Trabucco Gardens *Yosemite Gold Country Stargazing Retreat*

Nice quiet escape. Everything that was needed was there. Communication with the owner was very responsive. Rain/snowy weekend but stay very comfortable in the house. Looking forward to another visit.

While our overall stay was very nice there are a few things you should be aware of:

Master Bed: The fitted sheet had red stains, hairs and lint. We decided to put on another set of sheets. The first two that we pulled off the shelves were covered in dog hair. We were finally able to find two that looked fine and remade the bed.

Master Bath: The toilet seat lid was up and the toilet appeared to have been used and not flushed adequately.

Downstairs Bath: We were looking for more bath towels. We found them in the dryer but everything was only about half-dried. We ran the dryer to finish but the towels we used smelled musty.

Owner's response - "I'll be forwarding the housekeeping issues to Mikayla. She is new at doing the housekeeping. I'll make sure she understands our cleaning procedure. I will be having a personal discussion with her soon."

Telescopes: This was the main reason we chose this property. We were looking forward to using the telescopes. We successfully set everything up in the observatory, were able to target our star in the finders scope, but could not get the focal adjustment for the eyepiece to work properly. We tried a number of eyepieces and only had fuzzy success with the 7.5mm but could never get a sharp focus with it and only black field with all the other eyepieces.

Owner's response - "The observatory may need a mirror collimation - I will check it when I'm there."

We got the NexStar5 running in the house but after the keypad said it found Vega it locked up and we couldn’t operate it anymore with the keypad. Even powering it off and unplugging it wouldn’t get it to reset. If it had worked we were confused as to just how and where one would use it outside (power source, stable surface??) It didn’t seem like a good idea to balance it on the porch rail.

Owner's response - no comment

The tripod mounted scope has it’s mount adjustments stripped out. We could sight just fine, but when you tried to tighten it up it couldn’t and would shift.

Owner's response - "I'll check the tripod telescope. Sounds like the tripod may be damaged and needs replacing."

While we enjoyed our vacation, we would probably not have chosen this house if we had known the telescopes would not be available. The information in the listing felt misleading. Because of the issues with housekeeping we would not choose to stay here in the future.

Very easy place with directions. Awesome place, very spacious, and awesome local spots with nice people. Very amazing stay would def recommend.

Trabucco Gardens was EXACTLY what we were looking for as a base to explore the Yosemite Valley which is about 40 min. or so away. The cabin itself is very spacious, rustic, and clean. We especially enjoyed the fire place and coffee out on the porch in the mornings. The grounds surrounding the cabin are peaceful and very beautiful, and we also appreciated how it is close enough to the town of Mariposa for restaurants and grocery shopping yet removed enough for that country feel. We also took advantage of the grill on our last evening -- charcoal supplied which was a nice touch.

All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Trabucco Gardens. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a cabin experience just outside of Yosemite.

Cheers!

William Link

Seoul

Staying at the cabin was perfect getaway. It's peaceful and secluded yet close to restaurants and stores. The telescopes are really fun and super cool. Mike was more than accommodating and we look forward to visiting soon.