The Bracebridge Dinner at the Ahwahnee Hotel

The Bracebridge Dinner.  This event was always something magical to me.  It was also mysterious and unobtainable.  Growing up, I'd always heard of this famous Christmas Dinner at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite Valley.  It was a dinner that was not only incredibly expensive, but almost impossible to get a ticket for.  In fact, Yosemite had instituted a lottery system years ago.  One man I met tried 49 times to get in and never got a ticket!  So for both Amy and me it was always just a dream to be able to attend the Bracebridge.  Something far out there on the ol' Bucket List, but in reality I never dreamed I would see it in this lifetime.

Then, in mid-December 2012, a series of unexpected events happened in our lives that made the Bracebridge a reality.  These included an end-of-the-year surprise extra bonus from The Kaiser Permanente Medical Group, Christmas falling on a Tuesday and the day after being Amy's normal day off, and the fact that (unknown to both of us) there was no longer a lottery system.  The Bracebridge was no longer just a 2 dinner event, but an 8 dinner event starting mid December with the last dinner falling on Christmas.

One morning last week, about five days before Christmas, when Amy said, 'Wouldn't it be wonderful to go to the Bracebridge someday?", on a hunch, I got on the Yosemite website and wouldn't you know it, tickets were available for Christmas dinner.  Not only that, but they had room to stay at the Ahwahnee Hotel itself, a place I had always wanted to stay in, but never had in the 50+ times I'd been to Yosemite in my life. In addition, the long term forecast was for the snow to be over and for clear and beautiful skies.  We would have to buy chains (you can't get into the park without them), but wouldn't need them as there wouldn't be any snow.

So Christmas Eve, after having a nice dinner of pozole and wine with the family, we headed to Yosemite.  We made it to Modesto and stayed at a Motel 6 (our usual accomodation choice!)  that night.  Christmas breakfast was at I-Hop in Modesto and a Santa Claus even showed up giving out candy canes to the little kids in the restaurant.

We entered Yosemite on Highway 140, up the Merced River Canyon, as Highway 120 had lots of snow and required chains.  As we entered the park, there was a smooth blanket of snow on the ground, as it had snowed heavily 2 days before.  But the ranger said we didn't need our chains as the valley road was just fine.

Yosemite Valley was magical, with all the newly fallen snow on the ground and on the tree branches.  It was cloudy, but not snowing when we got there.  The waterfalls were pretty full for this time of year. We stopped at both Bridalveil and Yosemite Falls and took pictures.

When I called the Ahwahnee for reservations, there was only a room with two double beds available.  We had no idea how nice the room would be or what the view would be like.  We thought, lower floor, looking over the delivery areas. But when we got there, the nice lady at the reception gave us a 4th floor corner room with a king size bed, with views of Half Dome on one side and The Arches on the other.  A very nice room, with a little sitting area too,, with comfy couches and chairs.

Since it was Christmas morning, we opened our gifts when we got to the room.  Amy gave me one of the most beautiful gifts I have ever received.  A photo album of our trips together over the 10 years we have known each other, along with her thoughts on our adventures together.  How she did this in secret over the last month or so is a story in itself.  But I have to say it was the most thoughtful gift anyone has ever given me and I just love it.

The following pictures are the views from our bedroom windows (well, with a little craning) and some of our room and bathroom. 

 

from the back window, The arches....







from the other window, a sliver of Half Dome.....

the bathroom had lots of towels, bathrobes, and nice lotions and shampoos; opposite it was the walk-in closet...



our bedroom also had a little sitting area with a couch, several chairs, and a coffee table, with beautiful books about the Ahwahnee.

The Ahwahnee Hotel was opened in July, 1927, the same year that highway 140 was built, giving the first reliable access to the Park during the winter months.  It was built as a luxury hotel that was to be open year around.  Anyone who has ever seen it or walked around inside it knows that it is one of the most beautiful hotels anywhere.  The Great Lounge, a wonderful place to hang out, is huge, with very tall windows, giant fireplaces, comfortable chairs and sofas (most original, but with modern upholstery), gorgeous Indian rugs and baskets and lovely artwork.  

The hotel was meant to showcase the indigenous people of the Valley, who called themselves The Ahwahneechee. The whole thing was built in less thn two years with all of the material being trucked in from outside the park, including the stones for the walls and all the wood.  Just imagine what an undertaking this was. Just transporting the gigantic plate glass windows must have been quite a feat!  The most beautiful room is the Dining Hall, where the Bracebridge takes place.  130 feet long, 40 feet high, with many floor to ceiling windows, it is a room you have to dine in at least once in your life.

>>>A little secret I will tell you here is that, when you are in Yosemite Valley, even if you don't stay at the Ahwahnee, come here for meals.  The bar has a great bowl of chili for less than $10 and the beer is reasonably priced.  You can sit outside in the summer evenings and enjoy the amazing views.  You can have breakfast in the Dining Hall for about $14, about the same price as the horrible breakfast buffet at Camp Curry (where we usually stay when in the Valley).  Sunday Brunch is wonderful. And, if you are not hungry, you can still come inside and linger in the Great Lounge... no one will inquire if you are a guest or not..... They are too polite! <<<

So we spent the afternoon hanging out at the hotel, walking the grounds,  sitting in the Great Lounge, cruising the shops, and not eating anything but coffee, chocolate and christmas cookies so that we would be hungry for our big meal that night.  Many of the guests were also out enjoying strolling around the grounds, and there were even a few snowmen built by children earlier that morning. Beautiful! Especially the snow in the trees and on the cliffs, and Yosemite Falls off in the distance.

Early in the afternoon, we went to a talk about the Bracebridge Dinner given by a local naturalist and by Andrea Fulton, who is the boss of the Bracebridge and has been in the show since she was 5 years old, 63 years ago!  They talked about how it all started in 1927, how the story was based on "Christmas at Bracebridge Hall", by Washington Irving of "Sleepy Hollow" fame, a story written in 1819 about an English squire who laments that the old English Christmas traditions are not being followed anymore, so he reinvents them.  The original "pageant" was placed at Christmas to encourage guests to come in winter, and it was written by the "National Parks Director of Pageants (!)".  Ansel Adams was one of the original stars and writers of the Bracebridge that year, and he was be the director of it from 1929, until he retired in 1974.  So very little has been changed, in honor of him.

About 4pm it started to snow.  So much for that long term forecast a few days before saying it would be clear and cold.  The snow was beautiful and started to come down pretty hard.  But it was very wet snow, so it wasn't piling up on the ground too much.  It was actually perfect, kept us indoors enjoying the charm of the hotel.

The Bracebridge is one of those events that you really have to dress up for.  Many people come in their finest and many men come in tuxedos.  I didn't do that, but I did get a new tie and shirt!  Amy wore a beautiful hula dress.  With the red and green of the lehua flower, it was very Christmasy.  Each party of guests also went to have their photographic portrait taken in the Solarium (part of the package)

About an hour before dinner, all of the guests gathered in the Great Lounge and sang Christmas carols accompanied by pianists seated at two side-by-side grand pianos, both of which have been in the hotel since the beginning (the pianos, not the pianists).  Drinks were served (we shared a Prosecco) and everyone was in a merry mood.  At 6pm on the dot, three people in Renaissance costume, trumpets to their lips, let us know that it was time to enter with a trumpet fanfare.

We were the first ones at our table, table 35 (the tables seat 8) and it was the very last table in the hall, furthest from the stage (130 feet away!).  But, it was also the first table on the right as you enter, and it was right on the main aisle. This was actually wonderful.  All the processions and choral numbers started, directly in back of us, and many of the choral numbers happened right next to our table.  Plus, we could see the stage director and get a hint of what was about to happen.

As we sat down, we noticed that our two wines were at the table and labeled and opened, (you choose these in advance so that everything is set up ahead of time),  the white wine already chilled on ice. Our personal wine steward, a Thai woman named Siri, was there to help with this.  We had brought up a very special bottle of wine with us, a 1988 Domaine Tempier Cabassaou.  This bottle was the last of a case that Jean Marie Peyraud had given me as a Christmas present in 1991.  I was saving it for a special occasion and what could be more special than this?  The other bottle we chose before the dinner, a 2009 Qupe Marsanne, a white to drink with the first four courses of appetizer, soup, salad and fish.  I wasn't sure we could actually tackle two whole bottles, but with seven courses over 4 hours, and sharing with our neighbors at our table, it really wasn't a problem.

The Bracebridge Dinner is not only a marvelous feast, but a 4-hour play.  There are something like 60 actors and singers, some of which have been doing this for 25 or more years (63 years in the case of Andrea Fulton).  They are all very professional, the actors come mostly from the acting department of Stanford University and many of the singers are from the San Francisco Opera Chorus.  In fact, they all have it in their contracts that they get the three weeks leading up to Christmas off!

The play starts, somewhat like the Christmas Revels, with familiar, time honored pageantry. In the darkness, deep church bells chime, tapered candles are lit, and the cast processes solemnly in as the light in the hall gets brighter and brighter. "Let all mortal flesh keep Silence And with awe and wonder stand, Ponder nothing earthly minded.... As the Light of Light descendeth From the Realms of Endless Day..."

The play has followed the same basic story for 85 years....the Squire of Bracebridge invites many people to Christmas dinner, the chef cooks many courses, the guests are entertained, and throughout the evening, each course for the Squire's table is brought in with caroling and processions.  Each of the dishes comes in on a litter borne on the shoulders of four handsome men in livery.  The courses include a gigantic trout, a large peacock pie,  a giant boar's head, a huge baron of beef, a flaming bowl of wassail and a very large plum pudding.  The housekeeper and the chef argue about what's best, the Squire approves of each course, and then as the lights come up slightly, the wait staff of the Ahwahnee bring in the 300+ servings to us seated guests in the dining hall at the same time.  The Ahwahnee waiters are wonderful, balancing six or eight servings on a tray all at once, and coming out of the kitchen and down the main avenue and doing special turns and flourishes with these huge loads of trays. 

Then the waiters serve us, and we all get to enjoy our course, but meanwhile of course, the Squire and his guests keep up a banter and do some plays.

Here is the menu that we guests partook of:

We started with white bean hummus and flat bread, then carrot soup, a scallop and shrimp timbale, endive salad, Sonoma duck confit strudel (ground duck confit with some pastry), roasted Angus beef tenderloin and finally a persimmon pudding with hard sauce. The Qupe Marsanne was really good, but the 1988 Tempier Cabassaou was magnificent. 100% mourvedre almost 25 years old.

And here is most of the cast, at the stage:

One of the main characters is the Lord of Misrule, who was originally played by Ansel Adams.  He is the joker of the play, with many jokes and some hilarious skits.  The best was when he was playing a tuba-like instrument, playing Ravel's Bolero, and walking from seat to seat all around the hall and all the time in pantomime indicating to whoever was in that chair to stand up and let him stand on it.  This went on for maybe 10 minutes and was one of the funniest things I've ever seen.  One of the most amazing moments was an a capella version of "O Holy Night", which was so beautifully sung by 5 of the male actors.  (All photographs here of the Bracebridge Dinner were taken off the Internet, as photography is not allowed at the dinner by order by none other than Ansel Adams.)

This picture above is not from our evening, it's a stock photo, but you can see how the costumed performers come through and interact with us, even during the breaks for us to enjoy our food.

Things were happening constantly, and usually the performers were entering and leaving in the darkened hall, by candlelight. Just after and before each one of the seven courses, the chorale would stand right next to us, in the back of the hall and sing a song, and then process up to the dais.  They wore the most wonderful Renaissance costumes, and sitting next to them we could admire everything including their lovely voices.  The singing was extraordinary.

Among the best part of the Bracebridge, and Christmas Revels as well, is that it highlights that in the traditional English Christmas, those who have, open their homes and larders and take care of those who don't.  The way Washington Irving wrote about it, the parties that the actual Squire of Bracebridge held, were open to absolutely everyone, no one at all could be turned away.  During the Bracebridge, the poorer folk of the manor, and later the wilder folk who live in the forest, come in with their children to get some of the tasty food.   The chorus reminds us, "Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, please to put a penny in the old man's hat! if you have no penny, a ha`penny will do, if you have no ha'penney a farthing will do, if you have no farthing, then God bless you."  In the olden days the Christmas season lasted twelve days, and  there was nonstop feasting where everyone got to enjoy, a surfeit, too much!

Finally, the Bracebridge Dinner evening came to an end.  With the dessert we were each served some of the wassail, a mulled wine served in an espresso cup.  At the end we raised our wassail and gave a group toast to the Squire and all attendees.  The trumpets sounded, the chorus sang, and the singers and actors left the hall right by us.

The best part about the Ahwahnee Bracebridge package, was that it was all inclusive, and everything about your dinner was arranged ahead of time. so no need to make choices, to think of a bill, or to think about a tip.  All included.  The wait staff was incredibly cordial and thoughtful, and made it clear they were having a great time taking care of us. Fantastic! So relaxing and so kind. During the meal, endless little touches, even replacing our wax candle tapers when they were barely burnt down, so that we would have subtle but bright light, all evening long!

As we exited, many of the main actors were right outside the hall so we got to talk to them a little bit and congratulate them on such a magnificent show.  We then went and stood in the Great Lounge awhile, by the fire, and talked to a couple from Washington, DC.  We have a really good family friend, Herschel Peak, who once he retired could talk with us about having been a CIA spy, which we hadn't actually known.  Although we don't exactly totally approve of everything he did, his stories, the bravery he had and his commitment to serving, were amazing.  These people were like that too. The husband, Mike, was a retired spy for the CIA and talked to us about all the countries he spied in... Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, just to name a few.  Interestingly, he was 'outed' by the famous traitor, Aldrich Ames, almost 20 years ago.  So Mike couldn't be a spy anymore, and instead taught espionage to new spies.  His wife, Kathy, was an english teacher in the various countries he was spying and recruiting spies in.  She became quite famous and in fact, according to Mike, made more money thean he did at the top of his spy career! Oh, the interesting folks you meet at the Bracebridge.

One of the other nice things about staying at the Ahwahnee was that you just had to get in the elevator and waddle to your room.  Some folks we met were staying at the Yosemite Lodge, a 10 minute bus ride out in the cold and one couple was actually staying at the Tenaya Lodge, outside the park near Wawona, more than one hour away!  But we had a one minute walk to our room and then it was -plop!- right in our amazingly comfortable king size bed with what Amy could swear had a feather lining of some kind.  It was still snowing outside and in the back of my mind I was wondering if we could even get out of the park tomorrow.  But that was way in the back of my mind as I wouldn't mind to have stayed an extra day or two.  And at 2 am I woke up and realized that I had never taken out the barbequed chicken we had in the back of the car which, in 'Bear-Aware" Yosemite, is a major no-no.  We've all seen those videos of big black bears tearing doors off of cars in Yosemite Valley to get at the cooler that some dumb tourist left in there.  And the receptionist told us at check in that many bears don't hibernate in Yosemite Valley as there is just too much good food in dumpsters and cars.  But I was just too tired to put my clothes and shoes on at 2am to go check so I just hoped for the best.  Thought, maybe with the snow covering the windows, Yogi Bear just won't see our cooler.

We woke up at about 8am and I quickly got dressed and went outside to see if we had an intact Prius anymore.  Luckily, the only problem with the Prius was that it was covered with 3 inches of snow and we had no chains on.  Oh well, worry about that later.

By 9am I was starving (how is that possible?) so we went into the great dining hall and almost all remnants of the great dinner 12 hours before were gone.  The stage was hidden behind a gorgeous tapestry,  and the buffet was set up.  Only the round stained glass medallions on the top of each window (which is actually 85 year old painted parchment paper, an original prop of the Bracebridge) were still there.  The view outside the magnificent windows was fantastic, a gentle snowfall with all the trees laden in white.  I had the Ahwahnee breakfast, with eggs, toast, hash browns and sourdough bread.  They told me that the starter for the sourdough is over 150 years old, going way back to an original San Francisco recipe.  How about that?

Check out time was 11am, and all the porters and valets (thank God!) were busy with the richer patrons, so we packed up, carried our suitcases to our car and then had a little trouble.  With the snow and ice in the parking lot, the Prius just couldn't get out of its parking space onto the wet, but not icy, road.  So Amy went and got 4 strapping young men at the bus stop and they helped us out of our parking space, some of them wondering out loud why in the world we didn't have a pickup truck or some such vehicle.  The roads were wet, but no problem without chains.  We headed out of the Valley and down to civilization and our normal life.

The 24 hours we spent in Yosemite Valley and at the Bracebridge Dinner was one of the best days of my life and certainly the best Christmas I've ever had.  The dinner was all it's cracked up to be and everyone I talked to said it was worth every penny (and it's a lot of pennies!).  But sometimes you just have to go for it.  Who knows if we'll ever do it again.  The first time is often the most special, so we would probably wait a few years...maybe for our 20th.  The Wall Street Journal has written, "Bracebridge is without much doubt, the country's, if not the world's, premier Christmas dinner".  I couldn't have said it better myself.