. They like to come in where it is warmer."

The rest of the day was uneventful. A pleasant ride to Yosemite Park. Stopped along the way at Target so I could pick up a new book to read. Somehow, I have managed to go through two books on this trip. Normally, I might read a book a month. Now I am peeling through them at great speed. The views were beautiful. Lots of groves of fruit, nut trees, golden fields, and magnificent mountain views.

We did a short hike through some groves of sequoias and burnt out groves of trees. Well traveled and no scary wildlife. Did see two mule deer. Lots of chipmunks. Some squirrels. Had an interesting conversation with our shuttle bus driver. Says lately they are seeing 80% of their riders are European's visiting our country because the dollar is worth so little to them! He also gave us a good tip on what to see and do tomorrow, so we are excited about what is to come then.

Our hotel is an old lodge in Wawona, right in Yosemite Park. In its' day, it must have been magnificent. Now, it is sadly in state of disrepair, but still filled to capacity. There are several, large cottages on the property and well as a golf course. Many of the rooms share a bathroom/shower with other rooms. Joe wisely upgraded us so we would have our own bathroom given that we are tired from our rodent encounter last night and feel the need for the comforts of an upgrade. The "lobby" is magnificent. A check in area, and two sitting areas. One has a fire going in the fireplace. Every night they have a piano player playing and entertaining while families wait their turn to be called in a for dinner reservations (very pricey menu.) Joe and I sat out on the porch. We ordered a drink and an appetizer, a California cheese sample platter with chutney and bread. It was lovely sitting out on the white wicker furniture people watching, enjoying the sunset. We chatted with a family from Massachusetts. They were taking their annual visit to CA where they have family. They have been here numerous times and had some interesting stories of their travels to share. Later, we went in to listen to the piano player. There were chairs, sofas, and love seats all around. All occupied. Lots of atmosphere here. People were having drinks a playing board games, waiting for their names to be called for dinner. I said to Joe that one hundred years from now, this will probably be a museum (not unlike the colonial museum we visited by the river today.) They will tell visitors how, years ago this room was a room where people who were waiting for dinner used to sit, play board games, and have a drink or two.