There were just three things on our minds when we got out of the woods, showers, beer and pizza.  The first was easily accomplished at Curry Village.  The water was hot, the soap soapy and the towels were dry.  That's all that mattered in our quest for the three essentials of life after hiking.

Items two and three were more problematic.  Beer was easiest.  Tom and Hal bought the first thirst quenchers and greeted each one of us with a brewsky on reaching the van.  However, the Curry Village Pizza restaurant was closed for the season.  All they had were some wimpy Mexican food.  This crew was hungry!  Pizza, pizza, pizza ran the refrain.  The captain (whoever that is) better do something before the troops mutiny.  Soooo, we pushed ahead to Yosemite Village.  Fortunately, it was in full operation with a pizza oven geared for high production.  We ordered seven pizzas for 12 people along with enough beer to sustain intelligent life. 

The next problem in search of solution was where to eat the feast.  You can't understand what it's like to be riding in a van packed with hungry hikers who have endured four days in the woods and seven pizzas... boxes closed until we find picnic tables.  There was much gnashing of teeth and growling of stomach but we made it to a prime spot at the foot of El Capitan.  The secret to our success on this leg was to split the beer and pizza between the two vans, one van held the pizza hostage while the other stowed the beer.  And of course even the most ravenous among us wouldn't eat pizza without beer!

As a final twist, we spotted a pair of rock climbers who had just come down from El Capitan.  We invited them to join us and reveal their secret to long life on the rock face.  Turns out they had been trying to master one particular pitch on the face of El Cap for five months.  Seems that some woman has done it and they would be less than men if they didn't at least match the feat.  As far as I know they're still trying, losing threads of their manhood with each passing try.