The Eagle Has Landed: POTUS in Yosemite—Late Night Sky Fun

So some of you may have heard that President Obama and his family came to visit Yosemite over Father’s Day Weekend. This was the first presidential visit since JFK came in the 1960s. Trust me, weekends are already a mess, so this created what I’m going to consider a giant headache for everyone. Stress levels—through the roof.

Aramark issued a statement to its employees saying that we were not to discuss any of the details of the president’s trip with anyone nor could we speak to the media. Tourons asked us all the time when he was coming and where he was going. Some of them understood that we couldn’t talk about it. A woman at the grill winked at my friend Abby, leaned in closer, and repeated the question multiple times. Take a hint lady—we really can’t comment.

They basically closed down the roads into the park and re-routed traffic from the highways that go through Yosemite. When I went to church in Lower Pines on Sunday morning, I had to take a different trail because the one behind the Ahwahnee was closed off by Secret Service. Depending on where the president was, you basically had to re-route your plan to get somewhere. Must think he’s special or something. :)

The perk of him coming was that the put up additional temporary cell towers, so I had great service for a while! Usually I can only get service when I’m in Yosemite Village, and service is really hit or miss everywhere else, but while those towers were up—I was good to go wherever. Pretty sweet.

Secret Service arrived on Wednesday which was a huge headache for our housekeeping crew over at Half Dome Village. There were only four people cleared by the SS background check to be in their rooms, so one of our inspectors and one of our roomskeepers did ALL of their rooms AND Sabas wasn’t told until Wednesday morning that they were coming or where they’d be staying. They ended up staying over in Boys’ Town (former employee housing now closed due to an environmental agreement), so all Wednesday people had to take stuff (cots, blankets, towels, etc.) out to Boys’ Town for the Secret Service.

On Monday, Sabas’ manager must have been really stressed out because the lifeguards got in trouble and got kicked off the pool deck for allegedly playing cards. (P.S. We weren’t playing cards.) Management wanted us to look professional if el presidente was coming, so that caused some issues for the week. Hard to see the pool from the picnic table outside by the bathrooms…

I wasn’t one of the people that followed his every move, so I honestly can’t tell you what he did while he was here. Read the media reports if you want that. All I know is—now he’s gone and there are less people hiding behind trees in the Ahwahnee meadow. ;) It was actually really funny how some of the Secret Service people tried to make themselves look inconspicuous. I met two in the Ahwahnee one morning while using the internet and drinking hot chocolate and they were dressed in blue polos and khaki pants. So ummm…you’re in a national park? Nice try. There were also a bunch who came in on Wednesday who were wearing Hawaiian shirts. We laughed about that for a long time.

I don’t know whether the Obama family came to Yosemite because they wanted to, if it was a publicity/PR thing tied to the NPS 100^th birthday celebration, or a combination of both. It was cool that they chose to come here and I hope they were able to enjoy their stay in somewhere that I consider to be peaceful. I know they’re probably used to all the people that follow them around, but I know that I wouldn’t be able to handle that—nor would I be able to handle all of the security surrounding me every step of the way. I bet Obama never gets to hike with just his pals Billy Joel and Elton John. Poor guy. In a way I feel sorry for him and his family.

On a complete side note—I just got back from my friend Miles’ star talk and it was really good! So if you’re in the valley on a Monday-Wednesday (I think), you should definitely go listen to him. He’s a fantastic storyteller and I learned a ton!

—I don’t know where you buy the tickets from, but they’re like $7ish for a non-employee. The tour meets at the Lower Yosemite Fall shuttle stop (#6) at 9:00 and it lasts until 10:00.

—Side note to my side note—there was a couple from Iowa City at Miles’ talk. Small world.

Today the full moon fell on the summer solstice so it was so incredibly bright and all of the mountains and falls were illuminated. The park was beautiful! (Not that it isn’t beautiful all the time—because it is.) So when a new moon happens, there’s a moonlight valley floor tour that takes place on Sunday night at 10:00 pm. Well, Shelby and I were looking for something to do, so Miles invited us to go with him and his parents on this tour. We were waiting for another friend, then ended up not waiting for him, and by the time we biked to the Lodge, it was 9:59 and we asked where we could buy two employee tickets. The guy looked at us, looked at the ticket guy who was on the phone, and he told us to just go park on bikes and hop on. :D $24 for non-employees, $12 for employees, and free for Bethany and Shelby. Sweet. It was an NPS Ranger-led tour, and our guide talked to us the whole time and told us lots of really interesting information! I really just love to learn new things. The tour went over to Tunnel View (weird, I was just there), and the view was just as incredible at night as it was during the day! I wish I could show you pictures of everything I saw, but I can’t because they all turned out black, no matter what settings I put my camera on. Like I always say, “A for effort, F for results.” What’s important though is that they’re in my head and I got to see it all in person. If you wish to do the same, you’ll have to come visit! I strongly recommend viewing different parts of the valley during the day AND at night. You get very different perspectives and they’re both really beautiful.

Well, that wraps up this post ladies and gents. Bottom line—don’t try to visit Yosemite when POTUS is here and enjoy the starry version of nightlife at Yosemite. :)
(Visit go.wh.gov/ParksTrip for info/pics from their trip.)