Las Vegas Corflu & Yosemite
by Gary Mattingly

I should write something about the last convention I attended. This was combined with a visit with Patty's parents and a trip to Yosemite. It was an interesting trip.

Patty's parents spent the winter in Lake Havasu and were to fly back to Michigan from Las Vegas. Patty likes gambling a lot more than I do. For the most part I don't like the lights and noise of Las Vegas. My luck at gambling is bad. I gain no joy in the playing. Fortunately Patty usually either breaks even or wins. Patty's parents enjoy the slots. Patty spent much time with them over this weekend. This was a good thing. This was the last vacation she would spend with her mother. Her mother died five weeks later.

Although I spent some time with them I spent more time at the convention and exploring Las Vegas. Patty had been there before. The hotel was in the older downtown section of Las Vegas. One time I walked from there to the newer hotels. Another time I went with Jay and Dixie.

Notes written then would have been very helpful now. I can remember riding at least one or two rides and the changing ceiling at the same place that had the moving statues. I attended the parties at Corflu during the evening, a few of the panels and the banquet. It was an enjoyable convention but for some reason or another I felt moderately detached. They even had a good hot sauce, Buffalo Chipotle.

After our visit in Las Vegas we drove Patty's parents' car to Yosemite. That was an interesting ride. They have a large American station wagon. It was meant for the open highway, not curving mountain rides. We made it. Yosemite is great. This was also another first. Despite having lived in California for over ten years, this was my first visit to Yosemite. We stayed in the Ahwahnee hotel, which is inside the park. It is a very comfortable hotel. I like eating breakfast there more than dinner. You are supposed to wear dress clothes and a tie (if you are a male) at dinner. Whereas if you show up early for breakfast you have two or three people waiting on you and you get good food too. Let us not forget the really good point. You don't have to wear a tie at breakfast. The dinner was okay but not worth the price we paid. Maybe they just were having a bad night. The service at dinner also was not very good. Maybe it was because it was early in the season.

Being there early in the season does have its benefits. There aren't as many people. After Las Vegas I did not need many people. There are many magnificent sights in the park. There are a few of these sights that require considerable walking. I walked part of the way. We also took a bus tour to get a quick view of the major attractions. At one stop the tour guide pointed out the people climbing up the side of a cliff.

It did rain one day we were there. It also snowed. Like I said, it was early in the season. When we arrived it was warm and we walked around without coats. When we left, it was cold. Yes, we enjoyed several seasons over several days and it wasn't even due to modern technology. As we left the park, we could see the helicopters and rescue crews trying to save the aforementioned cliff climbers. We did not get to see any small children swept down the raging streams fed by the melting snow.