On our way home from Mammoth we stopped at Manzanar. Most people probably just whiz by Manzanar, as it is really out in the middle of nowhere. The closest real town is Independence. For JAs, however, it has major signficance, since thousands of them were interned there during WWII. Now there is a little museum, along with a gift shop. The museum also has the cleanest public restrooms you will ever find near a highway, so it is worth a stop, even if you are not JA. They also show a twenty minute movie which is well done. There is a huge wall with the names of everyone who was interned there, so it was interesting to find the names of my relatives, including my grandparents and my dad.

On Sunday, I went to Mammoth by myself. I felt bad leaving my wife and daughter at the condo, however I knew that this was the only chance I had to go skiing this season. I grew up going to Squaw, Heavenly and Northstar and wanted to see if Mammoth would match up.

I got there at before 8 a.m., which was before the ticket windows opened. And I was the first one in the main lodge to get a ticket. I started at 8:30 and it was really cold. I noticed the open bowls at the top, and they groomed most of the runs. There was plenty of snow, however it was about a week old. Mammoth is better than Squaw because Mammoth’s peak is higher (11,000 ft vs. Squaw’s 9,000) and Mammoth is better for beginners (Squaw’s greens are mid mountain and there is no bunny slope to get to it). The higher peak is important because that means the snow at Mammoth is drier and the beginner area is important if you go with beginners and children.

Mammoth is a little smaller but has a longer vertical drop. Unfortunately, I was not able to get to the top of the mountain, where most of the double black diamonds are, becasue of the high winds. However, I was able to go down one double black diamond and blacks. Chair lift 5 has some nice snow and good runs.

The one thing I do not like at Mammoth is that the village is not walkable to the slopes. You have to take a gondola to get to one of the bases of the mountain. And Squaw is definitely a close second. I look forward to going back to Mammoth and Squaw. My three favortie in CA are Mammoth, Squaw and Northstar. Heavenly is for the tourists. I was surprised how fancy Mammoth was. The mid-mountain restaurant was pretty fancy, and the base lodges are fancy. They have a pretty large children’s program and there is a definite international flavor.

After I finished skiing we returned to the village to look around.

The architecture reminded us of Whistler, but Whistler’s village is much bigger.

Since there were three people in our group that wanted to learn how to snowboard, I thought it would be a good idea to go to June Mountain instead of Mammoth for our first day ($85 v. $150 for the beginner package). I had read that it is a lot less crowded, which was also good for me, since I am still very much a beginner.

We arrived at the slopes nice and early, but to our dismay, they were not selling lift tickets. The night before there were howling winds, and they had persisted into the morning. We waited in the lobby for a couple of hours to see if they would be opening. Thank goodness they did, at 10:00, and we were first in line.

To get to the main area where there are rentals, lessons etc., you have to take a crazy chair lift. It was seriously scary…good thing the winds had died down. It was SO steep, there is one metal bar holding two people up and no safety rail. It is also a very long ride, giving you a lot of time to think about how high up you are.

This picture does not even begin to convey how scary the lift was. On the way up, I did not want to risk fumbling around with my gloves and camera to try to take a picture. This was taken more than halfway down the mountain.

The scenery was beautiful, though.

D took a picture of me on the way down.

It had been quite a while since I had last skied, so I was definitely rusty in the beginning. For some reason, I could not pick myself up after falling–D had to help me. Too bad we had to leave right when I was starting to feel better about the whole thing.

If you are wondering where k was, she was nice and warm in the condo with her grandparents. D can’t wait to take her out for her first ski lesson. Hopefully she will pick it up faster than me!

We left early Friday morning for Mammoth. It was kind of refreshing to veer off of the 5 and take a new route (14 to the 395) instead of our usual trip all the way up the 5. D was excited to see Joshua Trees in the desert.

Somewhere in the Palmdale/Lancaster area we stopped off at McD’s for breakfast. We tried the McSkillet burrito–a bit too much flavor going on for breakfast for us. We also had a mocha. At about a dollar less than Starbucks, it was a good deal, but all of the chocolate sank to the bottom. It was a pretty upscale franchise–WiFi, etc. AND it had a Western theme. Fun.

Yes, that is a horse on the balcony.

Our next stop was Bishop. We bought sandwiches at Erik Schat’s Bakery, “Home of the Famous Sheepherder’s Bread”. The roast beef is recommended over the turkey, which was kind of dry. The sandwiches come with a pickle and a cookie. I also picked up some jalapeno cheese bread, mini chocolate covered macaroons, and a loaf of sheepherder’s bread. The weather was so nice that we ate outside.

On our way out of Bishop we also stopped by at Mahogany Smoked Meats. We picked up some beef jerky and bacon, which I had read about. Pricey stuff (the jerky is like $35 a lb.!), but it was good, although maybe not $35 a lb. good. I just bought a little of the teriyaki and western flavors.

We then headed on towards Mammoth. My brother in law hooked us up with a condo and it was big enough to house our party of nine with beds to spare. Since we were the first to arrive, D had to remove a bunch of snow/ice that had piled up near the front door and garage. He got a good start, but my mom spent the rest of the weekend chipping away at the ice. That’s her idea of a good time. Seriously.

After settling in, we took k out for her first time in snow:

She didn’t enjoy it much. In fact, she was quite scared. Since the snow wasn’t packed, we sank in over a foot several times. Considering we weren’t wearing snow boots, this was not too enjoyable. We took turns going down the hill a couple of times before we became winded.

The day after Christmas we headed back down south to Paso Robles to visit my Grandma and Aunt/Uncle. In the afternoon we walked around downtown Paso. There are some cute stores, and there is sort of a town square, a la Gilmore Girls (it felt like Luke’s Diner should be just around the corner). After a bump in the road (literally), everyone made it for dinner.

Four Generations

If you’re travelling through the city on the 101, look out for my Uncle’s company, Paso Meat & Sausage. Pick up some of the many types of sausage made on the premises. My Aunt gave us a tour of the place. Caution to any vegetarians out there:

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. We just returned from a trip to Northern and Central California to visit relatives. It was full of adventure, including k turning our Mazda 5 into a barf-mobile. She is better now, though, and we are safe at home, so we are thankful. Details to come…

*Reference to Barry Manilow’s song, which we sang along to in the car.