Book Entry 199: 1992 One of Many Yosemite Trips

We were camping next to my parents in Yosemite.  The trip had held all the regular camping fun.  We went hiking, we fished, we watched coyotes in our campground, we tried to swim in the river but it was too cold to stay long, and we enjoyed one another.

 My dad and Adam started hand feeding a couple little squirrels.  The braver the squirrels got the closer Adam would get to the door of dads trailer house.  Finally, Adam was inside and one of the squirrels continued to come to him taking peanuts from his hands.  Adam laid on the floor and scooted back inch by inch.  The squirrel came closer…inch by inch.  I’m not sure who closed the door but someone did.  Have you ever heard the song “The Mississippi Squirrel Revival” and the words “When the squirrel went berserk?” 

That little squirrel went berserk in the trailer.  He was jumping from the counters to the couch, from the couch to the table, and from the table to the floor.  He flew around the table legs and when the door cracked open he flew out the door.  I've never seen Adam so proud of himself!  I’d never seen him laugh so hard.

Later that afternoon, along with my dad, we loaded up on the double-decker bus and rode the valley loop one afternoon.  We stopped at the market to get supplies for Smores that evening.  When we got back to camp we caught my mom sweeping pine needles from the little stream that ran through our camp.  It made perfect sense, she was cleaning out debris so the kids could play but when we saw her in the middle of the stream with a broom sweeping we all started laughing.  I can’t remember what dad said but it was something that made her feel silly.  When she defended herself we all just kept laughing. 

After a few minutes of bantering back and forth between mom and dad she got so mad she went inside her trailer and slammed the door!  We all sat outside and continued laughing for a very long time.  When things finally calmed down and dad started trying to apologize through the trailer door mom would have none of it.

When dinner time came and we started putting things out on the table mom finally opened her door.  She called to dad to come get their plates and their food to add to ours.  Dinner was tense.  No one mentioned the sweeping incident.  When mom and I started clearing the table dad and Adam started stoking the fire.  It got real quiet like it does in Yosemite Valley in the evenings with only the sounds of nature.  I could hear the river, an occasional bird chirping, and the crackling of the fire.  No one was talking.  I turned toward mom and dad’s trailer only to see Adam standing in the middle of the stream with the broom.  

Needless to say, we had to wait another couple hours before we made the Smores!