Groveland Quilt Stroll (GQs)

Whoooo Hooo! How colorful can a town look? Just dress it up from end to end with hundreds of home made quilts and then invite the world to come and see them! Groveland's Quilt Guild, a suprisingly 85 member strong group in this little mountain village, pulled off a wonderful show this last weekend and we hope they will do it every year!

Sorry, We're Closed

This is the hardest part of my night. In a business where we really do try to please everyone, there comes that moment at the end of the evening when you are certain to disappoint the late diners arriving just as you are closing the restaurant for the evening. The question is do we disappoint because we sat more dinner patrons and are unable to provide the top level service and food we do for earlier guests, or do we not seat them so their only disappointment is they didn't get sat.

We generally choose to go with the don't seat rule, then nobody can say they had a bad meal. But this does leave folks hungry.

I definitely dislike these moments!

They still want to be linked from Hotel Charlotte

Can you believe it, the gentleman last written about actually has a Yosemite Falls Foutain and a great deal of content about famous waterfalls, including Yosemite Falls. So guess who is linking to the fountain....now that it's legit.

I made my first advertising sale. $50 for a link....Cool!

They want to pay to be linked from Hotel Charlotte?

Imagine my surprise when I received a post from a complete stranger earlier this month asking if I might link to his site and he would pay me $50. I was thrilled! How fun to have a website where folks are offering me money for a link from. Yipppeeee, Hotel Charlotte goes big time, look out Google!

Since I was in the midst of a remodel, putting a new face on the website and updating the content I waited until I was finished to add this new link. As I reviewed the inquiry I found that the gentleman wanted me to link the text: Yosemite Falls on the Hotel Charlotte Yosemite page to his page about water fountains. Instead I gave him a link on the left by the highlight and navigation bar and sent him a lovely post with the link included. Well turns out he only wants a link where he said...again came that generous offer of $50.

It has now been a week of pondering this link positioning problem and I just wrote my new link buddy back and said no....I know what I would think if I was researching my Yosemite trip and the link for Yosemite Falls took me to a fountain sales page. I would think the owner of the site wasn't really that interested in providing relevant content and I would leave for somewhere else on the www no longer trusting this sites integrity.

I hope that the visitors to the Hotel Charlotte website always feel they are getting good information. Please let me know if you are looking for a fountain, I do have a good resource for this.

A pleasure

It is always such a pleasure when someone does something unexpected that is of great benefit to you. Thanks Kevin for your blog post about the Hotel Charlotte!

Those of you who might be unfamiliar with Kevin Saitta's Photography, take a moment to see what he's up to. His work is all black and white and often brilliant. Take a look particularly at his portfolio pieces, one on Bodie and one on Trains. If I had the right architecture, I could easily see both of these in my home. www.kjsphotography.com

There is ART in Groveland, on the way to Yosemite

This quaint gold mining town at the edge of the Sierras has much more to offer the passerby than a node on the history ruler. Groveland is fast becoming known as a cultural Mecca for quality art, music, theater and food all served in a setting that could be described as off-off-Broadway! We hope that this series of articles starting with "Art" will entice folks to stop for a bit, a bite or an overnight.

Where is Art in Groveland?
In search of Art, we start with our new gallery in town. Opened less than a year, the White Wolf Gallery is popular with artists and art aficionados for their ever rotating selection of pieces from photographs to sculptures and nature oils with homemade frames that are as much about the piece as the picture itself. They carry works from every price range from under-a-$1 postcards to sculptures in the 4 figures. In season White Wolf Gallery is open later on the weekends providing a great pre-dinner activity for those staying the night. You can contact the gallery at 209.962.0342.

Mountain Sage, on the west side of town, is not only the home gallery for owner-artist, Rob Hirsch and his brilliant photographs, but the business itself a work of art. Rob, with his wife Regina, has dedicated five years to creating a setting that is a rightfully a destination; from the eclectic Hammock Garden to the natural outdoor amphitheater, the map room, crafts center, book nook, free WiFi access, organic coffee impromptu sing-a-longs, movie marathons and so much more. One can quickly lose themselves nestled here with vision of Rob's photographs, a few daydreams and a Frisbee. 209.962.4686

Another place you could look for art in Groveland is at the Hotel Charlotte. Lynn and Victor don't just care for overnight visitors and dining guests but now attend to providing pleasing visuals to accompany your Charlotte experience. Local artists have come to find the Hotel Charlotte "The Place to Hang" for exposure and sales. Guests who have dined at the Charlotte will recognize the crisp photographs of local scenery by Terri Metz. Terri regularly rotates her images to match the seasons. Last week she retired a series of winter snowscapes and installed an aerial pictorial that follows from Moccasin through Groveland and over Pine Mountain Lake.

The Hotel Charlotte is the permanent gallery of Sierra Professional Artists. The monthly rotation in the front lobbies of works by various member artists of the Sierra Professional Artist association has yielded some lovely original watercolors, oils and collage pieces. The Hotel Charlotte website, www.hotelcharlotte.com/art-bios.html, provides a sampling of the artists' works and background information on those who have shown and those who are coming up in 2007. 209.962.6455

Expanding on Art in the Charlotte and with the backing of the Yosemite Chamber of Commerce, Lynn orchestrated the first Groveland Art Stroll (GAS). This event was held on the Sunday of 4th of July weekend and matched local artists with retailers and with a good marketing blitz, got folks out and about mingling, browsing and buying. The event was given 5 stars by participating retailers, artists and participants. In 2006 the program was expanded to include all the Sundays of our big holiday weekends: Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day.

For the 2007 season this tradition continues on the Sundays of May 27th, July 1st and September 2nd. With White Wolf Gallery, in their unique position of drawing on a broader field of artists, visitors can expect more artists, bigger canopies & tents, refreshments and specials from local restaurants and retailer discounts. Interested artists, crafts persons, jewelers, sculptors and retailers are encouraged to get involved. Please phone 208.962.0342 for an information packet.

The Sierra Professional Artists have long held their annual show at the Groveland Hotel, now scheduled for Sunday, July 1st, which balances nicely with the Groveland Art Stroll. The garden space provided by the Groveland Hotel is a perfect setting for the many pieces you will find on display and for sale. Funds from the art raffles benefit the local school's art programs. The Groveland Hotel provides a warm setting for lunch, art, music and wine in the garden. 209.962.4000

The success of the Art Strolls has fostered an additional downtown event using the retail district to display quilts. On June 9th the Quilters guild is hosting their first Groveland Quilt Stroll (GQs). The 80+ member group has enough artistic quilts to hang the town from end to end. What a colorful day this will be. Demonstrations and food will also be available at the lower section of Mary Laveroni Community Park. 209.962.4950

Put Groveland on your list of things to do, either as a special event day or on the way to Yosemite and remember, when strolling through downtown Groveland, Lynn and Victor invite you make a stop at the Hotel Charlotte to see what's hanging; on the walls, in the halls, around the dining rooms.

Writing articles on Groveland and the Region

So, while this blog has languished without entries for a while, it doesn't mean I haven't been busy writing. I found a new marketing idea and have been trying it out of late...writing articles. I have 10 submitted and 9 approved. I think the 10th is a big deal so they are really checking it out closesly. It is very rewarding to write, post and then find your article out over the internet in neat new places. Viral Marketing. Cool stuff. Feel free to check out the articles, mostly Groveland/Sierra related. http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Lynn_Upthagrove

Cabaret Charlotte returns in April

Same great director, same great singers, all new songs and menu! Join us on April 15, 22 and 29 (all Sundays) for Cabaret part Deux featuring songs from our favorite Broadway Musicals.

The $49 price includes tax, tip and $20 donation to Pine Cone Singers, this time for new concert wear. The menu includes:

• bay shrimp stuffed avocado,
• cream of asparagus soup,
• lamb shank cabernet OR
• grilled salmon
• tiramisu for dessert.

This event qualifies for our stay & play pricing.

Have you seen our trip blog? www.RecipeResearch.blogspot.com, follow along with us on our adventures and misadventures!

Recipe Research Jan 9th, 2007

While we have left the hill, we haven't left the USA yet and I can only hope this is the worst hotel we will experience! We are likely the only guests here that have rented for the whole night. Don't ask how we ended up here, a wrong turn would be the best answer and I don't know why I didn't insist on leaving.

We did enjoy some great tastes of Lousiana at Creala in San Carlos for dinner. We speculated that this might be our last "American" meal.

I will start a new blog that is specific only to this trip, adding pictures as we gain access to the internet, which until today...almost two weeks into our trip, has been rather difficult to find. You can find the details online at www.RecipeResearch.blogspot.com

Rush Hour in Groveland

It's rush hour in Groveland. That is the period of time from 3:25pm to 3:28pm when the bus stops in downtown Groveland to let the kids off from school. Traffic stops in both directions and the lines can get as long as 8 cars. We all wave and it's over until tomorrow.

Nice small town!

Being Bob the Dog

Wine barrel Bob is his new moniker, goes with his new home that Victor just "built" him. Buy one wine barrel, take off the first two rings, cut a semi circle, put dog bed down and spend a week trying to get your dog to go into the barrel that still has a very strong wine scent to it. We are glad to have chosen a red wine barrel.

Bob has a perfect life here and I sometimes wish I was the Hotel Dog instead of the bill paying, team leader, local volunteer, weather gal, and "mom" to many that I usually get tasked with.

A funny thing happened on the way to the quorum

Its a great title about a a story I was going to write, but decided not to. Perhaps another day.

Should a stroller saunter?

This last Sunday, September 3rd, marked the end of our GAS (Groveland Art Stroll) season. With three strolls this summer, it was a great stretch and super introduction of a new event to the area bringing oodles of locals, friends, family and new comers from miles and miles around.

We noticed however that not all the participants were strolling. Some were sauntering. We would like to keep this a strolling event open to familys and leave the sauntering for other days, or even the nights. Participants took home a great deal of artwork, artists gabbed and commissioned with strollers and merchants sold their wares to the town's guests. Restaurants had a busy day feeding the frenzie.

We can't wait until next year to start it all up again and hope to find a whole lot more artists to fill all the nooks & cranies of our cute downtown with their creative pieces and that those who so richly benefit from the event choose to participate in its planning and implementation this next year. Its a big load for one person to handle the whole thing.

Radio Personalities!

Another silly first for me—Radio Personality!

On Wednesday a small posse of us from the Yosemite Chamber of Commerce went down to tape a 10 minute radio segment on the Chamber's name change, new website and coming events. It was only going to be Tony, then he asked me to help and I insisted I would only particapate if we had a good giggler along with us. So Robin joined in too....and giggle we did!

George started us off with a question or two about the Yosemite Chamber's new name, and then suggested maybe we change the name of the county to Yosemite County, well we all liked that idea! We got through our highlights, mentioned coming events and were even starting in on some details when it was all over. It turned out to be the quickest 10 minutes ever and was a great deal of fun.

Listen in if you can this Sunday, August 27th:
KZSQ FM Star 92.7 will be 9:30 a.m.
KKBN – FM 93.5 10:30 a.m.
KVML – AM 14.50 at 9:00 a.m.

An Innkeeper's Comedy

While we have had many funny and unique experiences here at the Charlotte, Thursday, August 10th made the top 10 list of hysterics. Because the Charlotte has "period" sitting rooms (we don't know what period) and classic old furniture and odd decoration (props), we were asked by the Sierra Red Hats group if we would host a photo shoot for their 2007 calendar. (Think of the movie "Calendar Girls") I said yes, gave them a few dates to work with and swiftly forgot about it...naively thinking they would be self sufficient.

As luck would have it, interviews were scheduled this day for the Yosemite Chamber's new web design team, and at the Charlotte no less. Further, our housekeeping staff is all male, and one of them but a teenager. Our delivery trucks are all late...or rather, right on time for the ladies photo shoot and Bob, the dog, is more than a little confused by the commotion.

So here I am trying to talk techno-babel in the dining room with the Web Guys, with nearly dressed ladies of a certain age, a whole lot of purple and red boa feathers flitting about in the living room, Terri Metz click, click, clicking every sultry pose. The housekeeping staff is finding a plethora of reasons they MUST be in the photo zone. The phone is ringing off the wall from curious neighbors who want to know why our windows are all taped up with newspaper..... In the end I just put our billboard sign outside with a note that said: Nude Photo Shoot Today, Hotel reopens at 2:00.

We went to bed laughing on this day.

An aerial Yosemite

Okay, so up I went with Victor and my brother Pat and Larry Jobe as pilot. Story and pictures are on line at www.HotelCharlotte.com/aerial-yosemite.com The perspective of the park from the sky is amazingly different from what you expect, especailly Half Dome. Turns out this rock is far more narrow than it looks, the back side from land appears to be curved, but from the air looks almost as perpendicular as the face. The climb up the cables is done from the north side of the rock, not up the back.

Needless to say, if you ever have the opportunity to get in the air over Yosemite, go for it!

By the way, Larry is one of the neat people of Groveland, pilot and realator. www.pmlairportproperties.com

Groveland to Minden over Ebbets Pass, July 4th 2006

So now I can say I have really done all the routes from Groveland over the highways to the Eastern Sierras. I know now why it took me so long to do Ebbets Pass, its got a serious Jaw Factor. As in oh..my...goodness....! The road is narrow and twisted. The sign post at the top indicates that you will drop down at a 25% grade, a phenominal pitch. Kindly, the portions of the road that were actually this steep were short, but one drives on the edge of the seat for an hour and a half waiting for these steep moments. The views are grand for sure! It is fairly remote for most of the trip, though we did come across Alpine Lake at the top of the hill and that was stunning and worthy of another visit, perhaps even an overnight. So go once for the experience, but know that it is the slowest of all the routes over but quite stunning and very worthy of its recent National Scenic Byway designation.

We chose this route so we could go to Murphys and unload the "antique" sinks that Victor just upgraded in our rooms. But...as luck would have it, the antique plumbing store wasn't open on the 4th of July...Odd? But it was not a total loss, we did some wine tasting at a few tasting rooms that aren't typically open on our midweek-days off. Black Sheep has a cute room and Irish was very talkative. I even bought a bottle of green wine from Irish.

So how in the world did the two of us savy world travelers (hahaha!) end up in the oasis town of Minden you might ask...Well as these getaways happen for us rather last minute, we had called our little casino hotel in Tahoe to get a room on the 4th of July and they were selling our $65 a night room for $299. We just couldn't do it. Knowing that even the best case scenario would likely be a very simple room at a steep price, we decided to head to Minden. Once there we discovered the Carson Valley Inn. You won't be disappointed in the customer service if you ever find yourself here, every employee was well focused on making our visit memorable. We ended up celebrating our "anniversary" here with an overlarge room and dinner at Michaels. Victor's meal was fabulous, the Kobe Flat Iron steak, I chose the duck and wished I had the Kobe. We don't gamble much and this was true this night also. (Michael's has since closed.)

Our way back we needed to stop in Murphys at that great antique plumbing store to take care of the sinks, no need hauling them all back to Groveland. This time we took the less dramatic, but still beautiful Highway 88 across the Sierras and then headed back up route 4. All ended as planned.

Groveland to Murhpys, Ebbets Pass, Minden, back around the hill, back to Murphys, Sonora and Groveland, 24 and a half hours. Another typical Hotel Charlotte getaway: Short, Sweet, Mind-Clearing!

Tioga Pass to Mono Lake June 26, 2006

We had hoped to get over the pass last week, as close to opening day as possible. I always like to see the snow that delayed the opening. This year has much more snow around and to a far lower elevation than last year. I did not wack Victor in the head with a snow ball.

I enjoy the lakes the best. First there is Teneya Lake, from the approach we almost thought the lake had a layer of ice on it still is was so motionless. We were in rain for half an hour in both directions and it was easy to imagine the night temperatures reaching some fairly low lows, which is what must be keeping the snow on the ground still...it refreezes every night.

This year we left later in the day and had already eaten lunch and weren't hungry when we hit Whoa Nelli Deli inside the Mobile Station just above Lee Vining, but we stopped anyway. Same great menu, fair prices, quick service and that fantastic view overlooking Mono Lake. A must do if in the area.

We spent a little time at the Mono Lake visitors center, run by the National Forest Service. What a fabulous display. They have a great space, photography room, amplitheater, history, education and endless lake views. I am curious as to the source of the funding for all this. Such a huge project for a small area. Was it interest surrounding the restore Mono Lake activity roughly 15 years ago? I can say, it was far more "lunaresque" when the water levels were low. But that only matters for the pictures. The lake looks grand!

I will update the Hotel Charlotte website, Eastern Sierras itinerary to include my new Mono Lake pictures. We went to the lake, dipped a toe in the water and read about these odd flies that coat the last few inches of shoreline all around the lake. Harmless and strange. Check the website for updated photos later this week, www.Hotelcharlotte.com/mono.html.

On our return we stopped at the Tioga Pass Resort, just on the outside of the park boundary. Talk about a piece of heaven. Stunning views in every direction, gorgeous alpine lakes, lots of running water & snow...and the restaurant was putting out some perfectly delicious smells. The cafe is tiny, but very warm and charming. You could meet a new best friend here. Again, we were not yet hungry and Victor really did not want to get stuck driving the return trip in the dark and feeling sluggish from a super meal...so off we went, back into the park, over the pass and out again on the Groveland side.

Now we are hungry and are tempted by the treats awaiting us at Evergreen Lodge, but without reservations, fear getting a table quickly will be unlikely. We continued down the road with a brief stop in Buck Meadows. And so ends our adventure today!

Yosemite Jaw Factor, Victor's first visit

We just celebrated our 3 year anniversary at the Hotel Charlotte last week and before we moved here neither of us had ever been to Yosemite Valley. I had been over Tioga Pass years before and considered it a road challenge to get through, but really didn't know anything about Yosemite, the park. Since then I have come to love it... But this is more about Victor's awe-inspired relationship with the park. I took Victor on his first valley visit in October of 2003 and the falls visible from the valley were nearly dry and he thought it was "nice" but surely not worth all the hype we had been exposed to since moving up here. Then I took him in May of 04 for another visit and the falls were screaming and there was water coming out of every granite crevas. The Jaw Dropping ohh-ahhing began. We were off to Glacier Point next, then over the pass and we now take many day trips through out the year to experience the many visions of Yosemite, ever changing by the season. Without question, if you are only coming once, come when the falls are the strongest. It would be nice if Tioga Pass and Glacier Point roads were also open. This tends to be in June sometime. Here at the Hotel we always hope for late snows, lots of snow and early opening of the roads, which are contradictory wants!

Agri-tourism

I've been researching agri-tourism, having had the word come up in several meetings and am convinced it is word that would only come up in meetings. Travelers who choose holidays with some of their itinerary selections based on agricultural stops would be unlikely to use the term. I think it is a great marketing word towards building a new travel industry around one that has already been around. Think of all the folks that visit wineries, this is very successful agri-tourism. I imagine with the growth of the word and the coorodinated marketing that will go right along with it, we will see more families choosing vacations where the kids might get to milk a cow, pick strawberries, sheer a sheep, shoe a horse and any number of other interesting farm activities.

Already many of our visitors coming in from San Francisco will participate in some similar activity, perhaps touring the cheese factory in Oakdale or the wineries in Murphys. We are going to keep an eye on this new travel angle and see where it goes and what develops. I have always thought a ranch holiday might be fun...