January 4, 2010

Vacation: Mammoth

Happy New Year!

The week before Christmas my family headed up to Mammoth to visit my uncle. He lives in a small town about 20 minutes away from Downtown Mammoth called Crowley Lake. It's a cute little town with log cabins, streams, and this time of year... SNOW! As a born and raised Southern Californian, it's always a treat when we get to visit the snow.

The view from the highway on the way up the hill is spectacular. From the viewpoint you can see the entire Owen's Valley.
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My Uncle's cabin covered in snow!

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The snow looked so cool in the places where it hadn't been touched.

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Sandy wasn't sure how she felt about the snow...

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She didn't like the sinking sensation so she'd hang out right next to the house.

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Or she'd jump up on Doug to try and get out of it.

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My crazy husband decided to hike up to my Uncle's deck he made high up on the hill behind his house. On 4th of July we climbed up there to see the fireworks over the lake.

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He convinced Sandy and I to go with him (after he made the path) so we could make snow angels on the deck. Sandy suddenly didn't mind the snow!

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My snow angel!

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"Can we go back now?"

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Sandy got tired of standing in the snow, so she climbed up on Doug.

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The view from the deck was amazing! The entire town looked like a little toy village covered in snow.

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Later that night it started snowing! Like to SoCal girl I am I tried catching the flakes on my tongue. Most ended up in my eyes instead...

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The next morning the whole town was covered in about 6 inches of new snow! And the views were amazing.

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The railing on the bridge had nothing on it the day before!

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And I didn't sink in at all in the walkway the day before either.

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I loved how the snow gathered on all the branches!

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Left: The day we arrived Right: The morning after it snowed



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Since the day looked so pretty we decided to head into the city for the day. We don't ski or snowboard, but we love outlet shopping! And they have the only Pita Pit around (sooo yummy!).

Once we got about 10 minutes up the road, the weather changed. The wind started blowing and it started snowing. We were determined to get into town though!

Doug wanted his picture taken at the Geothermal Power Plant on the way to Mammoth.
I love the sign... "Danger: Hot Geothermal Fluid"

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After lunch we drove up to Twin Lakes. Over 4th of July weekend we had gone kayaking in the lakes. What a different view during the winter! The waterfall is frozen and the whole lake is white. And it's super windy!

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The sky finally cleared once we decided to head home. The sunset was really pretty!

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We had our chains on!

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I loved the view out the front of the car...

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Come back tomorrow for our trip back home!

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