Mammoth

Although my Spring Break ended last Saturday, the week has run away from me in terms of class, working out, and seeing my friends! I like being busy, but man, I was exhausted by the time I was done everything at night. So without any further ado, here's a quick (mostly photographic) recap of our four days skiing in Mammoth.

My parents lived in LA throughout the 80s and early 90s; they used to go up to Mammoth for weekend trips all the time. Since I'm not going to be home until the middle of May, I suggested to them that they come out for my break and take me skiing. You already saw our brief adventure in Topanga Canyon; after we left the Canyon around noon on Sunday, we drove up through the Mojave desert with a brief pit stop for food.

We then took another few hours through the mountains. The former Japanese Internment camp of Manzanar is en route to Mammoth... The site has been preserved as a historic museum and a solitary watchtower remains standing. It was very sobering to drive past and remember such a dark spot in American history. 

We got to our hotel, the Village Lodge, around seven. We checked in and went to our little apartment--emphasis on the "little". While it wasn't badly decorated, there was definitely not enough room for three adults. I cannot imagine packing yet another person into that room.

Another problem? The heating was disgustingly high and there was no way to make the room colder, except to open the door to the balcony. Therefore, our windows and door were open almost all the time we were in the room.

Once we'd successfully complained about everything in the room, it was too late to do much else but grab a quick bite to eat at Sushi Rei and go to bed.

Here are some photos from the four days of skiing we had:

There's my mom in the yellow helmet--the only way we can spot her in a crowd.

The above are all from our first day. Definitely a nice introduction to the mountain. We ate lunch at the midway lodge, McCoy's, and dinner that night at Gomez's, in the Village.

Heading up to ski the bowl.

Of course, a selfie was mandatory.

There's my dad, only four months post-knee surgery. He's nothing if not determined to ski.

Pictures from our second day. Once again, beautiful sunny day. We ate lunch at McCoy's, and cooked our own dinner.

I have no pictures from our third day, Wednesday. It had snowed overnight, but it didn't stick and the wind blew everything around. It continued to snow on Wednesday, but it was wet snow, the wind was howling, and the visibility was low. We stopped skiing at lunch, ate in the Village (at the Side Door Cafe and Wine Bar), and went back to our room for a nap. That night, we went to Campo.

Our last day was beautiful. Absolutely clear skies, little wind, and some trails with relatively deep snow. We rode Chair 5 and skiied under the lift for about four runs in a row--lots of snow there! My dad and I ventured to ski the Cornice one last time, and we called it a day around noon to head back to LA.

Altogether, a wonderful vacation that I think of fondly. My parents enjoyed skiing Mammoth again after so many years, and I enjoyed the snow. I strangely miss some of the weather in New England! While weather consistently sunny and in the 70s is nice, it was fun to get back to snow.

Mammoth, we'll be back.

PS: If anyone's interested in seeing more Instagram snaps of my life/food/vacations, follow me @kat_herine_w

Tweet Pin It Now!