A Historic Landmark Hotel at Yosemite

While exploring the different falls yesterday, we decided to go see the Ahwahnee Hotel in the heart of the Yosemite Valley....what a gorgeous hotel! We had a late lunch on the patio...prices were extremely high just for a sandwich and a cup of fruit...15.00 for the sandwich and fruit..but what an atmosphere!   It was a beautiful day to sit outside on the patio, so that's what we did. There's a formal dining room there as well. We didn't check out the prices on that, I can only imagine.

There were a couple of steller jays that kept hanging around the patio, hoping for some breadcrumb tidbits to drop so they could swoop down for the snack.

Steller Jay

As this hotel is a historical landmark and has entertained presidents and other dignitaries, its rated very highly.....the architecture of the hotel makes it fit into the rockiness of the park very well. It has features of several styles of architecture in it...Art Deco, Native American (beautifully stenciled beams and posts everywhere), and the Arts and Crafts movement. I know a little something about each one of these, but it's not important to know, the total result is it all works together and is just absolutely beautiful!

I loved the ten stained glass windows, each with different native American motifs (?), the giant stone fireplaces, and the displays of the huge native American baskets under glass. We explored some of the different rooms on main floor--the mural room, the solarium and we took a peek at the formal dining room with the 34 foot ceiling....WOW!

formal dining room

I took this photo of one of the artifacts hanging on the wall inside the hotel, not realizing I was in the photo with Eldy, too.

It was getting late in the day....time to head home....one more last shot of the steller jay in the late afternoon shadows...