An Afternoon at Lake Mary

Even though the weather was looking pretty iffy, we went up to Lake Marry for the afternoon.

It started drizzling on us right away and kids were not looking too excited to be there.

But then, we got the kayaks and paddle board that we'd rented for a couple hours and the whole thing turned around. Everyone took turns on the two kayaks, piling in and racing each other.

But the paddle board was the biggest hit. There was pretty much a constant demand for a turn on it. I think we all tried it out at some point, and now we're thinking that we may need to add an inflatable paddle board to our collection of water toys.

It ended up being a really fun afternoon.

 

Devil's Postpile National Monument

There were only two of us who were willing to get up early enough to get into the park for Devil's Postpile before they require you to take a (pricey) shuttle.

Got to hike with this kid today.

And see some really awesome geology.

 

And it was totally worth the early wake up. (Let's be real--I haven't been sleeping well at this location because of the lack of A/C in our condo, and having to share a pullout sofa with Peanut, so it wasn't really a big deal to get up instead of tossing and turning for a couple more hours.)

We also tacked on a couple more miles to go see Rainbow Falls. Bug has been doing little sketches in each of the national parks we've been to. Pretty cool souvenir.

We weren't there at the right time of day to see the rainbow, but it was still beautiful. And then we got to half-run back to our car because it was getting late and everyone else was awake and ready to head out on the day's adventure. Bug did a lot more running, I just hurried. :)

One last look. Nature is amazing.

Mammoth Lakes Adventure

Next adventure was new country for us. Neither Daddy-o or I had ever been to Mammoth Lakes and when some friends of ours asked if we'd want to go for a few days of hiking with them, we realized we could make a loop out of our UT trip and meet up with them for the hikes.

The hike details kept changing--first we were looking at 13.5 miles, 9 miles, and 5 miles. I was a little worried that at least some of us might just die with that many miles in 3 days. Luckily, things shifted and we dropped the longest one, but the first day, we set out on the 9 mile hike to Duck Lake. We knew there was a chance that Peanut wouldn't make it and one of us might have to turn back with him, but there were lots of lakes along the way, so still a great hike no matter how far you actually go.

We had a lot of elevation gain, lots of rocky trail, 

and by the time we made it to Barney Lake for a lunch stop, Peanut was DONE. He had a cold and wasn't feeling great anyway, so the fact that he made it this far was kind of amazing.

These lakes were so pretty --clear, cold water. While half the group kept going, the moms turned back with the three youngest kids and made a stop at Skelton Lake to put our feet in for a bit. This did rejuvenate Peanut a little which helped us on the couple miles back to the car.

A not-so-happy hiker.

In the meantime. . . Bean, Bug, Daddy-o, and two of our friends made it up to Duck Lake, where they jumped in. . . and jumped right back out. Water from snow runoff is COLD! The hike had some serious uphill, but they all loved it and said it was one of the prettiest lakes they've ever seen.

We found lots of wildflowers along the way of various types.

Such beautiful country.

And back at the condos, there was still a lot of fun to be had. Games, hot tubbing, swimming, and more hot tubbing. The kids have just been loving all the friend and family time on this trip after a year of so little in person fun with others. (And this family felt like a really safe one to hang out with because they are not only vaccinated, but also had Covid in the spring, so we're probably the more dangerous component of all this hanging out.)