Rain, sleet, and ten inches of snow

This morning I woke up in my own comfy bed with the familiar blue-gray sheets and the teal-green-burgundy quilt.  This is a great contrast to where I was on Friday night.

Snow!

Friday night I was in Yosemite with Amos and several of our friends, Luke and Danielle Neuman and Josh and Grace Wheeler.  After traveling six hours in the Neumans' overstuffed Honda, we finally unfolded at our campsite on the Yosemite Valley floor.  The weather was cold but bearable...until the rain started.  Josh, Amos, and Luke rigged up a tarp to cover our already wet picnic table, and we scurried around in various states of discomfort getting food ready and hiding under the tarp.  Deciding to forgo the smores, we drank hot cocoa and crawled in our little tents.

Our tent, after I knocked off the snow

       I commented to Amos that it looked like our tent was holding up well in the rain, which was nice since we couldn't do much about it if the tent decided to leak.  We snuggled down in sleeping bags and under blankets, and fell into a fitful sleep. Two and half hours later, I was outside Luke and Danielle's spacious tent, asking for shelter from our tent-turned-puddle.  Our small tent leaked, and Amos' sleeping bag was wet from the rain and sleet.  We were about to move into their tent when Luke and Danielle discovered their own lake.  They moved into the middle of the tent, and Amos and I headed for their small car.

It was snowing by this point, and at various times in the night I was awakened either by Amos' snoring, the alarm on Luke's forgotten phone, or huge clumps of snow shaking the car.  I steeled myself to emerge at 8:30 and was greeted by eight inches of snow.

Half Dome in the snow

Now, the forecast said rain and snow.  I thought we might get snowflakes that melted on contact or maybe a light dusting of snow.  I was not prepared for eight full inches in the morning and more snow as the day went on.  Luke and Danielle's tent was partially collapsed and soaked from the snow.  The only reason our tent was visible was because I had piled our luggage in the middle before escaping to the car; it was nearly flat under its snow sheet.

In shock and denial, we ate a very nice hot breakfast.  I decided to address the elephant in the room: Where would we sleep that night?  Danielle and I were set against sleeping in puddles or enduring any more cold than we had to.  Amos and Luke agreed.  Josh and Grace had survived in their heavy-duty yet lightweight backpacking tent, but they had to leave early anyway.

My favorite picture of the weekend; click for a larger version

After pushing the cars out of the snowy parking space, trying to add chains to the Wheeler car, and investigating the rather expensive housing options available in the Valley, it was decided that we would all camp at the Wheelers' house in Woodland.  Amos and I dried the group's wet clothes at the housekeeping site, and everyone else made lunch and packed up the campsite in the now slushy, snowy mess.

Josh getting his car out with other campers to help

We made it out of Yosemite and up to Woodland with only a few sliding skids.

On Sunday we dried tents, blankets, sleeping bags, and other paraphernalia on the front lawn and in the backyard. Josh wanted to set up a small cardboard sign that said "Occupy Woodland" but we didn't get around to it.  There were a few strange looks from neighbors, though.

Occupy Woodland!

We cleaned up the front lawn and headed out to the Davis Arboretum, which made for a nice afternoon.  After that we each played games, read, slept, or gardened then had a nice dinner of soup and sandwiches.  The evening entertainment was a game of Clue followed by smores in the fireplace (which is a story for another time).

We left Monday morning, and the whole weekend is now a memory.

A cold, slushy, comedy-of-errors memory with good friends who are now better friends.

One of Grace's tulips

Next time guys, let's camp in July. :)