A combination of high prices and low availability for lodging in Yosemite Valley led me to booking at the historic Wawona Hotel on the south side of the park. Some rooms share a bath; as big spenders, we took one with a private bath. The total cost was a bit over $180 per night.
"Historic" should have been the tip-off. Generally, "historic" means rundown, tired, or not up to today’s standards. Certainly the 125-year-old Wawona Hotel qualifies as historic.
There’s a complex consisting of the main building, an annex, and four small cottage buildings. All have quaint wooden porches that amplify the sound of footsteps and make any wheeled luggage sound like a freight train. There is no television, radio, or air-conditioning. Our bathroom was tiny, with weak water pressure. Walls are paper thin: if someone sneezed next door, people in adjoining rooms would say, "Bless you." Our neighbor was reading "The Firm" by John Grisham… out loud. We thought about knocking on the wall and asking for quiet, but it was a fairly gripping yarn.
For entertainment, there’s a guy playing piano in the lounge from 5 to 9:30pm. It’s pleasant in a really low-key way to sit out on the main building porch listening for awhile, sipping on a drink. We took a night walk out onto the golf course and sat in the dark at the first tee watching a small herd of deer grazing 20 to 30 feet away. At first it was tense - on both sides - but they soon realized we were harmless and we realized we could carry on a normal conversation without bothering them. After 20 minutes, we went our separate ways.
When we return to Yosemite, we’ll try to stay in Yosemite Valley. If that’s a problem, we'll try the bed-and-breakfasts in Yosemite West or El Portal, private land just outside the park boundaries. We won’t be back to the Wawona.