Advertised as rugged elegance, Tenaya Lodge in Yosemite ultimately lived up to its billing. In keeping with tradition, it was my turn to surprise Troya with a little birthday get-away. I have tried a couple times to find a place where we could be warm and enjoy some pool side drinks, but this is difficult to do in December unless we wanted to spend half of our weekend on a plane. This year, knowing how much she loves the snow and cold as long as she is warm inside by a fire, I decided to embrace the time of year and sought out somewhere we could enjoy a little early x-mas season. I found the Tenaya lodge in my searching and liked what I saw. They have regular hotel style rooms, but also have cabins with fireplaces. They have several restaurants on site, from a small little deli to the higher end Embers. During the summer they have activities such as mountain biking, hiking, archery, two pools, and of course they are right next to Yosemite Park and I do not need to list all that the park has to offer. In the winter months they offer snow shoeing, an onsite ice rink, sledding, and use of the indoor pool and sauna. They also have a spa with multiple options. It’s easy to see why I thought this would be the perfect place for a weekend get-away. I figured we could spend the whole weekend in the cabin by the fire watching movies, or out sledding, skating and snow shoeing, all depending on our whims.
After making reservations I spent the next couple months hoping that Mother Nature would participate. Luckily she came through with cold weather and snow starting the week before our reservations. The drive up was smooth enough, and we did make the find on the month. For those that live in or near Los Banos this will not be news to you. We stumbled on Hot City Barbeque trying to find a place for lunch and are very happy we did. Troya had a salad with apples, pumpkin seeds, blue cheese and barbeque chicken. The salad was huge and one of the better salads I have had in quite a while. I had the tri-tip sandwich. The meat was perfectly marinated and qued. Very tender, melt in your mouth, and tasty. They have two barbeque sauces on the table and I had to try the spicy version. T’was incredible. Very flavorful, smoky and enough spice to let you know you were dealing with the big boy stuff, but not overwhelming or overbearing. A definite must return anytime we are in Los Banos (and we did on our way home).
We were treated to a fresh blanket of snow on the trees for our drive up to the lodge from Oakhurst. The lobby was tastefully decorated in the holiday spirit. They did have a fireplace, but it was surprisingly small, and they did not have a “good” fire going in it the whole weekend. We checked into our cabin, and while it was very nice with a king bed and fireplace as advertised, I was lead to believe it was going to be a little more upscale from some of the website pictures. We had brought a few bottles of wine with us but forgot a corkscrew so we decided to walk up to the lodge to have a cocktail while some glasses and a corkscrew could be brought to the room. Jackalope’s bar and grill was nice, they did have an extra room with a great fire going, but nothing really unique about the place. The drink selection was also forgettable and they did not have any holiday specials or warm drinks. Troya had a bloody-mary that came with practically a whole salad in it. She felt it was too salty, but I thought the flavor was good, and she was just tasting the pepper spice. I opted for the Samuel Adams winter logger on tap and was not disappointed. After finishing our drinks, we walked back to our cabin expecting to have our cork screw and wine glasses waiting. Unfortunately it took two additional calls and over an hour later before we got the glasses and they almost forgot the corkscrew.

That night we decided to try one of the dining options advertised on the website. Unfortunately both Embers, the high end restaurant, and the pizza place were closed for the season. This would have been nice to know either on the web site or when I made the reservations. With only two options left, bar food at Jackalopes, or Sierra Restaurant, we opted for Sierra. I had the filet mignon and overall it was pretty good. The meat was very tender and had good flavor. The sides were not much to write home about. Troya choose the salmon on the cedar plank. This was overcooked with not much of the cedar flavor. A big disappointment. The service was great though and we brought our own bottle of wine which they were happy to pour for use and the corkage fee was minimal.
The next day was spent lounging in the room with the fireplace watching movies. It did seem like they were nickel and diming you a bit because all the movies were overpriced and you even had to pay for music on the TV. We did spend a little time snow shoeing on one of the trails on the property. We did not make it all the way to the water-falls, but with the fresh snow on all the trees and the trail it was a spectacular seasonal adventure. Then it was back to Jackalopes for an afternoon Hors d’œuvre and cocktails. I made a spa appointment for Troya in the afternoon, which she said was great. That night we ventured out to Erna’s Elderberry House for dinner. A very elegant French restaurant in Oakhurst where we had a prix-fixe dinner that included an incredible Jerusalem Artichoke Soup, Seared Loin of Brandt Farm Beef and an Asian Pear Crème Brulee with a wine pairing. A fabulous dinner, but not worth the $350 price.
Looking back on our stay, we did have some significant disappointments. The lack of responsiveness when we requested something be brought to the room, and the fact that almost half of the restaurants were closed for the season were the major concerns. But overall, it was as billed. The room and facilities were very nice and I guess you could say somewhat elegant, but it always had a bit of a rugged feel.