At 5:00 last night I suddenly had the fear that I had misremembered the time we were supposed to meet the others. I made some quick calls, but got no one.

So Bev and I left at 6:15 for a restaurant that we knew only as “The Hostel.” We were told it was a really good place to eat, and that it was located on the other side of Mariposa toward Yosemite.

We stopped at a gas station in Mariposa to get directions. “Where is ‘the hostel and how far away is it?'” The attendant told me it was about 5 miles up the road on the left.

If it had been up to me we would have turned around. We had driven a long way, passed a lot of places where a nice restaurant might have been, but no “Hostel.” But then, at the bottom of a long hill, was a sign for “Yosemite Bug Hostel and Cafe.” Up on the hill were a large number of cabins and lots of cars.

We parked the car and went into the cafe, hoping to see the friends we were meeting. No friends! By now it was 7:30, and I understood why the meeting time was set this late.

For a moment I was entertaining the idea that there must be another “The Hostel” somewhere around. I even asked a guy if he knew about another one. Bev and I sat for a while, and then our friends began to arrive. Eureka!

We had a perfectly delightful evening with three other couples as well as a very good meal in a place you’d never expect on the road to Yosemite.