Dilip 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.