It was Laura who had the grand idea of renting a house instead of staying in hotel rooms.  We had a great house, about 15 miles from the Valley and high up in the snow.

Lots of snow.  It was pretty, actually, but there was lots of it.  At least the roads were clear.

You couldn't see around curves for all the snow, but the roads were clear.

Our house was named "Scenic Wonders."  Pretty accurate.

It was a nice house.  Big, too.

It even had a hot tub complete with mermaids!

And pretty scenery.

Someone's in the kitchen with Patty ....

Laura's car and Cindy's car and Bill's car.

That gas grill made some great burgers.

The scenic wonders would have been even more wonderful if there hadn't been so many trees in the way.

Nice place.

And if you squinted between the trees there really was a scenic view.

And snow.  Lots of snow.

Peg likes the view.

Patty likes the view.

And Bill likes to show off his "Go Climb a Rock" T-shirt.  His original, purchased in 1973, wore out long ago.  He loved that shirt.  I think he made this trip just to get a replacement.

Peg took a picture of pine needles.

And another picture of a pine tree.

Oh, boy!  Patty is cooking!

She's preparing the huge artichokes she bought at a street market in Palo Alto the morning we left for Yosemite.  The idea is to re-create the artichokes they serve at Carmine's Italian Restaurant just up the street from Bill in Washington.  Carmine's is a big restaurant and they serve big portions of ordinary Italian food.  There's almost nothing on the menu to impress foodies Patty and Bill except their artichokes.  Mmmm.  So Patty is going to try to create something similar.

Mmmmmm.  Nice job, Patty.

Oh boy, a jigsaw puzzle.  That oughta keep everybody occupied for awhile.

Cindy and Charles text each other.

Cindy and Bill smile for the camera.  Nice shirt, Bill.

OK, everybody, let's play a game.  How about Foodie Fight, a Trivial Pursuit all about food?  We played that last night.  Ok, then, how about actual Trivial Pursuit?  And tomorrow night, Taboo?  We played a game every night and had much fun.

We also had much fun eating.

We had a fireplace and Charles did a great job of keeping the fire going.  We stayed warm in our big house.

Cindy and Charles are spied upon from above.

Laura and Liz and Greg at the dining room table.

Tammy looks surprised to be caught in the kitchen.

Look!  Charles has almost finished the puzzle!

Greg and Bill are making breakfast.  Actually this is Greg's production and Bill is merely helping out by frying three pounds of bacon.  Mmmm, bacon.

Meanwhile, Greg is making his famous French toast. 

Bill drops slices of pork into an ocean of grease.

Don't mess with Greg when he's making French toast.

Just a few more pieces to go.

Liz celebrates a table with no jigsaw puzzle.

Cindy and Patty are great cooks.

These are Bill's favorite nieces.

Cindy reads a Trivial Pursuit question while Peg thinks.

Bill thinks he knows all the Trivial Pursuit answers.

But somebody else won the game.  Not fair.