Yosemite, Time Portals, Daleks in the Ahwanee, and Bossy Characters.

We spent Thanksgiving at Yosemite this year.  After the past few months, it was good to get away, just the 4 of us.  Our usual Best Western was booked solid, so we went to a different one, in Mariposa, California.  Which, as it turns out, is a pretty cool town.  We took the kids for a walk through downtown (all 2 blocks of it) on Friday night, and it was really nice!
There is also a large number of outdoor cats there.  I wondered if they were strays, but they're all very clean and well-groomed.  And utterly indifferent to the stupid human adults who make kissy noises at them and want to pet them.
Oh well.
Our first morning there we went to a little coffee place.  I asked for a soy mocha, but they were out of soy milk. They did, however, have coconut milk. The 2 baristas (one of whom is the owner, I believe) and I all got very excited at the prospect of a coconut mocha.  And it was GOOOOOOOOD!  So good that I went back the next day and ordered it again! It was like drinking a Mounds bar!  Even Hubby liked it, and he doesn't usually go for sweet coffee.
And, yes, I had sugar.  On vacation.  During Thanksgiving.  A tiny blip.

That lasted 5 days.

But I'm back on track now.
Yesterday i went for a walk, and ended up walking into a headwind, uphill.  Got a good workout, lol!

But back to Yosemite: We decided to take a 2.2 mile trail to Mirror Lake.  So called, I believe, because it is near El Capitain and, at certain times of the day, El Cap is MIRRORED in the lake.  Ya see what they did there?  Huh?  Huh?
It was a lovely hike.  It started to get cold as we neared the lake, because we got an early start and the sun wasn't reaching us.  And as we got to our destination, we discovered that the lake was, well, completely empty!  We've had a bit of a drought over the last few years, so there's been no runoff from the mountains to fill the lake, which is pretty shallow.
But it was very cool to be able to walk around IN it.  Both of our phone batteries died (we're getting new phones this month) so we couldn't take pictures, but it was fun.  And there were lots of other folks taking advantage, as well.
LG had a FANTASTIC time, running around, climbing, exploring.  WG was a bit more tentative, but happier once she had a snack.
Afterwards, we hiked back and went to the Ahwanee hotel to sit by the fire & warm up.  That was when I had my brilliant idea to set an episode of "Doctor Who" in Yosemite.  To have Daleks take over the Ahwanee, which is quite posh (President Kennedy once stayed there) and have them duke it out with The Doctor in the shadow of Half Dome.  Hubby also contributed: There's an area near the park called El Portal, and he pointed out that that could be the TIME portal where the Daleks enter Yosemite.

We were both a bit sleep deprived as we discussed this.  The kids had woken up at 5:30 that morning,  we'd just completed a 4 1/2 mile hike with them, and we were still thawing out. There may have been a TINY bit of delirium.

But it was a great little vacation. It was only 2 days.  Wanted to avoid the holiday traffic and have a day to decompress before work/school on Monday. And it was a quick drive: Less than 4 hours INCLUDING potty stops.
Y'know, for the kids.
That's my story, etc.

So now we're back.  3 more weeks until Winter break, and then it's 2014.
?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
2014?!?!
And still no jetpacks or flying cars?

Maybe in 2015.

Anyway, I'm working on my writing.  Nothing terribly exciting to report on that front, except that I had another story idea while in Yosemite.  I've always heard authors talk about how their characters dictate the story, but had never really experienced it until now.  The problem is, they're a bit indecisive at the moment.  I started with a very firm idea of where I wanted the story to go, but they didn't want to go there.  So I relented, and let them lead the way.  Now they're saying "On second thought, you know that idea you originally had?  Maybe it's not so bad after all.  Or maybe it is.  We don't know.  You'll just have to keep going, and then we'll make up our minds, 'kay? Good.  Buh-bye now."
Bossy little brats.
I have my class tomorrow night.  Maybe that'll help 'em out a bit.

And now it is time for me to get on with my day.

Have a good one, all!