Mammoth Lakes, CA

A few weeks ago Adam, Oscar and I headed up to Mammoth Lakes, CA to try to get out of the heat and find a place for all of us to swim (and climb, of course:)).  Mammoth Lakes is part ski resort town and part outdoor oasis in the Eastern Sierra, just north of Bishop.  While these photos really only show lakes and climbing, there is a ton of stuff to do within easy walking/driving distance.  There are breweries, good restaurants, little coffee shops, shopping, hiking (easy and difficult), backpacking, kayaking, fishing, wildlife viewing, beaching, hot spring soaking, hammock laying and reading....  We think it would be an amazing family vacation spot because there's really something for everyone and it's easy to get around.  Do some googling...maybe in two summers (hopefully we'll be in Greece next summer) we could all meet up here?!  

(fyi -pics are slightly out of order and I'm not able to rearrange them...)

While the lakes are filled by snow-melt, they were surprisingly not super cold.  

I guess it probably helped that we were there in August.

Cool Bristlecone growing out of a little island in the middle of a lake.

The best we could get.

Adam had to execute a minor puppy rescue as we all went out to this little island, but Oscar was too scared to swim back.  Poor Oscar looked like the biggest sad sack out there.  Adorable and heartbreaking!  All was fine once Adam got him back in the water.  

Note the mustache...

Super cool rock

These guys luckily let Adam boulder right next to them.  Really need papery hive.

The Mammoth Lakes area is still a bit volcanically active.  

This is a fissure that opened up about 600 years ago.

I'm pretty sure this was Oscar's favorite vacation ever.  

He made friends, swam, hiked, rock-hopped, camped.

I REALLY wanted to take this aussie home with us ;)

Ya, it was a bit cold initially getting in.

Sunbathing with my pup.

Cutie

Kolob Reservoir

Last week Oscar and I went up to Laverkin, UT to look at a camper (no go) and decided that if we were going to drive all that way, we should make a little trip out of it.  Adam had the awesome suggestion of camping at Kolob Reservoir which is at 8,100 ft and along a beautiful drive (just ask Pat and Karen ;)).  Oscar was a total trouper and handled the heat of checking out the trailer, the curvy roads (he's gotten car sick before), and the wildlife like a champ.  Utah really never ceases to amaze me and we always ask ourselves why we don't head that way more often - it's only about a 3 hour drive to Zion and only about 3.5ish (unless you're stopping to take pictures...) to the reservoir.