Our Weekend in Mammoth

For Memorial Day weekend, Sean and I decided to beat the oppressive heatwave that attacked Southern California and escape to Mammoth. We really wanted a quiet, relaxing weekend because this was the first weekend we had to ourselves in a month (where we weren't running around for some reason or had guests visiting). On one hand we talked about staying at home, laying by the pool all weekend, reading and watching DVDs. And on the other hand, we talked about going up to Mammoth, laying by the pool all weekend, reading and watching DVDs. We chose to go to Mammoth because we could stay at his Grandma's condo (thank you!!) and we only get up there once a year. So... here are our photos from the trip.

On the gondola heading to the tippy top of Mammoth Mountain. I think those are the Sierra Nevadas behind me.

I forgot how thin the air was up in Mammoth. On Saturday morning, on the walk from the condo to the car - I got breathless. It took the morning to get acclimated to the thinness in the air. At the top of the mountain I saw a guy light up a cigarette - which lead to the stories of when Dad and Jimmy went up to Pike's Peak and all the adults kept insisting they could smoke.
At the (almost) top of the mountain. My Gap shorts look suspiciously familiar... I'm getting flashbacks to summer camp staff uniforms.
Apparently Sean has aspirations to be a mountaineer.
Obligatory "take our own picture" picture. I can't tell you how windy it was up at the top of the mountain. During a couple of these poses I thought I was going to blow over.
After walking around the top of Mammoth, we weren't quite ready to go home, so we headed to the Earthquake Fault in the Inyo National Forest. Yes - that's my shadow.

This was his second choice for poses. The first was to have been called "A Crack and a crack."
Hollow tree + me = this photo.

Sunday we decided to go kayaking. This was met with trepidation given that the last time we kayaked in Mammoth (on Lake Mary) we rented a double kayak and spent the entire afternoon spinning in circles across the lake. Needless to say, lots of yelling, lots of cursing, lots of eye-rolling, and a little bit of resentment was shared that day.

So this year we decided to rent two single kayaks and sign up for a tour, as opposed to kayaking on our own. Thank god.

My first real look at Mono Lake. It's a big freaking lake. Our tour guide was Stuart (his company is called Caldera Kayaks) and he was fantastic. He's a geologist that works for the USGS, so he gave us really informative background information on how Mono Lake was formed, how the surrounding mountain ranges were formed, as well as interesting information on water rights and how Mono Lake was used as a water source for other parts of California. Fascinating stuff. Mono Lake. Those white specs are the biggest birds I've ever seen. They were larger than chickens and were all over the lake.
These are tufa towers. They form under the lake and rise upwards. Something about the alkaline level in the lake and a chemical reaction. It made more sense when Stuart was explaining it.

Our tour guide and me.
More tufa towers. If you look closely, you'll see a nest at the top of one of the towers. Oh! Best news of the day: when Stuart told me there are no fish in Mono Lake. Again, having to do with the alkaline leve. Awesome. That meant I didn't have to pretend that there were no fish in the lake.
During the winter these birds fly to South America in three days to spend their winters.
Every time I'm in one of these, I get the urge to buy one. I must say though, kayaking in Mono Lake was 100% easier than kayaking in the Pacific Ocean. But just as much fun.
This is how the rest of our weekend was spent: napping and catching up on DVDs. We finally finished season three of Homicide: Life on the Street. This is tiding us over until we catch up on Season 4 (and then 5) of The Wire - the best TV show not enough people are watching.