Trip Report It's a Great Big Beautiful California- COMPLETED

OK...I would like to first apologize for all of the trip reports I have neglected. Work was chaos, the holidays consumed my world, and well...life happened...a lot. But...I will do my best to do more reading and commenting in the near future.

I also have a trip report of my own to bring you...a trip that I still can't believe has come and gone. The reporting is also going to take a little bit longer since I'm doing something a bit different this time. I'm going to be posting on here as well as another forum (I know...such a traitor), so it's going to be a more time consuming process.

Now, for those of you who don't know me and aren't familiar with my trip reports...I'm Sandy ... aka HouCuseChickie (and also TiggerTrigger in a few other places). Obviously, I'm the one with the hat and glasses!

Sorry, huge pictures. I borrowed them from my Facebook galleries.

And another huge picture, but these are our girls (younger one pictured with me above)...

That's Kendall (age 9) on the left and Sammie (age 7 and very toothless) on the right. It's hard to believe these two were just 4 and 2 on my first trip report.

Finally, we've got DH...who will be referred to as such throughout, unless I slip up. LOL. He probably wouldn't be too happy that I'm using this pic, but this was him at the end of "Movember" after growing out his moustache. We're all happy that he shaved it off on December 1st.

So, that's us...but it's been a while since I did anything with my PTR, so some refreshers and updates on the details of the trip...especially the final details. And for those of you who have seen my previous reports, I promise you tons and tons of pics- and even a few videos, but let's recap a bit with the plan and get up to date on some things.

This all started as a "Let's go to Disneyland for the 60th anniversary festivities" trip, which spiraled into so much more. DH reminded me (aka- total guilt trip) that I'd promised him a ski trip. Well, the only way I could get this to work with Disneyland and not have it get too crazy with the budget (or so I thought) was to ski in California. So, the Big Bear- Mammoth-Tahoe debate was started and Mammoth won. All my CA friends said it was better skiing than Big Bear and it's closer and a smidge cheaper than Tahoe.

Plans and costs started to get crazy as dates and transportation started to factor in. We were planning on Disneyland from December 27th-31st and Mammoth on December 31st-January 3rd. In fact, this is what we had the girls believing were our vacay dates until the very end (more on that in a bit). But...I remembered how my parents saved a ton flying on Christmas last year and the dog's boarding facility would take her no later than December 23rd, so leaving on Christmas day started to sound like the better plan. In fact, the one-way cost of our Christmas day flights was something like $150 cheaper per person than the flight I was eyeing for the 27th. So, a Christmas day departure became a reality...and the trip grew by 2 days. But before all was said and done, the trip grew by 1 more day. January 3rd was a Sunday and flights were much more expensive than January 4th. The kids were still off from school on the 4th, so we extended the trip 1 more day. We also decided the extended trip would be the kids' big Christmas present. More on that coming up.

Somewhere in the process of this, as I was planning details of our drive to Mammoth, I found out that California has really strict tire chain laws during winter. Couple that with the taxes that can double the cost of your rental and I decided to bite the bullet and fly from LA to Mammoth. I waited and waited for prices to drop back to the lows I'd seen earlier in the year and by late September, it finally happened. Or so I thought. Just days before the trip, I realized I booked our air in reverse. Instead of LA to Mammoth, I booked Mammoth to LA. I was under a lot of stress at work at the time of this booking and even though I checked things at least 5 or 6 times, I misread all of it. It would have cost more than twice the price of those flights to change everything, so we just ate the cost, booked a rental, came up with a plan for the tire chains, and nervously prayed we wouldn't need to use our plan. There are a couple of silver linings with this that will come at the end of the report.

Now here's where some of the biggest fun came in during the pre-trip time. In late November/early December, it hit me that I really needed a plan to give the girls all of their trip gifts as well as the big gift. We'd be leaving for the airport before 7am on Christmas morning, so there was no time for anything but the big gift that day. Now, we're a dual religion household and between me celebrating Hanukkah and DH celebrating Christmas...I figured we could work it all out with that. Before looking at the calendar, I decided we'd do gifts for the 8 nights of Hanukkah and the 12 days of Christmas. I just didn't realize that it would all match up perfectly so we'd have 20 straight days of gifts. It may sound like a lot, but it was all trip related stuff...stuff to show the girls that $ goes into the fun stuff and the necessities... and that it can be just as fun (if not more) to have it all be part of amazing experiences. Sammie still believes in Santa, so I also had to make it believable. So, I wrote a rhyming letter from Santa talking about how the Christmas gift is so big that DH and I would need to play elves for 11 of the 12 days of Christmas. It even had Santa's signature and the North Pole seal.

During Hanukkah, the kids got things like snow boots, Disney Vans, ski bibs, winter gear, clothes, etc. The 12 days of Christmas were a bit more fun. We started out with character hats for autographs like they requested when we were at the GF back in August, a whale watching cruise, made with the magic wands, a GoPro style camera to record their adventures, stockings full of pins/new lanyards/lip balms/etc., and one of my fave days- Star Wars tickets. We gifted them Star Wars tickets for the trip on the day the movie opened, but it's how we did it that made it a ton of fun. Back in 2014, we built lightsabers for them in DHS and they've held up really well. So, on Dec 18th, while the girls were eating breakfast, I came out of the bedroom wearing one of those audio Chewbacca mask and challenged DH to a lightsaber battle with Sammie's purple lightsaber. DH had Kendall's red one hidden under the couch and we battled it out in the living room. It would eventually hit the kids that they were seeing the movie, but initially, they were more interested in the mask. In fact, here's Sammie (as Chewbacca) wishing everyone a very merry Christmas.



My MIL almost ruined the surprise on Christmas Eve, but thankfully the kids didn't hear and they went to bed totally clueless. Before they woke up, I modified the countdown calendar they'd been using to show the 25th instead of the 27th as our departure day, had a new letter from Santa revealing the surprise, and put the packed bags around the tree- with bows on their packed carry ons. What's really amazing is that when the focus for gifts was shifted away from toys, the only thing the girls were really wishing for this Christmas was for the trip to get here sooner. So, they actually received their Christmas wish.

The girls were so tired when we woke up them up and were reading without really comprehending when they first read Santa's note, but they read it a second time- it all clicked- and we had some utterly giddy girls.

Coming up...Christmas Day- Travel Day

 

[coachwnh]

I'm not going to go and blame Disney for food poisoning

I got food poisoning on our first trip to DL after eating at Goofy's Kitchen the morning we left. Started feeling funky as we were making the 5 hour drive from Anaheim back to my brother-in-laws house in Phoenix. Well by the time we hit Palm Springs, it was an emergency to pull over and............. Nothing worse than food poisoning with 105 degree heat. The next several hours were just awful. Woke up the next morning like nothing ever happened. Food borne illnesses can be brutal!

 

[Figment Forever]

Excellent TR! I enjoyed it so much! I never really saw pictures of DL - WOW I can't imagine being in crowds like that. Your family really handled it great! I think I would go crazy. Love those Alice In Wonderland ears!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I got food poisoning on our first trip to DL after eating at Goofy's Kitchen the morning we left. Started feeling funky as we were making the 5 hour drive from Anaheim back to my brother-in-laws house in Phoenix. Well by the time we hit Palm Springs, it was an emergency to pull over and............. Nothing worse than food poisoning with 105 degree heat. The next several hours were just awful. Woke up the next morning like nothing ever happened. Food borne illnesses can be brutal!

I got an awful case of food poisoning once in Vegas. Not sure if it was from our dinner at the Rio before seeing Penn and Teller or if it was from Carnegie Deli. And it was mid-July...so also that ultra hot time. Thankfully, the worst hit me in the room, but Kendall was with us (and only 11mos old), DH was on the casino floor and couldn't hear his phone when things got bad, and I'd sent my parents off (who were there to help with Kendall) to a nice dinner and then tickets at Mystere that evening...so I was stuck. While my conditions had improved, I had to fly home before it passed and was sick the rest of the week. A doctor would confirm it was food poisoning, but there was no way to pinpoint which spot was the culprit.

Excellent TR! I enjoyed it so much! I never really saw pictures of DL - WOW I can't imagine being in crowds like that. Your family really handled it great! I think I would go crazy. Love those Alice In Wonderland ears!

Thanks! And I still have 5 days to go ...although, they're non-Disney days, so not nearly as many pics or details. The crowds were crazy and I'm still kind of shocked that we got to do pretty much everything we wanted to do.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

December 31st

I want to tell you all that I was sad to be leaving Disneyland, but I just wasn't. Don't get me wrong...it's a wonderful place and definitely a must do for any Disney fan. I just never got that magic bubble feeling and was actually kind of ready to go. Unfortunately, I wasn't too into the idea of where we were going. More on that in a bit.

We got up early, made it through the crazy task of packing up this rental car for a third time, took a last couple of looks at the visible signs of Disney...like the Matterhorn and ToT, checked out and hit the road. We found a Walmart not too far from there to pick up some things for the road. I'd also forget that I took out some cash at Walmart and would later think there was some strange fraud issue with my account. Just goes to show how much stress there is of major splits in your trip. We also had to find a gas station to top off the rental before turning it in. Of course, I could have paid for them to fill it and just bring it back on empty, but even with CA's insane gas prices...it was still far cheaper for me to fill it on my own. We only burned about a half a tank and with gas at $3.05-3.09 per gallon (OUCH) it was still cheaper this way.

I was thinking we'd have to take a shuttle back to LAX to get another shuttle to the new rental car place, but we noticed as driving up that rental car place 1 was right next door to rental car place 2. It was a HUGE relief! We turned in rental car 1 with little issue and I went ahead of DH and the kids to start checking into rental car place 2. I had two of the checked bags as well as my purse and several carryons. That meant DH and the girls were somehow handling the other four checked bags and carryons. OY! The line wasn't too bad, but they were servicing rentals for two separate companies and turns out they were more aggressive with trying to sell the extras...so things were taking a bit longer than I thought. As I waited, I saw DH and Kendall come in, but I didn't see Sammie. My head started whipping back and forth, scanning for her, but no luck in spotting her so I go into a panic. I yell to DH "Where's Sammie?!?!?!?" And he starts looking around but acting like it's not a big deal...like she'll turn up. OK. You had to walk from one building to the next and 1. get the bags there 2. get the kids there...and number 2 takes priority over number 1. Just then, a teen sitting in the bank of chairs tells me that she thinks my daughter is getting sick in the bushes. DH wasn't moving quickly enough, so I get someone to hold my place in line and I run outside. This all went down in under 30 seconds, but it was an illustration in how mom reacts vs how dad reacts. I get things under control, get Sammie and her bags inside and get Kendall to take her to the restroom...and then I get back in line.

The woman who helped me check in was getting on my nerves. She tried to sell me insurance even though I turned her down 5x, she tried to sell me on car seats even though I traveled with the girls' boosters (and by CA law, our kids didn't actually need them), and she tried really hard to sell me on a full tank of gas. But once we got past that, we were told to head out to their garage to pick our car...and this time...there were lots of cars in a number of makes/models. There were no others renting cars in this size at the time, so we just went car by car to evaluate trunk size, seat comfort, and interior space. A Chevy Malibu won the competition. Unlike the Camry, it fit all of our checked bags as well as a couple of the carryons in the trunk. The only thing I didn't do was check tires. It probably would have saved me a good deal of anxiety if I'd done this, but everything I'd read and been told said the odds of getting a car with snow tires or mud and snow tires off of LAX were slim to none. Why is this important? CA has strict policies and laws regarding tires/chains and snowy/icy conditions. Now, I grew up in NJ, went to college in upstate NY, and even spent a couple of years in OH and I have NEVER seen laws and policies like this. From what I can see, it takes very little for CalTran to mandate some level of snow tires or chains. I was using their app and website and was praying I wouldn't see the tire chain logo on the map below go up on any of the roads for Mammoth during our stay.

Now, I had tried to take measures to ensure we wouldn't have to make this drive and deal with this issue, but I learned a very big lesson...NEVER book travel during peak times at work. I have about a month and a half in the fall where I put in 50-60 hour weeks...and it's a lot when you consider I also share softball duty with DH for the girls and still have to do regular things like get the kids to school and pack lunches. I had been watching the air from LAX to Mammoth for months and was waiting for it to drop back to the lows I'd seen before we were ready to book. One day in late Sept/early Oct, I came home...checked he prices and WOW- they had dropped...or so I thought. I must have checked everything 5x and it all looked right to me, but it turns out that I booked Mammoth to LAX instead of LAX to Mammoth (r/t). And I didn't realize my error until December 22nd. I called Alaska Air in a panic, explained to them what happened, noted it was my fault, and just wanted to see if there were any affordable ways to correct this. I had a feeling we'd just have to cut our losses with the air travel and drive, but the rep actually asked me if I even bothered to double check what I'd booked. Talk about adding insult to injury. One of our flights was sold out and I'd have to rework some things with our return flights and end of trip lodging...but before all of that, it was going to cost me about $1600 to rebook everything. Soooo, needless to say we didn't go that route. It also was unfortunate because the rental car in Mammoth was probably going to be a Subaru (that seems to be all they rent). So, we probably would have had a car with snow tires, AWD and the option of chain rentals had we been able to fly into Mammoth. Even though CA law mandates chains in a number of situations, many rental car places prohibit them. I couldn't find it written anywhere in my contract for this car from LAX, so we were now faced with the choice of buying chains before heading up into the mountains or chancing it. With the cost, size and weight of chains and the clear map and weather forecast, we decided to go without.

Part of me had actually been secretly hoping that we'd be snowed out of Mammoth and we'd have to find something else to do between the 31st and the 3rd. Part of me wanted to head to Pasadena to see the Rose Parade on the 1st and part of me wanted to drive to Vegas, but the weather clearly showed we'd be driving to Mammoth.

DH took the first leg of the drive to get us out of LA. As we got north of the city, we passed an area that looked like a real life Ornament Valley from Cars. I wasn't able to take pics, but the resemblance was uncanny. This would be my first pic as we left the sprawl of LA.

Driving into Red Rock Canyon state park was also pretty cool...

I was really hoping we'd drive through some nice little mountain towns, but there is a lot of nothing in between LA and Mammoth. Case in point, we drove by Manzanar, which was a Japanese internment camp during WWII. In other words, it's so remote and desolate that the government thought it would be a perfect place to send those they feared at the time. We stopped to get gas at the first commercial looking gas station just so we wouldn't get stuck or wouldn't have to go to some no name gas place in a near ghost town.

I knew Bishop was a bigger town and it was my plan for lunch. A couple of very helpful Californians on one of the forums said this would be the place for us to stop for a last minute chains purchase since they had a KMart. We passed a bakery called Schatts that was absolutely overflowing with people. We knew that wouldn't be an option, but they had a smokehouse just a little farther up the road that had just opened and wasn't packed- yet.

We had a nice mountain view from our table.

I also noticed that they must be Disney fans as well. (this was just a sample of their Disney stuff)

Kendall's magnetic Donald also came out to play...

The food was pretty good and the place definitely got much more crowded as our meal progressed. DH and I also had a good laugh as we looked at the parking lot and the road. On the ride up (so far), we noticed that everything on the road was either a local older vehicle or a large luxury SUV. While there were a number of makes, we saw a ton of Range Rovers...so we dubbed the trip up as the Range Rover parade. I know we had a count going for a while...something like over 30 Range Rovers alone before we got to Mammoth.

The scenery was starting to look more pretty as we were leaving Bishop and getting closer to Mammoth.

We also got a bit of a scare before heading out of the Bishop area. I pulled up the map and it looked at first like chain controls were in effect for the roads going into Mammoth, but after refreshing the screen, they disappeared. I'm just glad I got this refreshed when I did because we lost all service as we started to wind into the mountains before actually getting to Mammoth. I felt like a bad AT&T commercial and we were in one of those dead zones with no cell service. Thankfully, we got service back on the other edge of this ridge and the roads weren't steep or full of winding passages.

Now, I picked our ski resort because it was ski in/ski out from the main lodge...which seemed like the best plan for the kids. The only problem, the main village isn't on top of the main lodge. In fact, it's a ways away. Yes, there were free shuttles and buses, but everything with this resort felt so remote. This was also the reason the DCH and the GC were out of the budget. We were paying quite a bit for ski in/out and even more for the holiday weekend. And I'll say it right now...while the skiing convenience would be great, the rooms and overall facilities (among other things) would leave us feeling a bit robbed.

So, we arrive a the ski resort around 3:15pm. Over the last 30 or so minutes, I've developed a nasty headache and some other issues. I thought I might just be tired, so we were hoping our room was ready. I head to the front desk and the girl who helped me was really strange about things. She said I was REALLY early. OK, I know we're early but 3:15pm for a 4pm check in isn't insanely early. She got me checked in though, put a message to housekeeping that we arrived and need our room, and told me to check back a little after 4pm if they haven't called or texted with the status on the room. So, I wander a bit and take some pics...

Lower part of the mountain.

Chalet section of the resort.

Main building at the resort.

Halfpipe off to the left.

More mountain views.

Girls posing in front of plowed snow and snow banks.

Heading back inside...

 

[HouCuseChickie]

The resort lounge looking up to the slopes...

Gaston would approve.

We really weren't cold, but hanging out by the fire is such stereotypical ski trip stuff...

Now, I know some of you that live in "real winter" are probably thinking that reading a cold snowy TR isn't as inviting as SoCal or FL, but I came to a very important realization on this trip.

NOT ALL COLD IS CREATED EQUALLY

I'll get into greater detail of this when covering Jan 1 of the trip, but after being in real winter temps up in the mountains and being less cold than I am at home with temps in the 40s and 50s...I've realized that moisture plays a big role. For the longest time, I just thought my blood could no longer stomach real winter after years in NJ, OH, and NY. I mean, I'm freezing down here when it's in the 40s. Yet here I am, standing outside in teens and twenties (and much lower in future days) and I was very comfortable. It had nothing to do with layering as I'd discarded most of my layers at this point and I certainly wasn't excited to be there. And I think there may be something to this. Even though Syracuse was significantly colder than Union County NJ, I was rarely as cold as I was in NJ. Syracuse was at a higher elevation and dryer than my hometown in NJ and the snow we got once the lake froze over was very different. Not quite the powder you get in the west, but different. So, I've come to the conclusion that not all cold is created equally. The concept is really no different than when you head to Vegas in July and you hear "but it's a dry heat." So, it's a dry cold!

And we're still hanging out by the fire and my head is really not happy.

I watched the check in desk and they were never really busy. We did see a lot of people coming in and out from skiing and checking gear with the valet or the resort's rental spot, but that was about it. Oh, and dogs...lots of dogs. This place was apparently very pet friendly. We saw everything from little frufru dogs to people with twin labs, German shepherds and a mastiff. It's also now after 4, my condition keeps deteriorating, and no word from the not-so-busy front desk. So, I go up...find out our room has been ready for a while now...but they were just sooooo busy (yeah right) that they never had time to call us. Not happy.

Our room wasn't in the main building, but it was in the section adjacent to the main building. It also had covered parking if we could find a space. We found the last space in there and were probably asked at least 5x while unloading the car if we'd be leaving. Um...no. We head upstairs and find that our room was directly across from the pool and jacuzzi. The girl at the desk had mentioned something about it, but it didn't really hit me until I was in the hall that smelled just like PotC. We go into the room and while it looks a bit cramped, I do like the towel mammoth waiting for us on the bed.

And I guess they heard that DH snores.

I actually had a whole box of my own, but extras can't hurt.

I take a look out the window to see what kind of views we have. I see that we can see the main lodge from our room...

Halfpipe

Sun is setting...

Our sister building (connected by the garage)

Looks like it could be a good area to play...

OK...I was really just having fun taking pics.

I also wanted some pics of the pool area and views just outside of our room.

The kids were getting bored, so I dressed them in all of their gear to go play in the snow. Not sure why...maybe because I just wanted to crawl in bed...but I only took a before photo.

I did at least take video of them playing in the snow.



And right after that, I went to sleep. I have no idea what time they woke me up, but when they did...my whole face hurt and I was feeling pretty sick to my stomach. At this point, I was pretty certain I was dealing with some altitude sickness issues. Still, I got dressed and we headed to the main building because it was New Year's Eve and everyone was hungry. We had planned on watching fireworks on the other side of the mountain, but with my condition, the costs and the crowds, we decided dinner and back to the room was the best plan.

The girls found some celebratory gear when we got to the main building.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

We were told it would take some time to be seated for dinner since they were supposedly the only place on the mountain not requiring NYE dinner reservations. We heard so many rude people getting ugly with the staff in there for the wait and any number of things. I'm not sure if us being quiet and pleasant played any role in us getting seated in under 20 minutes while others were still being told over an hour wait. I wasn't complaining, but K didn't like ditching her head gear during the meal.

It didn't really have much of NYE vibe, but it did feel ski lodge-ish.

At least one kid was happy.

And maybe it wasn't the smartest thing with the way I was feeling, but I had some heavily spiked cocoa with my tall glass of water.

DH got a pork belly sandwich that was only ok.

I had mac & cheese with asparagus and prawns.

Whatever the kids had must not have been all that exciting, but we did find out that we could get fruit for them at every meal even if we weren't supposed to. Something about how it's coded and we could have it all. OK

We head back to the room after this, get the kids in bed since we have a really early start the next day, and I have to prep everyone's stuff even though I'm feeling downright awful. I know we had one of the NYE specials on in the background, but with us being on Pacific time, I think the ball had already dropped in NYC and the telecast was in replay mode...so it sort of lost its luster. So, Happy New Year to us...and off to bed for me.





Coming up...I guess I won't be taking a lesson, not a total loss, up and down the mountain, the Yodeler, watching the kids, meeting Mo.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

January 1st...

I wake up nice and early to get myself ready. While the kids were booked for lessons...I was too...and I was not looking forward to it. I was up on and off through the night not feeling great, but had taken some pain killers and was trying to hydrate throughout the night. I'm sorry to sound like such a Debbie Downer, but let's be honest...I'm just not feeling this part of the trip. Still, Sammie would need a snowboarding buddy...so I was doing this for her. So, I get on my base layer and my ski pants. And then I start getting the kids up to prep them. I'm still feeling awful...like someone punched me in the face...and then I feel some dripping. I have allergies and sinus issues, so I figured it was something with that. Nope...it would progress into a gushing, very hard to stop, nose bleed. At this point, even DH agrees that I should skip it. He is good enough that he needs no lessons and figured it wouldn't be fun just skiing on his own while the rest of us are at the bottom of the moutain, so he was already planning on a day off. So, now we were going to have a day off together. Once I get things under control with myself, I help him finish up with the kids. We get some grab and go breakfast (fruit bars I picked up outside of Anaheim) and head over to the main lodge.

Oh...and in case you were wondering about temps...this is what we were looking at when I woke up. Certainly not the coldest I've experienced, but it's cold...and while I did go out layered up...it didn't feel bad at all.

It was a holiday, we had to check in for special stuff, deal with my reservation, get the kids fitted, and talk to them about K's allergies, so we got out early...too early. We sat in the check in area of the main lodge for a while before anyone showed up. And when they finally did, they sent us back over to the kids activity building. They were very nice about it, but we could have gotten a later start and gone to a building a little bit closer to the resort...not like any of this is really that far. It's like being in the WS and walking from Mexico to China vs. Mexico to Norway. So, we get into the kiddie building and I'm mixed on the experience. The girl helping us and checking us in was grumpy. I tried to make some goofy awkward conversation, but it was going nowhere. It's sad, because this is night and day from the guys handling the main counter over at the lodge building. Oh well, on the plus side...she took my reservation, converted some of it into gondola tickets for both me and DH, and then gave me a $100 credit for future ski bookings for use within the next 3 years. I don't plan on using it since don't plan on returning to Mammoth, but it's better than them just saying that $ is gone, and we were planning on riding the gondola...so at least we were getting that covered

After finishing with check in, we went over to the fitting area and waited with the girls.

There were two guys manning the area...one was really sweet with the kids and the other was like the girl who checked us in...and yeah, we got him. Still, it was ski and board fitting time.

And now's a good time to bring up the cost of skiing. Yes, our hotel was already on par with staying at the DLH or GC, but when you look at the cost of lessons and rentals...it starts making DLR and WDW feel like a bit of a bargain. Sure, you don't need lessons every day and lift tickets and rentals on a normal day wouldn't be as much...but lessons...1 day of lessons/rentals = nearly the price of a 3 day hopper at DLR. PAINFUL! Oh...and a full day equals 8am to 3pm...so even more painful.

So, we are done being fitted and we start making our way out.

DH handles K's check in and I bring over Sammie...

I couldn't place the accent of the one guy checking us in, but sounded like a mix of French and German. Sammie was excited, so I just tried to step back and let her go.

Not sure why I took this pic, but I was fascinated by the chalets.

The kids would later ask to ride the snowcat and my wallet was pretty much screaming no at this point.

Now to try and spot K in her ski lesson...

There she is!

Oh...also need to note how windy it was out there. Sparkly snow was flying everywhere with each gust.

Back to the kids...and Sam is just standing there...

 

[HouCuseChickie]

We wander a little bit to check out plans for a little bit later...

We decide to head back to the hotel so we could relax and pop in and out at our leisure to watch the kids.

And I immediately run back out because I can see Kendall is doing some single ski work..

OK- back to wandering. This is a better view of the building we're in...

And just a few other angles from the area...

Sorry...really liking the windy snow sun pics...

This was for the toddler age kids...

Icicles...

(also avoiding some of the yellow snow in this area - lots of dogs at this place!)

I guess the tree is used to this...

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I head up to the deck and notice I'm being watched by a raven...

Time to head in a bit...

I went downstairs a bit to watch some of the Rose Parade, but I missed the Disneyland float...

Not quite Mickey Mouse, but they have Wooly come out to greet guests...

I also took a selfie to commemorate my first time in real snow since 1995...

We decide it's time to use our gondola tickets. The ticket covers a rid up to the middle section and as many rides up and down from mid mountain and the top...but once was come all the way down, we're done. At least it's all done by RFID cards, so you can just zip that away and you're set.

People boarding the gondola for scenic rides get priority access, so we're immediately loaded and on our way up to the mid mountain level...

We're not very far up, but it's starting to feel high to me.

Lots of people skiing

And the reality...we're still pretty low on the mountain...

 

[HouCuseChickie]

We decide to get off at mid mountain to grab some drinks...

We kept getting covered with snow flying off the roof...

Time to check out the mid mountain area a bit...

We decide to head up to the top. We have to share a gondola car this time, but we're with a pretty nice bunch of guys. My only issue with this part...both the employees and the people in the gondola are all like...OOOOOOOOOOO PHOTOGRAPHER! Basically, we stood out because we weren't skiing, but the camera (vs all of the people with GoPros mounted to their helmets) was a big standout. I don't know...just made me feel out of place. Oh well, just gonna take pics.

We get out up at the top and start checking out some of the observation areas inside...

It was about this point when DH was really wishing he was skiing...

I had been looking forward to getting up to the top since some of the views from up there are actually the southeastern side of Yosemite National Park. In fact, the airport is actually Mammoth Yosemite and is one of the airport options for summer travel to Yosemite. Unfortunately, during the winter, the access from this side to Yosemite is closed. i.e. road safety issues with ice and snow. The closed road at the far end of our resort and the main lodge is actually what you'd take to get into Yosemite. It was driving me nuts being so close to Yosemite and not able to go in. I mapped other options, but it would be about an 8-9 hour drive to get around the mountains and to the other entrance. Not happening. After going to Yellowstone and Grand Teton back in 2005, Yosemite was added to my must do national park list...but not this trip. Oh well. But...I guess know that in my next batch of pics in this TR, some of what you see may be in Yosemite.

We're now peaking outside, but I'm not ready to go out just yet...

This pic was the funniest moment up there. I saw the view through the interior windows and it was spectacular, so I go to open the door and get a better look. I wasn't even looking at what it was, but DH grabs me and tells me I can't just barge in on Ski Patrol to take pictures. Yeah...I'm feeling stupid. So, I take this awful pic through the interior windows.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Beautiful, right? Well, just as I'm going to walk away and give up...one of the Ski Patrol guys comes out ... really nice ... and invited me to come in and get a better vantage point for pics. Sweet! And DH's jaw hit the floor.

Not that they spend all day in the office, but imagine this as your view at work every day.

I didn't want to intrude for too long, so I thanked them and decided it was time to head outside. I was actually kind of scared. I'm sort of a clumsy person and I had this fear of tripping and tumbling down the mountain. But here I go...I'm heading out.

Yeah...I'm still standing on the stairs. LOL. I was wearing a heavy pair of Sorel Caribou boots, so I was at least in decent footwear...still...scared.

DH manages to get me off the steps and while my head is still hurting from the elevation issues (yeah...those 2 bloody marys at mid mountain may not have been the best choice)...I wanted to show how high we are.

Before the trip, I registered for all kinds of emails from Mammoth as well as liked their Facebook page. Consequently, I get "dump alerts" every time they get a new batch of "fresh pow." This recent pic really floored me since you can see how much snow they've gotten since I took the pics above.

CRAZY!

They had a few runs closed off because of winds and inability to groom those spots. So, of course DH goes and stands right near one of them. I couldn't convince myself to get any closer. Not sure if I was more afraid for him, or afraid that he'd drop that colorful IASW LSS pouch in his left hand down the mountain. Those are Kendall's Epi Pens.

Seriously, my heart was racing just watching him stand there. I have issues.

If it were summer, I would have gone in search of this mountain lake. I think (think) it might be Convict Lake, but not 100%. That's the one lake I kept reading about up in these parts.

We were starting to get hungry and all of the cafeteria style eateries up on the mountain were pretty crowded. So, we decide to head down.

My favorite lift name...

And we're still traveling down.

I was not thrilled with the going down...it scared me more, but watching this person do moguls was a good distraction.

Almost back to mid level...

 

[HouCuseChickie]

While we knew we couldn't head back up to the top again if we headed down to base, we were done...so we took the next gondola to the bottom.

Almost there...

We get to the bottom and you can really see how the wind is kicking things up at the higher elevations...

I really like the big Mammoth...

We decide to try the restaurant across from the main lodge and across from our resort for lunch.

There's a bit of a wait and the place is crazy chaotic, so DH gets me some spiked peppermint cocoa. Nice.

There were so many people who would come in put their name on the list and debate if they could make at least a smaller run on the mountain in time to be seated. They would forfeit their spot in line if they weren't there when called, so it wound up not taking too long for us to get seated.

It was at least nice and festive inside.

And that big Alpenhorn...they'll let patrons try and blow through it...

DH just got a burger, but he said it was really good.

I got vegetarian goulash with spaetzle, and it was great.

We still have some time before we need to pick up the kids, so we head back to the room for a nap!

Coming up...more of New Year's Day

 

[Figgy1]

While we knew we couldn't head back up to the top again if we headed down to base, we were done...so we took the next gondola to the bottom.

Almost there...

We get to the bottom and you can really see how the wind is kicking things up at the higher elevations...

I really like the big Mammoth...

We decide to try the restaurant across from the main lodge and across from our resort for lunch.

There's a bit of a wait and the place is crazy chaotic, so DH gets me some spiked peppermint cocoa. Nice.

There were so many people who would come in put their name on the list and debate if they could make at least a smaller run on the mountain in time to be seated. They would forfeit their spot in line if they weren't there when called, so it wound up not taking too long for us to get seated.

It was at least nice and festive inside.

And that big Alpenhorn...they'll let patrons try and blow through it...

DH just got a burger, but he said it was really good.

I got vegetarian goulash with spaetzle, and it was great.

We still have some time before we need to pick up the kids, so we head back to the room for a nap!

Coming up...more of New Year's Day

Sorry you had to deal with nose issues and it would take more than 2 bloody Mary's to get me out in that cold. Impressive

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Sorry you had to deal with nose issues and it would take more than 2 bloody Mary's to get me out in that cold. Impressive

It honestly wasn't that bad. By mid morning, I was walking around base level without my coat and I had my coat unzipped a bit at mid level. This was the outside temp when we headed back after lunch. I swear, it felt more like temps in the 40s.

It wasn't until the wind really picked up mid-afternoon that I found the need to zip back up. I'm just still surprised about all of my altitude sickness issues. I've never had this problem before in higher elevations. Oh well. It is what it is.

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

Oh, man! So sorry y'all had bouts of illness. All your great pics make me rethink taking the kids and trying the slopes again. My last (and only) time required an ACL replacement.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Oh, man! So sorry y'all had bouts of illness. All your great pics make me rethink taking the kids and trying the slopes again. My last (and only) time required an ACL replacement.

Yeah...it wasn't fun, but it happens. I was up on skis and a snowboard once in my life...back in college...and it wasn't pretty. DH has been skiing since he was a little kid even though he grew up in a warmer climate, so he just can't fathom how I never learned. I never thought about my ACL, but one of my friends (semi-recently) went to Tahoe and broke her ankle...so I had that in my mind. We did walk by what I think would have been my class and the instructors all seemed really annoyed, which would have really ticked me off...to the point that I might have had a blow up. So, maybe it's for the best that it all worked out this way.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Jan 30th continued...

As I think back on things...I know I said kid pick up was 3, but now I think it was some time between 3 and 4. Oh well. We head out to check on the girls as we're nearing pick up time and right away, we see Kendall.

Kendall is this crazy mix of super stubborn do it yourself perfectionist and super helpless baby me and do it all for me. So, I really wasn't sure how she'd do with all of this. Seeing her getting by on her own was the sure sign that skiing really suited her well.

Next was to find Sammie. It's hard to tell here, but she's waiting in line to go up the magic carpet.

And there she is...

Lessons weren't quite over, so she went back with her instructors.

We watched her going down the mini hill...

It looked like she was doing really well, but we couldn't grasp why they were still in this little area this late in the day. Sammie's class was less than half the size of Kendall's, so you'd think that nicer student to teacher ratio would equate to doing more.

But it's back to the magic carpet for Sammie...

I was hoping maybe they took them up on the lift earlier and were back to the magic carpet for new skill sets, but I'd have to wait until class ended to find out more.

In the meantime, the pink legs you see below are Kendall going up on one of the lifts...

Considering how crazy helpless she can act, it was so amazing to see her embracing this and doing well. I kept looking for her, wondering what I'd see since we hadn't actually seen her come down, and after a little while...there she was. Totally doing it and loving it.

Sorry, just being crazy crowd parent at this moment!

Classes were over, we got report cards and a recap for their instructors, and then it was inside for some post class hot cocoa. It was kind of funny to smell all of the hot cocoa with all of the fresh pine in there. Sometime after we went through fittings, they took down all of the fresh pine garland in the building. It was just sitting on the floor and it smelled like Christmas!

Gear is now off, but we'd wind up taking it with us. They let us take our rentals for the next day without any extra charge. So, we checked the skis, board, boots and poles with the ski valet at the resort.

What to do the next day would be the great debate for the rest of the day and even part of the next. It turned out that by the end of the day, Kendall had gone up the lift 5x and came down on her own without falling or needing any help. She loved it and was dying to get back out there. She was only doing greens, but she had progressed far enough that DH could get out there with her. Sammie, on the other hand, never got up on the lift. Her instructor tried to say if it were a private lesson or there were fewer kids, but again...her group was a fraction of the size of Kendall's. Now, I know some say snowboarding is harder to pick up than skiing, so that might be some of it, but her instructor did say she was ready to go up on the lift. Unfortunately, without having been up on the lift several times with an instructor to help guide her down...i.e. some experience...it didn't seem wise to have her go up with DH and K. DH has no snowboarding experience, so he really wasn't comfortable with it. So, in any event, this was the great topic of debate on the table for a while.

We go back to the room so the kids can relax...

 

[HouCuseChickie]

After some relaxing, we debated about dinner. Like most ski areas, there is all kinds of free transportation, but it was a little more tricky with our resort. The main bus line stopped running to our area around 5:30pm. There was the option of getting a cab, but I read a lot of horror stories on the pricing (fleecing) with the main cab company. They also had a courtesy shuttle which you could call for when you needed a ride back to the resort, but the front desk said that wait times could vary a lot depending on the location of the shuttle and the other guests requiring pick up. We were tired and I was still not feeling right, so we decided to dine at the resort again.

I started with some French onion soup...

DH got a chicken Caesar salad for his entree...

And I got a burger on a pretzel roll...

Nothing was tasting quite right to me, but the burger was the best thing I could tolerate out of the meal.

We'd also meet Mo tonight. We'd seen her the previous night, but she'd be our server tonight. She had that total CA chill ski area sort of way about her and the girls loved it. She praised them for noticing the New Year's lei she'd tossed up into the rafters which had not yet been noticed by the restaurant manager.

We called it a night after that and went back to the room. I'd heard we might be getting some light snow showers in the morning and I was started to get nervous, so I was hoping to just go back to the room and take a relaxing bath. Of course, we couldn't get it out of shower mode...so, so much for that.

This video is a sneak peak of what we'll wake up to in the morning...





Coming up...A Snowy morning, to ski or not to ski, you'll have that pretzel and you'll like it, touring the town, an amazing discovery, and third time's a charm.

 

[coachwnh]

The views from the top are amazing!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

The views from the top are amazing!

Thanks! It was definitely a crazy, top of the world, kind of experience.