Yosemite Trip: Day Six - El Portal

I stayed at the Yosemite View Lodge in El Portal last night. The Yosemite View Lodge is a nice hotel with a superb location, just two miles form the west entrance to Yosemite Park.
The Yosemite View Lodge is situated right along the banks of the Merced River. I stayed in a river view room last night and I was truly shocked just how close the lodge is to the river. From the deck on the back of my room, the only thing separating me from dipping my toes in the icy cold waters of the Merced River was a thin sidewalk about 3 feet wide.
I wish it was summer instead of the middle of January, I would have left my sliding glass door partially open so that I could’ve fallen asleep to the relaxing sound of the rushing water of the Merced. Unfortunately to have done so last night would have frozen me out.
The Yosemite View Inn has a nice restaurant on the property, one of the nicest restaurants I have seen in the area, (without driving back down to the Yosemite Valley floor. I was tempted to go there this morning to have breakfast, but I cannot take the time, I need to get started down the road toward Mariposa. There are still a few lodging properties that I need to visit before I drive back down to Fresno to catch my plane.
My plane does not leave until around 4:00 pm, but I need to be at the airport by 2:00 pm and the only experience I have had driving through Fresno is five days ago when my plane first arrived here, and that was in the middle of the night, and I was following one of my traveling partners who has been to this area before and knew where he was going. I want to leave myself at least a half an hour or so to find my way back to the airport once I get back down to Fresno.
The Yosemite View Lodge is located in the center of a canyon, and the sun has not made it’s way to the top of the surrounding mountains yet this morning, so Yosemite View Lodge is still shivering under a glaze of ice and frost.
As I drive I am trying to figure out how exactly El Portal was able to be classified as a town. I’m not seeing much of a town around here, at least not one that is easily visible from Highway 140. Perhaps there is more of the town tucked behind the trees on the other side of the river or something but so far I haven’t seen too much outside of the two hotels, and the little gas station which I just passed. The Cedar Lodge like the Yosemite View has it’s own restaurant on the property, so guests of the lodge don’t have to look far to find a hearty breakfast or a satisfying dinner.
Though not as big as the Yosemite View Lodge, the Cedar Lodge is quite large at 211 rooms. Like Yosemite View, Cedar Lodge is broken up into several separate complexes scattered across the property.

The Cedar Lodge must own the property on both sides of the highway, because the lodge itself, along with the restaurant and gift shop is across the highway on the opposite side from the river. On the river side of the highway, the Cedar Lodge has created a beautiful park area with several park benches, gazebos, and statues. It is really very nice and would be very lovely and peaceful during the spring and summer months. I spend a few moments photographing the lodge and park area, and then I have to get back on my way.
At the side of the highway in front of the Cedar Lodge, there are several road construction signs warning that there is a detour ahead and I should expect a wait time of 15 to 20 minutes. Great… there goes any chance I had of having some free time to chill in Mariposa while I am there. I’m going to have to keep it strictly business now, get in, get my photo’s and get back on the road to Fresno, to catch my plane.
Sure enough, another 5 or 6 miles down the road I come upon the detour. Apparently, there was a rock slide on the road ahead and the highway crew has created a temporary bridge which crosses the Merced and connects to a temporary one-lane road on the opposite side of the river. The detour continues for a little less than a mile, before crossing back across the Merced over another makeshift bridge to reconnect with Highway 140 on the other side of the landslide area.
The remainder of the trip down to Mariposa is a pleasant drive. The road is pretty curvy and skirts the Merced for much of the trip.
Mariposa is a fantastic little mountain town. One of the first properties that I see as I enter Mariposa is the Miners Inn. The hotel and restaurant take up an entire city block and it is located right on the corner of the first major intersection that you see as you enter Mariposa from the north. The Miners Inn is a nice comfortable hotel with a lot to offer. There is a very nice family-style restaurant on the property and a nice gift shop near the front desk where you can buy souvenirs, collectibles, even a nice selection of wine.
The rooms at the Miners Inn range from very nice King Spa Rooms with Kitchenettes to simple but comfortable standard double rooms.
Several hundred feet further down Highway 140, Mariposa’s downtown boasts an old-fashioned main street where early twentieth century storefronts line both sides of Highway 140.
By now the sun is high in California’s deep blue sky, and the temperatures have risen drastically from what they were this morning. My time here is very limited, but I can’t resist the urge to shed my coat and take a quick walk down Mariposa’s old fashioned main street.
The downtown consists of several shops, restaurants, and offices. There is a quaint pizza shop at the south end of town that I wish I had time to eat lunch at, but I have to get going.
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1:30 pm - The rest of the trip down to Fresno is sunny and nice. I arrive in Fresno with about a half an hour to spare, just as I had planned.
I check my rental car back in, and get my boarding pass from the Delta counter and then join the rest of my party at one of the airport restaurants. We have about an hour and a half to kill before we board the plane. It is sunny and warm as our plane flies out of Fresno. The drive from Mariposa down to Fresno seemed so long on the road earlier, now seeing the landscape from this vantage point the Sierra Mountains look so close and so vast. As our plane passes over the mountains far below I see several alpine lakes tucked away in high mountain valleys. I wonder how long these alpine jewels remained hidden away from the world before man discovered them.

By the time our plane arrives in Salt Lake City, it is dark and cold. We have another three-hour layover here just as we did on our flight out at the beginning of the week. We all decide to go over to Finnigan’s Restaurant for appetizers and a round of drinks to pass the time.
When it comes time to board our flight home, we all of the sudden realization that our boarding gate is not in the spot next to the restaurant where we thought it was. Instead, it is all the way down on the opposite side of the airport, and they just called the final boarding call for the last flight of the day to Kalispell. We have to run or we are not going to make our flight.
I didn’t realize just how large the Salt Lake City airport was until I had to run from one end of the airport to the other in order to catch my plane. By the time we get to our correct gate, it is empty. The tunnel door is closed and the boarding pass agent has already left the area. Oh, great…we missed our flight…now we're going to have to spend the night here.

One of my traveling partners runs down to the nearest gate that has a boarding pass attendant and tries her best to get them to radio the plane and tell them to let us on, but to no avail. The rest of us are trying to wave the pilot down to let him know that there are six more passengers that need to board the plane.
Although the tunnel door is closed up tight, the door on the plane has not been closed yet, so we are still hopeful that we can get on the plane. At first, it looks pretty hopeless. We are waving like mad to get the attention of the pilot, but it doesn’t seem to be working. It looks like we might have to spend the night down here in Salt Lake…no … wait, we just got a quick wave and the thumbs-up sign from the pilot. Whew…that was close, but we are going to be able to fly home tonight after all.

A delta attendant comes down and reopens the tunnel door for us and we board the plane, amidst a few frowns from our fellow Delta passengers. An hour later we touch down back home in Kalispell where the temperatures are a stark contrast from the fifty-degree temperatures that I left earlier this morning. It is the single digits back up here in northern Montana.
It feels good to be home, but I am eagerly anticipating the possibility of my next trip, wherever it may take me.
Thanks for reading.
We’ll talk again soon Ryan Becker