How to shut up three coachloads of International Tour Management Institute (ITMI) certified tour directors: take them somewhere as stunning as Yosemite. Because some places speak for themselves.

It’s 8am in the foyer of the Doubletree by Hilton Sacramento and the tour director group is waiting patiently.

Of course, they’re all prompt, dressed appropriately and come equipped with trail mix, water in a refillable bottle and enough anecdotes and did-you-knows to last the journey.

“Too many cooks spoil the broth,” goes the old adage and while that may be true for kitchens, in a coach to somewhere you’ve never been, traveling with this many tour directors is a treat few could boast (e-Travel Blackboard wonders if they’re all available for the odd day trip…).

Korey, our ‘official’ tour director is native to the area and leads us in some CCR and Huey Lewis loving (the former wrote about being stuck in Lodi which we’re “just passing through”, the latter was raised in Marin County).

At what is the world’s biggest cheese manufacturer we are treated to a Hilmar Cheese specialty, the cream cheese brownie (perhaps not the wisest choice for the lactose intolerant, motion sick prone e-Travel Blackboard).

The roads of the Sierra Nevada twist into historic Mariposa and I make a mental note to return (along with a fewmental notebooks of where to go and what to do kindly offered by tour director Dennis).

We grab a bite at Yosemite Lodge before following tour director Alberto.

Alberto is a regular here and takes us on and off the beaten path. We climb rocks at Bridal Veil Falls, stand on the site where (my new hero) John Muir set up house and trek into a clearing ofyellow grass to watch as deer just a few feet away sip from a stream of slowly freezing water.

We’re only 15 minutes from the coaches, but in the shadow of Half Dome I realize that as social as the tour directors are, they are always on the hunt for that place that transcends commentary.

On the drive back to Sacramento, Korey gets word that it has started to snow in Yosemite and I stop to think of the places we’ve traveled, freezing in a perfect moment.