After checking into our hotel in Fresno, we showered and headed out to grab some dinner and shop for our backpacking trip. Despite the list prepared for Doug’s backpacking menu, grocery shopping turned into a drawn out adventure due to the upset stomachs that caused Dave and Doug to make many urgent runs to the bathroom. The burgers they had eaten before shopping were not sitting well in their stomachs. This feeling of unwellness prompted Alex and Dave to make a “pre-shopping” run through Trader Joe’s to give us a few bags full of food that was much more our normal diet. The fruit, yogurt, granola, green juice, and kefir would fuel us that evening and the next morning. 
Back at the hotel that night, Alex and Dave enjoyed sleeping,
while Doug was awake through most of the early morning hours, texting back and
forth with his sister, Carrie. She and two family friends, father-daughter pair
Pat and Rachel, boarded their plane in Philly, only to have to get back off for
a 7 hour delay. The original plan was
for us all to begin hiking that afternoon after they arrived. It was time to start thinking about Plan B.
We spent a lazy Wednesday morning lying in the comfy hotel beds
blasting the AC. We eventually, moved
ourselves to the pool and relaxed there while we also got some laundry
started. As check-out time approached,
we decided to just book our room for another night, since the flight situation
was not rectifying itself. Around
lunchtime, we peeled ourselves from our lounge chairs, and headed to a small
Mexican restaurant Doug had eaten at when he had flown into Fresno. After filling our stomachs with a delicious
lunch from La Enchilada, we resumed lounging by the pool. The thought crossed our minds… this is what
“normal” people do on vacation, isn’t it?
We certainly were enjoying it, but didn’t think we could do it for more
than one day!
As Carrie, Pat, and Rachel’s arrival time grew closer, Doug
began preparing pasta salad, potatoes, and lamb steaks for dinner. All of this occurred at the pool, with the
aid of our Coleman camp stove. We all
enjoyed a fantastic dinner before heading to the parking lot to start
organizing food and gear into packs and into cars. Our trip would start and end at different
trailheads, so we would need to leave a car at each and do a little transportation
coordination to get us all to the starting trailhead the next day.
Sleepily, we all retreated to our rooms for the night, eager
and excited to get on the trail the next morning.