Because I only have a week and a day left in the park, I
figured I’d better just combine everything that I have remaining to tell you
about into one post. Crazy to think about how soon I’ll be back in Iowa—the
land of no mountains to look at every day. It’s a very surreal feeling.
Red=stores, Purple=employees only, Blue=Other
A: Yosemite Village
Store
By far the largest store in the valley, the Village Store
has a few aisles of groceries, including a frozen section and a hot section.
They sell area fudge, jams, and coffee beans. About half the store is apparel
and souvenir merchandise. The parking lot also acts as day use parking, but
there’s a good chance it will be full around 9:00 in the morning.
B: Lodge Store
C: Half Dome Village
Store
D: Glacier Point Store
Each of these stores is considerably smaller than the
Village Store; however, if you look super closely, you might be able to find
some merchandise that’s different. The store up in Tuolumne sells different
material, but they don’t get a letter on the map because they’re not on the
map.
Half Dome Village Store
E: Mountain Shop
If you need anything outdoor-related and it’s not generic
enough to be sold at the Village Store, definitely try the Mountain Shop! They
sell all sorts of cool stuff and there are usually some good finds on their
clearance rack! (This was the shop we went to in order to fix my dad’s hiking
boot—a little more permanent of a fix than my paracord laces…). They also sell
tons of guidebooks for all things Yosemite and Sierra Nevada.
F: Ansel Adams
Gallery
If I had hundreds of dollars to spend on wall photos, this
would be the place I would spend it. Despite being a gallery, they have tables
with different books and items on it. It’s a really neat little store and it’s
not operated by NPS or Aramark—it’s privately owned. Again, really, really beautiful art—just go look at it
if you get the chance!
G: Half Dome Village
Pool
H: Lodge Pool
The pool at the Lodge is bigger than the pool at Half Dome
Village—and ours at Half Dome is typically more crowded with kids. They used to
have lap swim over at the Lodge, but for some reason this year they did away
with that. Super unfortunate because now we get complaints about it all the
dang time. Not our fault! (And the HDV pool is too shallow on one end to swim
laps in anyways. It ranges from 2 to 8 feet.)
Half Dome Village Pool
Lodge Pool
I: Chapel
Services at the chapel are on Sundays at 9:15 and 11:00, and
there’s a bible study-like service on Sunday night at 6:30 and Wednesday at
7:00. I know they offer a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints service
at some point on Sunday afternoon and there’s a Catholic mass also—but I don’t
remember when or where those are held. The chapel used to be located at the
base of Four Mile Trail, along with a number of other buildings in a community,
but it was moved in 1901. The Chapel is the oldest building still in use in
Yosemite!
J: Lower Pines
Amphitheater
This amphitheater hosts a number of different programs in
the valley, including the 9:00 Sunday morning ACMNP worship service. ACMNP
stands for A Christian Ministry in the National Parks and they’re a group of
people that hold Aramark positions, but also are part of the ACMNP ministry
team. Fun fact—one of them (Sarah) is from Iowa and went to Abby’s college!
That car was a delight for us to find in the parking lot! :)
K: Yosemite Visitor
Center
I don’t know how much of a description you need for the
visitor center…I went through it in about an hour my first or second day here.
The bookstore there is run by the Yosemite Conservancy. The desk there is where
you can pick up information and talk to the Rangers about what you should do
during your stay.
L: Wilderness Center
Now this is an important place because in order to get your
backcountry permit, you have to come here and talk to these mostly fine
fellows. I believe I explained it already in a recent blog post, so I won’t go
into too great of detail about some of the crazies that spend the night
outside, trying to get the permit they want. If you need any maps, this is the
place to go. If you need help planning any trips, this is the place to go. If
you need to learn about Leave No Trace, this is the place to go. So really…this
is the place to go. Especially if you’re going on an adventure!
M: Post Office
Here you can buy Yosemite envelopes or those National Park
stamps. This is also where USPS mail is delivered to employees. Non-USPS mail
(so FedEx, UPS, etc.) is delivered to the housing office by the Wellness Center
and you have to go get it from there.
N: Community Center
O: Wellness Center
The Wellness Center staff plans employee events that are
held at both the CC and the WC. The CC is located directly east of Huff and the
WC is located directly west of Huff, east of New Housing. The CC has a bunch of
couches, a tv, books and games, pool, foozball, and ping pong. It’s open from
noon-1:00 am. I generally find it to be an extremely dirty and gross place. The
WC has a gym for all of the dedicated employees to work out that like
treadmills and weights instead of/in addition to the great outdoors. There are
yoga classes and a fitness program held in the classroom-ish area. It also has
a giant DVD collection that you can check out. The WC has the best wifi in the
valley. Hands down.
Community Center
Wellness Center
Until next time my friends! Have a great day!
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