The Yosemite Celtic Festival and Highland Games was one of the best events we have been to! We added a day of visiting Yosemite National Park with fall colors, and it made for a fantastic Oakhurst, California getaway!
Yosemite Celtic Festival and Oakhurst Trip Report
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🏨Hotels and Vacation Rentals
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I have always wanted to visit Scotland and learn more about my Scottish Heritage. Granted, California is a long way from Scotland, but the Yosemite Celtic Festival was so much fun.
We enjoyed the Highland Games, whisky tasting, traditional foods like Scotch Eggs and Meat Pies, vendor tents, live music, and we even went to Yosemite National Park afterwards.
We also stopped at a few excellent restaurants in Oakhurst, making this a fantastic trip!
Day 1 - Gulf Shores - New Orleans - Oakhurst
Day 1 stops include:
- Flying from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Fresno, California
- Dinner at In-N-Out Burger
- Check into the Yosemite Southgate Hotel & Suites for two nights
Our first day was a busy travel day as we headed out early from Gulf Shores, Alabama, and drove three hours to New Orleans for our flight to Fresno.
Have you ever flown on Halloween? I wasn't sure what to expect flying out of New Orleans on Halloween, but it turned out to be pretty tame.
We ended up seeing a lot more costumes while waiting for our connecting flight in San Diego, including Willy Wonka, a UPS Driver, and numerous cat ears walking by. There were also people dressed up as traffic cones!
We arrived at the Fresno Airport a little after 8:00 PM, grabbed our luggage, and picked up a rental car.
By this time, we were starving and it was already getting late, so we headed to a true California classic, In-N-Out, for a double-double.
Of course, I will make any excuse to stop at In-N-Out. For me, it's a must-visit whenever we go somewhere that has one!
Once we cured our hangry problem, we drove the final hour to Oakhurst, California. For this trip, we decided to stay in two hotels so we could capture photos and gain a real-life experience at more great Oakhurst Hotels.
Check-in at the Yosemite Southgate Hotel & Suites was quick and easy. We stayed in a king-accessible room on the first floor. We were so tired by the time we made it to the room, we pretty much dropped our bags and fell asleep.
Day 2 - Yosemite Celtic Festival & Highlight Games, Oakhurst
Day 2 stops include:
- Mountain Oaks Cafe for Breakfast
- Ec-Lec-Tic for fun shopping
- Yosemite Celtic Festival & Highland Games
We kicked off the day with breakfast at Mountain Oaks Cafe in Oakhurst. This was our first visit to the restaurant, but it won't be our last!
The Mountain Oaks Cafe menu features a mix of traditional breakfast items and South of the Border specialties. We both went for South of the Border options, and they were sooo good.
Tammilee had Chilaquiles and said they were delicious. I had the Mexi-Cali breakfast, and it was huge! I would go back to Mountain Oaks Cafe every day for breakfast and be really happy.
After breakfast, Tammilee had to visit Ec-lec-Tic, which was right next to the restaurant. It is one of her favorite stores for gifts and fun plant accessories.
Tammilee found the perfect gifts for a couple of her friends and said that she wished she had more space in her bag for a couple of cute owl planters.
We then headed to the 1st annual Yosemite Celtic Festival & Highland Games in Oakhurst. As we pulled up to the festival, we could hear bagpipes playing.
The festival lasted 2 days and featured live music, Highland games, great food, whiskey tasting, and much more!
From the moment the welcome ceremony took place, we knew we were in for a great day!
The festival grounds featured great local food vendors, Celtic-inspired souvenirs, clothing, and much more.
The meat pie tent was an instant favorite! I finally got to try a Scotch egg, a Steak and Cheese meat pie, and of course a fried apple pie.
Clash Drinks from Oakhurst had their food truck on hand, and now I am hooked! Their mango lemonade was delicious. Tammilee had a strawberry and cream lemonade with boba and said it was almost too good. Now she is going to want one and we won't be in Oakhurst to get one.
We enjoyed a fantastic whisky tasting that benefited the local high school sports program. We learned a lot about Irish Whisky versus Scotch and the proper ways to taste them.
One of our favorite local Oakhurst antique stores had a booth with their mystery bags, which are the perfect gift! You can pick up a bag for a certain decade, and all of the fun inside is themed to that decade.
It was such a great day filled with delicious food, highland games, laughter, and fun.
Day 3 - Yosemite Celtic Games and Date Night in Oakhurst
Day 3 stops include:
- Bee's Bakery Cafe
- Day 2 of the Yosemite Celtic Festival & Highland Games
- Yosemite Pie Company
- Dinner at the Cellar Bar at Elderberry House, Chateau du Surreau
- Check in at The 4 Daughters Inn for two nights
We started the day with an amazing breakfast at Bee's Bakery Cafe. This super cute cafe is a "vibe" that you don't want to miss. Tammilee says it's the vibeiest spot in Oakhurst and perfect for grabbing breakfast or a coffee.
Make sure to get a pastry or two. Every single one we have tried has been delicious. I had a maple bacon scone that was sooo good.
The fall seasonal coffee drinks were great. I would happily go back every morning for the maple cinnamon latte and the maple bacon scone.
After breakfast, we headed back to the Yosemite Celtic Festival for more fun adventures.
We spent most of the day watching the Highland Games. It was amazing to see the competitions.
One thing we really loved seeing was the invitation for people to try out the games and learn how to compete in them. There was a fantastic sense of community as people tried new things and tested their strength and skills.
We are so excited that they have already announced that the Yosemite Celtic Festival will be an annual event held on the 3rd weekend of October in Oakhurst.
After the festival, we explored more of Oakhurst and stopped into some of our favorite stores before checking into The 4 Daughters Inn.
One of our favorite spots in Oakhurst is Yosemite Pie Company! They bake fresh pies daily and we had to get one of their apple pies to bring home with us they are that good!
So good that I bought a bag just to make sure I could carry the pie safely through airport security and get it home.
The 4 Daughters Inn is situated near the Oakhurst Visitor Center and conveniently close to excellent Oakhurst restaurants and the main highway.
We had to stop ourselves from sitting on the bed for too long; it was so comfy. We planned a fun date night in Oakhurst and didn't want to miss it by falling asleep.
We are big fans of the Chateau du Surreau and Elderberry House, and we were excited to have date night plans for dinner at the Cellar Bar.
The Cellar Bar is first-come, first-served, so we made sure we were there right when they opened. We had heard so many great things about the food and cocktail menu, we did not want to miss out on date night.
Jordan, our bartender at the Cellar Bar, was excellent! His knowledge of flavor profiles was showcased with the unique cocktails he prepared. The smoked cherry old-fashioned was the perfect blend of smoky flavor with the sweetness of cherry.
Tammilee had a gin pear chai cocktail that was smooth yet packed with flavor. I am normally not a chai guy, but I would have happily enjoyed that cocktail.
For our main entrees, I went with the cheesesteak made with rib-eye, and it was cooked perfectly. Tammilee had a delicious butternut squash spaghetti.
We split a dessert (I think it was a chocolate mousse), and I wish we had each ordered our own. I would have licked the bowl clean it was that good.
After a fantastic date night, we headed back to the 4 Daughters Inn for a great night's sleep.
Day 4 - Yosemite National Park
Day 4 stops include:
- Clash Coffee
- Judy's Donuts
- Yosemite National Park
- El Cid for dinner
It's a good thing we set an alarm because the bed at the 4 Daughters was so comfortable! I have no doubt in my mind that I would have slept till noon if we hadn't set the alarm.
We started the day at Clash Coffee Boba Lemonade for our caffeine fix. Tammilee had an amazing iced chai with brown sugar boba. I had the Bananas in Pajamas smoothie with bananas, peanut butter, and cinnamon.
Clash is a great new coffee shop in Oakhurst with the cutest kids' play area.
A trip to Oakhurst is not complete without stopping at Judy's Donuts for a cherry burrito donut. I LOVE THEM! They also have amazing cinnamon twists, apple burritos, and a great ham-and-cheese croissant bake that is perfect for breakfast.
What I love is that they are open early, and it's perfect for grabbing something quick so we can beat the crowds into Yosemite.
After fueling up on caffeine and sweet treats, we headed up to Yosemite. We were super excited to see fall leaves still on the trees in early November. Living in Southern Alabama, we have missed fall leaves and swooned over seeing them in the park.
The fall colors were absolutely amazing. Fall in Yosemite is one of our favorite times to visit the park. Although, if I am being honest, I love visiting the park whenever I can.
We stopped at the Swinging Bridge to see how the water levels had changed since our July visit to Yosemite.
Yosemite Falls still had water flowing, which was amazing this late in the Fall. It was fun seeing the new visitor center and stopping into the Yosemite Store to see if there were any new National Park-inspired beers and wines.
We also stopped into Camp 4, Wawona Campground, and Hogdon Meadows Campground for updated photos and videos.
During our drive through Hogdon Meadows campground, we saw a White-headed Woodpecker for the first time.
After enjoying an amazing day in the park, we headed back to Oakhurst to enjoy dinner at El Cid Mexican Restaurant. If you have read any of our previous Oakhurst trip reports, you will recognize El Cid as one of Tammilee's must-visit places in town.
They make one of the best margaritas we have had anywhere in the world. I am not sure what they do, but they are unbelievable.
We try to sit on the porch when we visit El Cid so we can see the bird feeders. During dinner, we saw a yellow-rumped warbler, black phoebe, and hummingbirds on the feeders.
After dinner, we left El Cid with full bellies and ready to head back to The 4 Daughters Inn to open our mystery decades bags we bought from Good Ol Things.
It was hilarious opening the 80s and 90s bags. We will post a video showing our surprises from the mystery bags. They are so much fun.
Day 5 - Oakhurst - Gulf Shores
Day 5 stops include:
- Fly from Fresno, California, to New Orleans, Louisiana.
- Drive to Gulf Shores, Alabama
We had an early flight out because it was another busy travel day. We drove to the Fresno Airport, returned the rental car, and checked into our flight to New Orleans.
We had a quick layover in San Diego, then we were back in New Orleans. We picked up our car and made a quick stop at Trader Joe's and then made the three-hour drive back to Gulf Shores.
The Yosemite Pie Company Apple Pie made it safely across the country to Gulf Shores and was soooooo good.
Did you notice all of the carved bear photos in this post? Oakhurst, California is the Carved Bear Capitol of the World! There are so many fun carved bears spread throughout town.
Additional Oakhurst and Bass Lake Lodges and Restaurants, and tours to check out
There is a wide variety of lodging options available in the Oakhurst/Bass Lake area of California, including:
- Yosemite Southgate Hotel & Suites
- 4 Daughters Inn
- Chateau du Sureau
- The Pines Resort on Bass Lake
- The Inelle Hotel
- Sierra Sky Ranch
Here is a list of some of my favorite restaurants in the Oakhurst/Bass Lake area of California:
- Mountain Oaks Cafe
- Bees Bakery and Cafe
- Yosemite Pie Company
- Cellar Bar at Chateau du Sureau
- El Cid
- Clash Coffee
- Southgate Brewing Company
- Ducey's Bar & Grill/ Ducey's on the Lake
- Smokehouse 41
- Idle Hour Winery & Kitchen
Tours of the Oakhurst/Bass Lake surrounding area and to Yosemite National Park
Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad
⭐️ Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars | ⏳ Tour Length: 1-3.5 Hours | 🚂 Check Rates and Availability
Take a train ride on the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad that is perfect for everyone including families and multi-generational groups. You will get to learn the area's amazing history with a narrated tour by the conductors! There's several options to choose from including the one-hour steam train and several special trips including the Haloween Limited, Moonlight Special, Moonlight Melodrama, and the Yosemite Jazz Train.
California Audio Tour Bundle (Get 4 Audio Tours)
⭐️ Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars | ⏳ Tour Length: 8 days | 🔊Check Rates and Availability
With Shaka Guide's GPS Audio Tours, you are guided to hidden gems and iconic sights. Now, you can explore at your own pace without worrying about keeping up with a tour. Tours include:
- Yosemite's Majestic Beauty
- Death Valley's Unique Geology
- Joshua Tree's otherworldly Landscapes
- Lake Tahoe's Clear Waters
Yosemite Valley Tour with Transport from Oakhurst
⭐️ Rating: 4.9 out of 5 Stars | ⏳ Tour Length: 4 hours | 🚌Check Rates and Availability
Visit Yosemite National Park on a full day tour from Oakhurst that starts early to beat the crowds, with time to see the very best of the spectacular Yosemite Valley. Take in Bridalveil Fall, Sentinel Bridge, and Half Dome, then eat lunch at the base of Yosemite Falls and spot rock climbers from the El Cappitan Meadows. Includes pick-up and drop-off at hotels in Oakhurst.
Semi-Private Yosemite Tour with Ahwahnee Lunch and Hotel Pickup/Dropoff
⭐️ Rating: 4.8 out of 5 Stars | ⏳ Tour Length: 8 hours | 🚌Check Rates and Availability
This is an 8-hour tour that begins with a pick-up at your hotel or the meeting point(Denny's in Oakhurst).
The tour includes stops at Glacier Point(April-November), depending upon the weather, and several stops in the Yosemite Valley. The valley stops include Tunnel View, Bridalveil Falls, Sentinel Bridge, Chapel, Yosemite Falls, El Capitan, and more!
Check out more great tours of Yosemite. Tours include hiking, snowshoeing, roundtrip tours from San Francisco, and more!
Check out all of the California National Parks along with neighboring Arizona National Parks, Oregon National Parks, and National Parks in Nevada
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