summertime

the car is packed. we put away our snowboards. we looked at all of our favorite things, one last time.
it is time for us to find green pastures, rivers, lakes, old friends, ancient glaciers, corn fields, sailboats, bbqs, skateparks, miles of wheat, dreams, grass, wine, weddings, sunshine, inspiration, oceans, love.
basically, mammoth was the training grounds for the next three months. we learned to live with none of our stuff, with no boundaries, with open hearts.
we have been practicing gratitude, acceptance, friendship, fun, love.
seriously all of you humans. i figured out the secret to this universe! it is full on gratitude. i am so grateful that i do not work in a basement anymore. i am so grateful that 80% of my days are filled out of doors. i am so grateful that i know all of you. i am so grateful that over millions of years the eastern sierras were created and i got to have my mind blown daily for three months here.
thank you and goodbye, for now. next stop. . . ?

the moon was so big when i drove it to the levy, girl

does it get old posting photos of amazing natural hot tubs in complete seclusion, where all you can hear is birds and the water running? i hope not!
this one, little hot creek, was the farthest away, and worth it. it is huge, hot, and lies in the middle of a meadow.
mind blowing, right?
above little hot creek are these rock cliffs that are filled with obsidian. we met this old hippie out in the valley once who told us that indians must have used the cliffs as hunting blinds. he had found a bunch of arrowheads buried in the dirt.
the sky is just as dramatic as the landscape up here. you just turn down another dirt road and follow it until you see something that looks like it might be a hot spring. then you explore.
next thing we knew, we had found another unbelievable spot. they call this one the crab cooker, because it is insanely hot. and insanely awesome!
we felt like we were in the swiss alps, and maybe the von trapp family would scamper over the hill.
nope! just us. just us all day actually. we didn't see one other person the entire afternoon. i will take you all to these places, and we can share moments in the sunshine.

Let me keep spinning till I hit the ground

memorial day weekend brought 2 feet of snow and a car full of strubings.
the strubings are like family. getting to spend time with them before we leave is an amazing and unexpected treat.

joya marie is a fashion plate already.
it snowed the entire time they were here! we planned to bbq by the pool and do some hiking.




instead, we played in the snow, and swam in the snow!
monday morning we woke up to blue skies and what was to be the mountains last day for the season. by 11, the mountain decided to stay open another week. radical!
the countdown is on.

our tentative grand tour

we tentatively have planned our trip.

it looks insane! if we accomplish half of the things on our trip, it will be mind blowing and life altering.

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it is like christmas!

would you believe it if i told you that it snowed a half a foot during the night?
in 48 hours it went from 76 degrees to 34 degrees. wow! we wore our down jackets one last time this season. it is hard to imagine that two days ago we were in t-shirts!?

we found yet another amazing hot tub. todd thought he hallucinated it, but we found it to be quite real and warm.

it snowed on us while we relaxed.
or rather, while todd tried to relax and i bothered him.
driving back home the dark clouds gathered all around us. it seems that we are in for some winter weather, this last week in may!

You are the only person who's completely certain

we drove ten minutes down the 395 to convict lake.
convict lake is named after a gang that busted out of the carson city jail and fled into the mountains in 1871. they were caught by the local sheriff, (who they shot and killed, and who the big mountain is named after), and were caught and hanged... apparently back in the day the eastern sierras were quite lawless. it was the wild west!!
we got wild and hid like bandits in the trees!
it is crystal clear and amazing. i am afraid we are becoming spoiled with beautiful scenery.
we are also becoming spoiled with relaxation and enjoyment of magical experiences out of doors.
of course i'm joking. we shall never become spoiled by majestic mountain scenery! look at todd giving thanks for the mountain spring crystal lake!
and what foray into the mountains would be complete without a stop at another natural hot spring??
we have become experts in the hot springs of the owens valley. this one is our new favorite, super hot, with benches!
thank you eastern sierras! we love you.

folks up here know what they've got

look who came to visit us on this fine may weekend?
the weather is unbelievable. it has been 75 on the mountain, thus necessitating that we get up there early and wear t-shirts. it feels quite right to spend the last few days of the season riding with my parents. snowboarding, and mammoth really, has been a family tradition forever. all through highschool we spent the weekends driving up in our red jeep, doing homework by flashlight on the way home. once it became summer, we would add bikes and tents to the car, snowboarding in the morning and riding bikes and hiking in the afternoon. we have annual summer photos at the top, in t-shirts, just like the one above.
the lakes are thawing out too. in a few weeks they will be filled with campers.

there is a similar photo to this hanging in the hallway in our condo in mammoth. my grandpa took it. he, along with my grandma, are the reason we love mammoth so much. my grandpa loved the mountains and rivers and streams, and he loved mammoth. my first memories here are of him, he used to babysit all the grandkids while our parents went skiing. he was a photographer, amongst other things, and for a while he went by theo, (instead of tedd.) i think he is happy i am here, taking photos of what he took photos of, remembering him.
i salute the rivers and lakes!
my scabs are healing nicely, thanks to my mom the nurse and belle and brandy. their love heals all wounds. that also is a proven fact.

i want to walk down the other side of the mountain

we have been taking advantage of our free time to learn some new tricks. todd and i rented skis the other day and then todd took me skateboarding. now todd and i are both accomplished snowboarders, and todd shreds on a skateboard. i haven't been on skis since the 5th grade, todd never. my skateboarding skills mostly involve pushing around.

i am learning that putting yourself outside of your comfort zone is all part of growth. it is fun to have to think about how to do something and to accomplish it, especially if it is getting yourself down a mountain. to figure out for yourself how to get your skis to not cross and how to turn without falling. you take things like this for granted when you are really good at doing it.
check out this form!
now skateboarding. todd loves skateboarding. i love skateboarding. on our big trip we will be visiting many skateparks and i like the idea of being capable of rolling around in them while todd does rad tricks.
i am pretty good at pushing around, but i learned my limits while going down a hill.
i will not be skateboarding down hills anytime soon. you should have heard my mom when i told her that i fell!! if you know anything about my family, you will know we have a history of falling off things like skateboards.
rainbow sherbert makes scabs heal faster. it is a proven fact.