Best 4th of July Weekend Ever!

Warning...this post has a lot of photos!

This past weekend we rented a condo up at Mammoth Lakes, CA. We had an amazingly great time. But I don't think it's possible to not have a good time at Mammoth. It's an amazing place. For those of you that are not familiar it's a small town in the eastern sierras. It's where we spend our winters skiing. We've actually never been during the summer, so it was a new experience.

Dave and I left on Friday Morning and checked into the condo. Then headed up to Main Lodge to catch a shuttle to Devil's Postpile. We were really excited to see this since its closed in the winter (snow closure). Therefore, we've never been able to go.
After hiking to Devil's Postpile we continued on to Rainbow Falls. What a beautiful place! The entire hike was about 4 miles. Not bad, but I thought the hike was going to be really short. So I brought the camera bag. That turned out to be an ordeal since the bag is pretty heavy. We ended up trading off every half a mile or so. After hiking we headed over to the Yodler for a couple of glasses of Mammoth Double Nut Brown (local beer). Then it was back to the condo for some hot tub time and dinner. After dinner we drove to Crowley Lake to watch the fireworks. Watching the fireworks over Crowley Lake was awesome. Talk about secluded. Seeing the fireworks in the middle of the sierras was amazing. We found a good spot along the side of the road too.

On Saturday we decided to give Mountain Biking a try. It was a little weird riding bikes around the mountain we normally ski at. But we had a great day. It took a little getting used to, but once I got the hang of it I really liked it. We look about 4 different trails. During our second ride, we rode up to see the view of Twin Lakes and eat lunch. I loved mountain biking! But why wouldn't I...I love adventure and exercise!
Dave had the misguided expectation that mountain biking would be all downhill. At the end of the day we even took the gondola up to the top (over 11,000 feet) and rode down back to Main Lodge. At the end of biking we went back over to the Yodler for more double nut brown! Then again back to the hot tub. This time we ate dinner at the Village and watched fireworks there. (yup, mammoth had 2 nights of fireworks).

Sunday, we woke up and packed up the condo. Then did some "touristy" stuff we never get to do during the winter. We did two short hikes out to some mountain lakes. The last one was only a half a mile, but it turned out to be a pretty strenuous first 1/4 mile. Then it was time to head home. I was completely sad about that. I LOVE the sierras. I keep wondering if we could afford to get a condo and rent it out. Mammoth is totally my favorite place to go. Wonderful views, hiking, and skiing. What more could I ask for! We've been skiing at sooooo many places, but mammoth always reemerges as our favorite place.

I may have a few more photos tomorrow, since I haven't downloaded everything.