Mammoth.......

6:45 am - Saturday - Here we are at Mammoth Mountain, so you know the 143 mile drive south went as planned.  We were in bed by 10:30 pm, hence the early hour.  I'll meet my long time friend, Paul Hood, for breakfast in an hour and then we will head to the 'Adventure Center' to ride the gondola to the top of Mammoth Mountain (11,000' elevation) to begin our first run of the day in their mountain bike park.

We were both up before 8 am Friday in anticipation of our weekend adventure, and were hoping to be in the VW driving south before 11 am.....as it turned out we departed TVC at 10:30 am on the dot.  Traffic over to Stateline was terrible, and it took us over 40 minutes to get over Kingsbury Grade and into the Carson Valley, but once we were past Gardnerville, NV we began to make good time.

We arrived in Walker, CA right at 12 pm and stopped, as planned, at Walker Burger for two of their famous Walker 1/4 lb. burgers with fries.  They have this funky alfresco dining area adjacent to the burger stand, which we love.......

......we continued our drive south along the Walker River passing through Bridgeport, and then over Conway Summit, the highest elevation point along US-395, where we took a brief break to take our traditional 'summit picture' looking southward toward Mono Lake and Lee Vining, CA......

.....we arrived at Mammoth Mountain just after 2 pm, and were checked into our motel room by 2:30......we walked across the street to the small 'Outlet Mall' where TLE spent some time......not too long.....shopping in Bass Shoes outlet store for some black boots.....she found a pair at a good price and we were off to Liberty Sports Bar for a couple of drinks before we headed back to our room to rest up before dinner.......

.....we always eat at least one meal at Gomez' Mexican Grill over at the Village, and that is where we headed a little after 6......we were, frankly, still a little full from our Walker Burgers so we just ordered a carafe of Cadillac Margaritas and an appetizer (Mexi Fries) and sat enjoying the balmy evening air.  They have live music each night at the Village, and this night they had a band playing Brazilian music, which we thoroughly enjoyed.......

.....the elevation here at Mammoth Mountain is about 1700 feet higher than SLT, but it feels the same to me.

We were home by 8:30 and settling into the evening before heading to bed around 10:30......a nice first day at Mammoth.....Saturday we will hit the trails!

Thanks for stopping by!