This weekend, a bunch of our friends rented two condos for the weekend in Mammoth and invited us to come hang out and ski! We’d be crazy to say no to such a great opportunity. We love to get up to the mountains at least once in the winter to get a dose of skiing in. This was the perfect reason to go!
We left after work on Friday and started the 5.5 hour drive up. Since we didn’t know what the roads would be like, we took Irving’s Jeep which gets about 16 miles to the gallon! By the time we got there, he was well below ‘E’ and I was starting to panic. He’s such a guy: “We’ve got at least another hour on this tank. Even though it’s on E… it’s not really on E.” OHMYGOSH!!! My dad always told me to never go below a quarter tank, especially in the winter, in case something happened and I had to keep the car going to stay warm. I half wanted us to break down in the middle of nowhere so I could say ‘I told you so’, but alas, we made it up there safe. Lucky break.
The condo we’re staying in is so cute!
What perfect books for a weekend in the mountains!
Look at this cute little squirrel!
My favorite part is the rocking cordless phone, circa 1991!
Zach Morris? Are you there?
Within our great group of friends, there are six kids who were there to ski this weekend. This morning, when I woke up, I could hear the pitter patter of little feet descending down the staircase. It was so nice. They say the cutest things too. One of them kept telling Irving how excited he was to ski because ‘Skiing was his favorite’! Awe! Living in southern California, it’s exciting to see so much snow! And PS. seeing little kids in snowpants and ski boots is the cutest thing in the whole world.
All the kids and most of the adults got their tickets to head up the mountain, but I decided not to go this time. Every time I ski, my body aches, my muscles hurt and I want to quit after two runs. But everyone else was super excited!
When we got to the lifts, my phone told me it was 13 degrees outside. ahhh!
Good thing I came prepared with my Merrel snowmobile boots. These things are the BEST!
A gorgeous day for some skiing, I’m sure they all had a great time!
I said farewell to the group and went on my way to explore the village.
Mammoth is so cute. It has all the amenities of a huge ski resort, but the charm of a small town.
The first thing I did (after filling the Jeep up with gas — PS. $3.99 a gallon up here!) was head to the Snowcreek Fitness Club. This place is kind of a big deal. It’s where almost all of America’s Olympic runners live and train for their events. The altitude is so high here that if they can run here, they can run anywhere.
I just finished reading Meb Keflezighi’s book and he kept mentioning this place. After a little research, I found out that a lot of my running idols also train there. There’s an elite group of runners who belong to the Mammoth Lakes Track Club. A few members include Deena Kastor, Jennifer Rhines and Sara Hall. When I was driving along the road, I kept picturing these super fast marathoners running here. It is gorgeous!
They let me inside and I got to see some of the equipment they use. I was keeping my eye open, but I didn’t recognize anyone. I was thinking about getting a massage there too, I mean if a masseuse is good enough for an Olympian, why not me, right? But I decided against it. It was fun enough just to see it.
My original plan was to run the 5 miles to the club and back to our condo, but the air is so thin, I could barely walk up a flight of stairs! It’s hard to catch your breath at 9,000 feet. So instead, I spent my afternoon SHOPPING! But before you get all excited, remember that this a town of 3,000 people. The nearest Macy’s is three hours away.
I did find a few outlet stores and got three new sweaters for $20. SCORE!
Then I took my singles party to a café in town. Soup was sounding good at the time.
I got the Italian Wedding Soup in a bread bowl, but I have to say, it was mediocre. The soup was a bit off, and the bread wasn’t cooked all the way, it was still a little doughy?! EW! The waitress agreed and didn’t end up charging me for it, but my appetite was ruined. Oh well. With the altitude, I haven’t been very hungry up here anyways.
Everyone should be making their way back here soon, might go read a book and enjoy the peaceful mountain air.
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