CA (Mammoth Lakes)

On the way to Mammoth Lakes, there was construction and I had to wait to go.  There was a car that said "follow me", but I didn't think it applied to me and passed it.  The truck apparently thought I was an idiot as I was supposed to follow it.  I figured it out when the follow car sped up to catch me and then turned around to lead the next group of cars down the road.  Oops. :)

Here is Mammoth Mountain and the mountain range.  This tells me I'm getting close!! :-)

I met Ralphie at the post office in Mammoth Lakes and followed him home.  He was kind enough to cook me dinner!  We had chicken and rice and veggies (and red wine of course).  It was great!!

And Ralphie had a lot of John Deere things!!  He has John Deere books, John Deer, tractors (outside), salt and pepper shakers, and coffee mugs. My kind of man!! :-)

Ralphie and I went for a drive.  There was an area where they cut down trees and provided fire wood for people.  Most of it was gone as people had already taken it, but we found some in the road and helped to pick it up and put it in the truck. What good citizens we are. :)

We went for a drive to the different cities / areas around Mammoth.  I loved the scenery!!!

For once, I wasn't driving.  We went to Mono Basin's Visitor Ctr.  While there, he tried the door to see when the Tioga Pass was open and the alarms went off instead...for about 10 minutes!!!  LOL

This is Black Point, where a volcano came and made an island.  The white expanse between Black Point and Negit Island can be seen here.

This is Mono Craters, which was created from the volcanoes as well.

What rocks make up volcano?  Here is obsidian:

Then you have pumice and rhyolite, which are different types of volcanic rocks.

Gold was discovered in Bodie State Park in 1859.  In 1879, the city was booming.  In 1931 the city was still around.  In 1932 it survived a fire, and in 1974 it became a ghost town.  Ralphie took me there.  The last 3 miles were terrible!  They were bumpy enough to mess up a suspension and it scared me to be in the passenger seat so close to the edge of a cliff with someone else driving on a gravel dirt road, but we made it there safely thanks to Ralphie. :-)  Here are pictures from the State Park.

 

Bodie was known for its lawlessness.  There were almost daily killings there, so they needed multiple morgues and hearses.  Not the safest place you'd want to live!

Ralphie and I were wondering how they got food into the town as well, because they had about 10,000 people living there at the peak and it seems very barren.  However, driving out, we noticed some fields that were surprisingly fertile and green, where I'm sure there was farming, and there were probably cattle nearby as well.

Inside one of the rooms was a WI banner!!  What an odd place to see Wisconsin! :-)

On the way back from Bodie, we stopped by Dog Town, which isn't really a town anymore, with almost no evidence that it even used to be a dwelling.  This is the site of the first major gold rush to CA's eastern slope of the Sierra.

"Under favorable circumstances it snows at least once every month of the year in the little town of Mono.  So uncertain is the climate in summer that a lady that goes out visiting cannot hope to be prepared for all emergencies unless she takes her fan under one arm and her snowshoes under the other" -Mark Twain

And here is the Mono Basin, which is the other side of the lake we saw at the infamous Visitor's Center.

Mono Diggins is another one of those small mining areas.  Lots of attempts to get rich from the gold rush!

The scenery around the area is outstanding!  Hills, lakes, snow,  mountains, rocks, pine trees, waterfalls...  Everywhere you turn, it's just a little bit different than the last place.

Ralphie and I stopped by the Tiger Bar in June Lake for sandwiches.  Aside from gas prices hitting close to (or in some places over) $5.00/gallon, these small ski towns were beautiful.  I still can't get over the mountain view from the bar's windows!!

On the way back, I took a few more pictures of the scenery as we went around the lake and through the scenic roads.  Some of these areas were where Ralphie and I went snowmobiling a couple of years ago, though the fields, forests, and Bald Mountain (where we reached the summit) look so different without all the snow on them!

 

We also went under a bridge that had a ski lift above us.  In season, people ski right over that road!!  The road also had a new bike trail flanking its side as well (which you can start to see at the very right of the picture below), but it had not yet been cleared of debris from the mountains and snow.

After a day of driving around, we sat down with a glass of red wine and listened to the 1958 12 hour race at Sebring on a record player!  It was amazingly clear with no more than the occasional crackle, and incredible to hear the interviews of people like Stirling Moss, Carroll Shelby, Phil Hill, Mike Hawthorn, and Denise McCluggage. You could hear the cars racing by in the background...

The next day I drove to Fresno.  Tioga Pass (the road to Yosemite and Fresno) was still closed, so it ended up being a six hour drive the "scenic" way.  Ralphie was not able to come as he had golf the next morning, but at least I had much better phone service on the way.  I could not believe all the wind turbines packed together out there!

I met up with Chip at Marv's shop.  He has Ford GTs and Vipers in the garage, but what is so impressive is his extensive collection of die cast models!!  He even had the big poster that I (and others) signed from Rally 2 when Dani was still around.

From there we met a few other people from the GT world for a nice dinner with drinks.

Then I stayed over in Fresno and drove back in the morning, taking the windy mountain pass on the way back.  It actually took longer to cut through the mountain, but was a a very enjoyable drive.  Some of the license places said "CA Exempt" on them.  I would like one as the owners apparently don't have to renew their registration and pay the heavy CA taxes.

 

That evening, Ralphie and I attended an end of season ski party in Mammoth Lakes.  On the way we stopped by this wine bar as Ralphie told me the story about how the owner has a reputation for being a "no show" to events.  One of our GT owners had invited him a few years ago to a show in London.  After he was once again a "no show", Eric put this together, which is now hanging (with other no show memorabilia) on the wine bar's wall.

On the way to the party we saw pretty yellow daffodils. :-)

Here are some pictures from the party.

The next couple of days were relaxing.  Ralphie started working on his red Ford GT, getting it ready for our road trip next week. :)

And even though it's a little bit cluttered at the moment, he has a very nice assortment of tools in his tool room. :)

We went for a drive before dinner to check out Pumice Mine.  Unfortunately, at the end of the road, the road to the mine entrance was closed to us commoners, but we still saw the mountain and it was a pretty ride.  On the way back, Ralphie showed me some of the places that we went snowmobiling before.  He also showed me how he put the Mammoth police station as "home" in his GPS.  That way, if someone ever stole his truck and typed in "home" to also try and rob his home, they would find themselves at the police station.  I think it's brilliant!!! :-)

This picture (see below) shows where trees were chopped down for firewood.  People came through and chopped up whatever firewood they could take with them (paying for it of course).  We found some small logs on the edge of the road and put them in the truck so no one rode over them.

This is Mammoth Mountain where all the ski lifts and runs are.  Did you know that they actually named one of the runs after my buddy?  It's called "Ralphie's".  I told him that I would learn how to ski next year and race him down it.  It's a variation run between blue square and black diamond.  (Ralphie says I have to start out on the green circle runs, which are for the little kids and are named "Sesame Street" and so on.)

You can also see the cats on the hills cleaning and smoothing out the snow.  These are like tractors with crawlers.  Last time I was out here I got to ride on one! :)

On the way back, we stopped at Earthquake Fault in Inyo National Forest and walked around.

And to end the week on a great note, Ralphie cooked us dinner of baked potatoes, salad, steaks, and veggies.  We had wine and lit candles, and we even started a fire in the fireplace!!!  It was warm and cozy and a lot of fun as we watched old racing movies and then an Indiana Jones flick before retiring for the evening.

Ralphie has been an exceptional host!  And now...  I'm getting ready to head off to Yosemite and Sequoia/Kings Canyon to go hiking and exploring for a few days.  I will probably not be able to update the blog until I'm done, which will be Wed or Thurs.  See you then!