"The Mountains Are Calling"

Many of the things Jon Muir said about the mountains resonate so deeply in my heart. I love the ocean and likely could never live far from it but deep within my soul is a longing for the mountains. We aren't much of snow people, Jon or I - I personally do not do well in the cold (ironically enough, since I profess to be such an avid mountain lover); therefore spring is typically our first window back into this rugged terrain that I often long to call home. Spring can never come soon enough. This year there were many obstacles before us in planning this spring trip. There were many points at which we considered skipping it. Not least of which was when Jon crushed his finger tip the day before we were to leave. But we went anyway and when we got there ALL of the campsites were closed! Yikes - another bad omen. After driving around with two kids under the age of four for 3 extra hours on an 8 hour drive we finally settled for the only campground open. A super pricey RV park located right in Mammoth - there are about 50 things wrong with that for Jon and I - I won't bore you with all of the details but one of the details that concerned us was the cold. In the spring we typically camp south of Mammoth to avoid the cold but this time we had no choice. The mornings were a frigid 30 degrees at best which for many people I know is not very cold but for my family and I that is freezing! Nonetheless the kids, especially Eden were CHAMPS! Not only tolerating but enjoying our daily bike ride every morning at 6am for coffee and a muffin (all the while patiently explaining how darn cold her face and hands were). Below are a few pics from that venture....

Ride to Town

This summer we fell in love with the beautiful 2.5 mile downhill bike trail to the village in Mammoth. Since then, Eden has become so proficient on her bike that we couldn't wait till August to let her do it...turns out she couldn't get enough of it, and did it again with dad on a different day...

Zi is getting more and more comfortable on the bike too, here he is riding it around camp - showing off for dad.

Climbing

Alabama Hills

We like to stop at Alabama Hills on the way to Mammoth to let the kids stretch their legs and get a few climbs in. The kids normally have lots of fun but this time Eden in particular was just super antsy to get to camp. Since my climbing partner was only up for belaying (due to his crushed finger) I was still able to get in four or five pitches (which was great for me), and the kids did have a bit of fun pretending to climb and playing in the dirt.

Trifle Towers

This is an area situated deep in the forest North of Mammoth with a couple of hard sport climbs that are easy to set up on top rope. Every time we are in mammoth with the kids we climb at this area. It's perfect for the kids because it is super overhanging - creating the best swing ever, and it is relatively safe for the kids to explore and run wild. I couldn't believe how comfortable they felt here and how well they played together. When we finally left on the last day it was like we had to drag them away. 

Collecting fire wood

Entertaining themselves while mom and dad climb.

Ummm where are our kids going??? Do they really need to play soccer all the way down there? Zion could have chased the ball all the way to the main rd (which was quite a ways).

Water

June Lake/Duck Lake

Eden has been talking about "Duck Lake" since we were there in August - she couldn't wait to get back. So the first day we headed straight there (after our morning bike ride, and climbing at the Trifle Towers). I honestly don't even remember ducks being there, but sure enough they were waiting for us this time and Eden had a blast feeding them and paddling around in the water. It really was a perfect first day.

Jon's poor bloody finger...

Convict Lake

We visited this lake a couple times, the first time was beautiful and warm the second time was frigidly cold, but the kids have fun no matter what. You can really see that they are at home on or near the water.

Hot Creek

Every year I fall more and more in love with fly fishing. Jon has been fly fishing for a long time, almost as long as we have been climbing. I was telling the kids how much I used to enjoy watching him fish while sitting nearby him with a good book. Now I want to be the one with the rod in my hands. The kids are actually pretty good fishing partners. They enjoy watching and throwing sticks and rocks (/:) into the river, they like looking at all the different flies, and helping to reel in the catch. Klamath however is the worst fishing partner and he has gotten progressively worse with every year. He nearly ate the first fish I caught this trip subsequently getting the hook stuck in his mouth, it was a nice fish too, what a bad dog. I said I wanted to leave him in the car, but as Eden is quick to remind me, Jon said we would have to leave him in the car too. Oh a man and his dog...

Zion running after Jon and Eden - not to be left out.

Eden casting

Eden reeling in the first fish of the trip

Mom can catch fish too! (Thanks to Jon my handy fishing caddy, putting on the perfect set-up for me - even after I sabotaged his first perfect set-up, and even with a busted finger..not an easy task at all.)

Back At Camp

Eden and Zion were super impatient to get the trailer set up. It's so wonderful to witness the magic of camping through their eyes, it's just so unlike anything else...

SNOW!

Sledding

One of the main reasons we like to go up to Mammoth in the Spring is to take the kids to the snow (and still be able to do many of the warm weather activities that we enjoy the most). This was Zion's first time in the snow since he was 7 months old so it really seemed like the first time he could understand and enjoy it. For Zion, the snow was a little confusing. You could tell that he didn't really love that it made him feel so cold, and he would become easily frustrated with his limited mobility in it. But he did enjoy sledding - what kid doesn't?

Eden got kind of bored with the sledding, so Jon bribed her to come out there with us by telling her he would read her a book while Zi and I sledded. She was sold and could have sat on this tree stump reading with dad all day.

Snowboarding

The second day of the trip I went snowboarding. When I came back to meet up with Jon and the kids,  Jon and I were both surprised to see Eden showing some interest. We tried to sell ski school to Eden, because I could never teach her to ski or board and Jon didn't feel very comfortable about it either seeing that he has really only gone a handful of times in his life and his finger was all banged up which made him deathly afraid of falling on or bumping it. But Eden would have nothing to do with ski school and instead more or less begged Jon to take her up, which in the end turned out to be much cheaper and actually somewhat productive.

Here we are in the parking lot, getting all situated...I don't think either of us thought that Eden's snowboarding day would go much farther than this....

Then we made it to the slope and I think we were both pretty shocked at how eager and brave she was being, and we assumed we would just mess around at the base for a bit, and most likely not get on a chairlift.

Then out of nowhere she started doing this! We couldn't believe it! All I could think was of course of all things she is gonna fall in love with snowboarding. Now what are we gonna do?

So anyway, she and Jon decided to take a chairlift up....

Zi and I waited patiently for her to come down..

Here she comes!!

Back up they go!

Day two of snowboarding...

Zi and I waiting..

What is it about babies and sunglasses?

Here she comes! She did even better the second day!

The gondola ride was a big hit for the kids. We rode it at least 3 or 4 days, at least two times each day. It was pretty cool, because while we rode the gondola Jon would snowboard and the kids and I could watch him come down the mountain. Below you can see him waving to the kids.

We would end each day with a little ice cream at the village. It was quite a splurge, but the kids truly earned it. They were troopers for the entire trip as we dragged them around on one adventure after another. Jon and I both feel that sometimes we ask too much of them; it's a hard thing for us trying to balance our desire to share the world and our sense of adventure with them and just letting them simply be children and enjoy the truly mundane childhood things..