Well what do ya know? I've returned! My lovely vacation in California is over and now it's back to the real world. Not a fan. However, my birthday is in FOUR days (presents accepted) and Alaska is in SEVEN days, so really, this week won't be so bad ;)
And now, I'm sure you all are dying to hear all about my wonderful adventures in California and see some pictures, right?! Of course.
Just a warning: This post will be very long and picture heavy.
Bright and early Sunday morning Alicia, my mom, my step-dad and I all headed off to the airport to start our long day of traveling to Mammoth, California. My Aunt and Uncle live out there and we decided to visit and explore for a week. I've never been out to California (or anywhere further West than Kansas) so I was completely STOKED. And ooohmygosh was it amazing.
Any place that has a view like that just from the airport is a place I will fall in love with.
Also, can I just talk about the plane ride over? Alaska/Horizon airlines is
wonderful! For starters, you actually get snacks (apparently airlines like United and Continental don't do that anymore, and it's no fun to starve on a 4 hour plane ride) AND you get free beer/wine on the flight too! Yes, please.
By the time we arrived we were all pretty exhausted. So instead of doing anything too crazy the first night we just relaxed, took a walk (in the amazing non-humid weather!), saw some fireworks, and caught up with each other. I hardly ever see my Aunt and Uncle since they live so far away, so it was wonderful to spend time with them :)
Day One: Monday July 4th
Up bright and early with the sunshine, we all had our first real west-coast hiking experience. This is where we were headed...
That rock is Crystal Crag and right near it is Crystal Lake. And in order to get there, we had to hike uphill in SNOW. Yes, snow.
It is a struggle to hike in snow and not slide all over the place. But one of the amazing things about it was that it wasn't cold at all, we were all hiking in our boots, a t-shirt, and shorts! And if you got too hot, there was always some super cold snow to stick your face in, if needed :)
On our way up to Crystal Lake we saw some gooorgeous views! The mountains out on the West Coast are nothing like the mountains here in North Carolina. We don't have mountains, we have hills compared to Mammoth.
Crystal Lake was just as gorgeous. It is surrounded by snowy mountains that reflected in the water and there were also little "ice islands"
(I don't know the technical term) in the lake because the water was still so cold. Well, my step-dad, being the adventerous genius that he is, decided he wanted to attempt to get on one of those "ice islands." So he climbed in the lake and then on the ice in his
bare feet and froze. But he did it!
We explored around some more at the lake, climbed on rocks, and took countless pictures and then eventually headed back down,
through the snow, to our car. The rest of the day was spent wandering around, going to a craft fair, and listening to some crazy grocery store workers singing over the intercom. Gotta love small towns.
Day Two: Tuesday, July 5th
Busy, busy day!
We went to Minaret Vista and saw the Minarets, Reds Meadow, and Mammoth Mountain (the ski resort).
 |
| See that thing just floating there? Yeah I went on that. |
We ventured on over to the Earthquake fault.
I've never seen anything like this before (which is maybe a good thing) and it was so neat! I'm not sure when the earthquake was or which one it was or how bad it was or
any of that information, but it's unbelievable that the damage is still there.
Next
and last stop of the day: Rock Climbing! So.Much.Fun.OHMYGOSH. I had been Rock Climbing before, kind of, but it was nothing like this! I climbed up 100 feet, that's a lot! Especially for a girl who gets a little freaked out by being really high up. It was so awesome to see us all do so great, we all accomplished our climbing goals :)
![]() |
| See that tiny person up there? Yeah, that's me. 100 feet? No biggie. |
After rock climbing we walked up to the top of the rock and saw this little guy as well as an amaaazing view.
But once another falcon showed up and they started
"talking" to each other, we decided that maybe it was time to stop invading his personal space. So we peaced out of there.
Day Three: Wednesday, July 6th
Yosemite Day #1!
Ohhhh my gracious Yosemite is so
gorgeous! For the first day we drove around some in Tuolomne and went to Olmsted Point where we saw this gorgeous view...
and see that dome out there? Half dome! It's like the one landmark I knew about in Yosemite before we went, so it holds a special place in my heart...
see? haha that was cheesy.
After exploring and taking jumping pictures (on the top of a cliff, kinda freaky) we headed off to do some off-trail hiking! We crossed a creek, hiked around a dome, up some rocks, crossed a waterfall, and scaled up the side of a dome - I think the correct term is
scrambled - and ended up here...
Gorgeous, right? The view was so amazing, and after climbing up a steep rock it felt great to just
relax and enjoy the view. Just to show you how steep it was, just take a look at us on the way down...
TAPin' it out. Sorry, Mammoth inside joke ;) As we started our journey back to the car we noticed that the clouds were looking a leeettle darker and scarier than they were before. So our leisurely hike back turned into a race against the storm, but don't worry...we survived!
To avoid getting poured on, we decided to leave the park and head on over to Mono Lake to see the tuffas (pronounced: TOO-faaaas, I guess? I don't know I'm bad at writing out how words sound. Whatever, that's how it sounds to me).
They were pretty, especially with the sun. Don't ask me how they were formed or any of that though, I don't know. I do know that Mono Lake is
very salty though and apparently they had to drain? the water or something, but that it's expected to rise again. Yeah, something like that. I also learned that the youngest mountains (only 650ish? years old) in the U.S. are right by Mono Lake. Fun!
Day 4: Thursday, July 7th
Yosemite Day 2! aka tourist galoooore.
Our first day in Yosemite was soo relaxing. It was just us on our little trail and we didn't really have to deal with that many people. Just ourselves and nature. Well, it wasn't like that on Thursday. We decided to head into the Valley (which is a
must when you're going to Yosemite), but it's pretty far into the park and ohmygoodness was it packed! But it was absolutely beautiful, and I'm so glad we decided to go. I mean, just look at this view!
Our day was spent doing all of the touristy things...
Seeing Yosemite Falls
And yeah, Alicia even drank some
Hiking the Mist trail that goes right next to Vernal falls
 |
| Yeah, we got sooooaked |
Standing on top of the Vernal falls
Continuing on the John Muir Trail out to Nevada falls and continuing around the Valley
It was just so amazing! And the best thing of all about all this hiking/outdoorsy stuff, was that it wasn't humid at all! It was hot outside, but it wasn't sticky and nasty feeling.. it felt
soooo wonderful. On this trip I realized how much I love hiking and being outside. I'm beginning to think about what my life would be like out on the West coast...
Our last stop of the day was to go see some big ole Sequoia trees!
And although the sign said "please stay off" Alicia and I still decided that we
needed a picture of us hugging one...
Mission Accomplished.
Day 5: Friday, July 8th
Our LAST day, waaaah! In the morning we got up and headed to Mammoth Mountain, the Ski Resort, and took a gondola up to the top.
There was so much snow, it's crazy! They actually
just closed down skiing on July 4th. Isn't that insane? It gets hot at home by like April, sometimes even sooner. We definitely don't still have
snow on the ground.
The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and napping before our flight back home. It had been a long week and I defeinitely had not gotten enough sleep. Our flight was at 6:45pm and on the way to the airport we stopped off at Hot Creek because we had some time to kill.
That water is boiling and no, it is not a good idea to go swimming.
After our little diversion, we were off to the good ole airport to begin our long journey home. But please, just look at how
tiny this airport is. I loved it.
It was so laid back and chill. Apparently they only have one flight out each day, how nice!
And that concludes our loveeely vacation in California. Now it's back to the grind of things and back to the awful humidity! Today it's 100 degrees, yes ONE HUNDRED, and you don't even want to know the heat index, with humidity that has changed throughout the day but at the
least has been 45%. YUCK.
At least soon I'll be in cool, refreshing, non-humid, Alaska :)
Adios,
B.Hines
