Dilip
<
[email protected]> 30 Nov 2020
========================================================================
Arnold, CA
If one were to fly from north to south over the Sierra-Nevada mountain
range, they would fly over lake Tahoe, Stanislaus National Forest and
Yosemitie National Park, in that order. If one had a keen eye, they
would see a single road snake through the Stanislaus National Park
heading east into the mountains. This narrow two lane road that winds
through gigantic trees as it climbs up to a mountain peak at Bear
Valley is the California State Highway No. 4.
Driving east into Stanislaus along CA 4, the last town before entering
the forest is the city of Murphy's. About 30 minutes east of Murphy's
is Arnold, California.
Arnold is not a city. Wikipedia calls it a "Census designated place". I
would describe it as a grocery store, a couple of restaurants, a couple
of gas stations and a bank nobody else has ever heard of - along a mile
of CA 4. The real reason why Arnold, CA exists can be found by taking
one of the narrow exits on CA 4 along this stretch. Little roads that
wind through the forest dotted with cabins, vacation homes, holiday
rental places and even a country club.
My friends and I - Om, Sarmishta and Karthik - spent a weekend at one
of these cabins.
Here is my vacation log:
November 20th (Friday)
----------------------
Took the day off from work. Woke up at 5:30am in the morning to pack
up, take out the trash from my apartment, load the food that we were
taking with us into the car, shower, shave and get ready.
Started at 9:00am. Picked up Karthik in San Jose, then Picked up Om and
Sarmishta in San Fransisco.
Stopped at Olive Garden for lunch in Stockton. Ate breadsticks in the
car.
Reached Arnold at 4:45pm (I'm guessing)
That evening, Om made Pasta and we played a game of Catan[1].
November 21st (Saturday)
------------------------
Drove up the mountain to Bear Valley. About a mile before lake Alpine,
CA 4 was closed. We found a bunch of other cars parked where the road
was closed and we did the same. There was snow on the other side of the
barricades that closed the road. We hiked on this road down to lake
Alpine and spent most of the day there.
We drove down CA 4 around 2:00pm and reached Murphy's after about an
hour. We ate at a place called V - something (the name escapes me now)
and crossed the street over to reach a wine tasting room. Murphy's is
surrounded by vineyards and wine is a big deal at Murphy's - we found
several wine tasting places all next to each other on the same road.
We returned to the cabin and played another game of Catan.
November 22nd (Sunday)
----------------------
We drove out of Arnold around 11am. Most of the day was a boring car
ride back home. After dropping people at their homes in San Fransisco
and San Jose, I finally reached home at 9pm completely exhausted.
Notes:
------
1. I distinctly remember this game being called "Settlers of Catan".
Everyone calls it Catan these days. Even the box said "Catan". I
wonder if they rebranded the game recently.
