For my birthday we originally planned to go to SF, but then we thought we would try something new. So we headed to Mammoth which is about 4 hours away. Perfect. We started at Convict Lake.
After a lunch in Mammoth we explored Mammoth Lakes a little. It was pretty, but man oh man, the poor Sierra's could really use a Donner Party style winter. Not every lake was dried up, but some were:
The boys are on a rock climbing team and I'm not sure I love that they now climb everything. I had to walk away because my need to overparent was too great.
After bouncing the log, Anders accidentally stepped in some very squishy mud and sunk in:
We could see and hear a cascade and went in search of it:
Back at the hotel there was some swimming then dinner at Campo (which happens to be a Reno place, and one of our favs) where we introduced the kids to the joy of the Caramel Boudine.
The next morning we headed to Devil's postpile. Have you noticed how many things are named after the Devil and Hell. The early settlers liked to invoke him in their naming I guess:
This is a fun area as the PCT and John Muir trails pass through. It's really just a hop skip and a jump from Yosemite. So we hiked on a bit to a waterfall where we enjoyed not just the falls but a skinny dipping naked man:
Many moons back (I think it was the early 90's) a huge fire passed through. It's pretty cool to see all the new life amidst the tree skeletons:
On the road out you get a fairly good view of Yosemite and it's interesting peaks. It's very alluring. We really need to get to Yosemite one of these days. So close, and yet so far:
All in all a nice way to spend one's fortieth birthday.
