Went to Mammoth Lakes this year over the Fourth of July. Did some hiking to some lakes, did some typical Fourth celebrations, and then took a jaunt over to Yosemite. Even with gas pushing $5/gallon (average was $4.79), it was a safer bet than buying six airline tickets, hoping the airline would still be in business, and then have to pay additional for the privilege of checking in our suitcases and eating their peanuts.
Here's a day-by-day account - be sure to read from July 2 at the bottom all the way to July 5 at the top.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Vacation 2008 - July 5
We decided to spend our last full day taking a drive to Yosemite. Actually, I decided that was what we were going to do, since I was the only one of the family who had ever been. I knew we were going during the time of year with the biggest crowds, but the tourist side of me said "hey, we're only an hour away, so we gotta do it".
The boys asked why we were going to this place they had never heard of (or should I say, a place they didn't remember hearing about in school). I told them this was one of the first national parks, and that people from all over the world come here to see a truly beautiful place. Yeah, right.... crickets in the car.
Once I told the boys this was the same waterfall and big rock they had seen in "Soarin' Over California", they were stoked about going.
We drove in through Tioga Pass and Tuolumne Meadows. I had never been in this part of the part of the park, and it is beyond beautiful. Now I know why people want to hike in the "backcountry" of the park, I would love to do that sometime. The meadows, lakes, streams, boulders - all absolutely awesome, and words do not do this place justice. Especially my words. I much preferred coming into the park from this entrance than the west entrance from Mariposa.
Here's to you mom, wish you were here.
On the way back down the trail, we saw some folks standing off the trail being very quiet and standing very still. We caught a glimpse of this deer with her two fawns. The glimpse lasted about 10 minutes, we all were thrilled to see something we never ever see at home.
By the time we got back to the parking lot, there was a traffic jam being directed by rangers on horseback (cool!). We decided to forgo driving with 80,000 of our closest friends through the other half of the valley - who knew how long that would have taken. Got back to Mammoth by dinnertime, making plans to return for a longer visit next time.
The boys asked why we were going to this place they had never heard of (or should I say, a place they didn't remember hearing about in school). I told them this was one of the first national parks, and that people from all over the world come here to see a truly beautiful place. Yeah, right.... crickets in the car.
Once I told the boys this was the same waterfall and big rock they had seen in "Soarin' Over California", they were stoked about going.
We drove in through Tioga Pass and Tuolumne Meadows. I had never been in this part of the part of the park, and it is beyond beautiful. Now I know why people want to hike in the "backcountry" of the park, I would love to do that sometime. The meadows, lakes, streams, boulders - all absolutely awesome, and words do not do this place justice. Especially my words. I much preferred coming into the park from this entrance than the west entrance from Mariposa.
As we drove down the road toward the valley, we rounded this bend that had a lookout to the left. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Half Dome down below us. This wasn't mentioned on the material I had been reading to this point, quick, turn around!! This was definately not something I had seen before, so while RJ and I took in the sights, the boys clamored around all the rocks. There's a trail from here down to the valley, that would be an awesome trek to make someday. (Yeah, cause we're getting so much younger every day.)
We pulled into the valley floor a little after noon. The boys soon recognized Yosemite Falls and Half Dome from the "Soarin" film. We crammed on to a shuttle bus from the parking lot (not full yet!) over to the lower falls trail. Matt and Jacob wanted to stop and climb on every rock along the way. I had to push them to continue up the hill...
We finally reached the base of the falls and the boys were quite happy to take their shoes off and climb down to the river. Matt and Jacob climbed all the way across - "the water's freezing, mom!" - while Sam and Kevin and I were content to just hang out on the rocks dipping our feet in and out. As you can see, there were LOTS of people. Lots of TOURIST-Y people.
Like us.
At least we didn't have to smile and greet each one of them as we passed them.
Here's to you mom, wish you were here.On the way back down the trail, we saw some folks standing off the trail being very quiet and standing very still. We caught a glimpse of this deer with her two fawns. The glimpse lasted about 10 minutes, we all were thrilled to see something we never ever see at home.
By the time we got back to the parking lot, there was a traffic jam being directed by rangers on horseback (cool!). We decided to forgo driving with 80,000 of our closest friends through the other half of the valley - who knew how long that would have taken. Got back to Mammoth by dinnertime, making plans to return for a longer visit next time.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Vacation 2008 - July 4
We spent this day in town, starting off with the parade in the morning. Lots of folks came out to watch the cheerleaders, fire trucks, mayor, pack mules, Ronald McDonald, and the spinning class participate. Jacob loved the fact that practically every one threw candy or some other trinkets out for the kids, and especially loved getting hosed down by one of the fire trucks.
Sammy and Kevin liked the red, white and blue bagels that were handed out by the local bakery. Can't tell by the looks on their faces, though.
Later in the afternoon we walked around the art festival, ate some hot dogs, and then walked up the street to this giant inflatable obstacle course. The boys each took a turn - first climbing up a rock wall, then sliding down a giant slide, hopping across these giant peg-looking things, then climbing over some rotating barrels.
After dinner we went out to Crowley Lake for the fireworks show. We got there a few hours before dark, ate ice cream and watched the boys throw rocks in the lake. Many rocks. Over and over and over.
We stayed until dark when they held a fireworks display over the water. Lots of folks again, but way cool to see the moon along with 400 or 500 additional stars in the sky.
Sammy and Kevin liked the red, white and blue bagels that were handed out by the local bakery. Can't tell by the looks on their faces, though.
Later in the afternoon we walked around the art festival, ate some hot dogs, and then walked up the street to this giant inflatable obstacle course. The boys each took a turn - first climbing up a rock wall, then sliding down a giant slide, hopping across these giant peg-looking things, then climbing over some rotating barrels.
After dinner we went out to Crowley Lake for the fireworks show. We got there a few hours before dark, ate ice cream and watched the boys throw rocks in the lake. Many rocks. Over and over and over.
We stayed until dark when they held a fireworks display over the water. Lots of folks again, but way cool to see the moon along with 400 or 500 additional stars in the sky.
Vacation 2008 - July 3
Today we spent the day exploring the "lakes" of Mammoth Lakes. We drove around exploring and oohing and aahing at the scenery, then picked a random spot to park and take a hike. We had a map of the town with various trails marked on it and figured "this one looks good'!
However, I totally pictured us being the objects of a search and rescue mission as we were the total city-fied folks that had absolutely nothing on the list of things posted on the big sign at the trail head. Things like a compass, a topographical map, rain clothing and shelter for the typical afternoon summer storm, mirror, first aid kit. We had a backpack with some peanut butter sandwiches (bear bait); RJ and Kevins limited boy scout knowledge; and the fact that I knew not to touch the nettles or the bushes with leaves in clumps of three. Well, I also knew what way was north.
Passing folks along the trail reminded me that we were in Sierra Club country and we looked every bit of the tourists we were. Hopefully they would be nice and help us when that flash flood from the summer monsoon came and washed us away.
The trail we chose went to two different lakes. (I had no idea the length or the topography involved, cause all we had was the free map they handed out to greenhorns like us.) This first lake was just up a little rise, and was just beautiful. OK, that wasn't so hard.
The boys immediately went around looking for rocks to skip on the water. When they couldn't find any more smooth ones, they resorted to just chucking any old rocks they could find in the water. I had to explain to them that the folks fishing nearby probably didn't like them scaring away the fish with all those rocks. We had to leave before they sent a lynch mob out after us.
We kept on going, hiking up this pretty steep section of trail. We passed some cabins with no visible roads to get to them, and crossed a couple of streams heading into the lake below.
We stopped every so often (like every shady spot) so we all could suck some wind, I mean catch our breath, and then noticed we had yet another steep section ahead of us. Oh yeah, not all of us had hiking boots, some of us only had tennis shoes on. That was OK going up the trail, but made for some slips coming back down.
We finally reached the second lake where no one was fishing and the boys could skip rocks to their hearts content. We polished off the sandwiches with not one bear joining us. Got back to the car a couple hours later where I noticed another sign that said the second lake was a whopping 1/2 mile away. I guess that was a pretty good beginner's hike cause we had fun and everyone slept like a rock that night.
Later that evening we went into town for dinner, and they were holding the first of the town's events for the Fourth. There was a dunk tank, some booths sponsored by various local groups, and some fire trucks. Matt competed in this obstacle course against a girl who whooped him. "It wasn't fair..." he said, "she cheated."
Vacation 2008 - July 2
Vacation starts here, remember to read from the bottom post UP.
The six hours of driving with four kids wasn't so bad. I had a goody bag (no, not a hand-me-down from mom) all packed with games for them to do, and the ban on electronics actually was OK.
Curtis let us borrow his GPS units (car and handheld), so we didn't need to do such mundane things as go to AAA or even look up Mapquest to get there. Pretty sure mom would have loved this technology as you can plot in a destination, and then follow the arrows to get there. Want to drive down this cool-looking dirt road to see where it goes? No problem, this gizmo will adjust and keep giving you directions back to your final destination once you are done exploring... LOVE IT!
He also showed me how to do some geo-caching, one of which was to find the dragon on the side of the mountain on the way into town. Unfortunately, I was too busy driving, but one of the boys got this shot. See it??
We arrived pooped and very happy to check in to our rental condo. Two bedrooms, two baths, full kitchen, full washer/dryer combo - lots like home but with much better decor, a mountain location, and cable TV. We found a sports bar in town (thanks to the GPS) and drank our dinner while the boys scarfed down burgers. They were happy to hang out in the condo while RJ and I went to the visitor center and figured out exactly what our plans would be for the weekend.
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