The Griswold Family Vacation: The Sun Shines Again

Having earned my stripes for withstanding conditions that even a Navy Seal would balk at, I was more than excited about finally getting to our lodge in Mammoth. After two days of roughing it, walking into our condo felt like I'd just arrived at the Ritz. While JD argued that our experience only made us appreciate the condo even more, I contend that I don't have to almost die in order to enjoy a well-appointed mountain cabin. That night the snow really began to come down. 30+ inches are predicted for the weekend! JD is beside himself with excitement over the fresh powder playground that he'll have to snowboard on once the storm breaks.

The next day, Saturday, we awake to a winter wonderland! I don't think I've ever seen so much snow. Anxious to get out and frolic in the snowfall, we head out to a nearby lodge and do some snowshoeing. A lot of fun, but harder than I expected. And I'm sure my zero level of physical fitness didn't help. After huffing and puffing around the beautiful mountainscape for a while, we figured we had earned a round of hot cocoas. I don't think I've ever seem Emerson smile so big. Every sip was punctuated with a very enthusiastic, "Mmmm!"

Sunday, was Mama's day. JD stayed behind with Emerson while I went to the spa for some treatment. Ahhhhhh! The best part (almost) was the aesthetician. What a character. An older woman, married three times, now single (again), entertained me the whole time with her stories of sex, drugs and rock-n-roll. Romances and flings with musicians, on the road with the band (she's a bass player herself)... I want to go back just to hear more stories! That night, the snow storm raged on. So hard in fact that the power went out. We get a knock on the door from the building manager to see if we had any candles and to ask JD to move the car since the plows would be coming through tomorrow. JD leaves to move the car and I hunt around in the dark for some candles. Finally I find a couple sitting on the fireplace mantle. I grab my trusty Aim n' Flame and light away. Except the candle is not lighting. I burn the heck out of the little wick that is sitting there mocking me, but the darn thing won't light. Finally when JD comes back, I hand the stupid candle over to him to try. He tries a couple of times then says, "Oh, I know why it won't light.... it's an electric candle." And he flips it over and flicks the switch. Doh! In my defense, the thing was pretty realistic-looking and in the dark.... oh, whatever.

On Monday, a couple of friends had driven up and the boys took off snowboarding while Emerson and I hung out. We find out that the weather for the rest of the week at our next planned destinations was going to be rainy the whole time, so we decide to continue our vacation right where we are. The boys go out again the next day. We find out that there's a daycare at the base of the mountain, so on Wednesday we drop Emerson off first thing in the morning and it's finally time for me to get on the mountain. My skills.... well, let's just say I'm still learning. I had fun though and that's all that matters, right?

Thursday was family day again and we'd heard that the snow tubing place was finally opening for the season that day. So fun! I did some pretty good sledding when I was a kid, but this was awwwwesome! The run itself wasn't very long, but you whizzed down that hill so fast you couldn't help but laugh hysterically. Emerson rode with JD and when they'd get to the bottom Emerson would do his sign for "again." Too cute.

Finally, it was the end of the week and time to head back home. Thank you Mammoth, we had a great time! Despite the few setbacks, it was a fabulous vacation. We got to spend some good, quality family time together and add a fun destination to Emerson's rapidly growing list of adventures!

[Never ending snow.]

[Emerson got to ride in the snow plow. Cool!]

[Snowshoeing]

[At the lodge for some well-deserved hot cocoas.]

[I think he likes it.]

[Testing out Daddy's board.]

[Our Emerson-free day.]

[One of the few good moments not spent on my butt.]

[Snow tubin'!]

The Griswold Family Vacation: Rough Beginnings

It started off as a joke. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before life started imitating art and our trip did take on a National Lampoon-like quality.

JD planned on taking most of December off from work (well deserved!) and we had a big road trip planned. Over the next week and a half we were going to trek up to Mammoth Mountain to take advantage of one of the first big snows of the season, then head over to either Napa or San Francisco, down to Big Sur, followed by Santa Barbara, then back to LA. We even had just gotten a new car to break in on the trip. See, new "family truckster," road trip.... get it? Get it? Anyone who's familiar with the movie knows about Chevy Chase and his family's blundering misadventures as they embark on a cross country trip to Wally World. There was no dead aunt strapped to the roof of the car, no closed amusement park, no dirty Uncle Eddie and no Christie Brinkley in a Corvette. But, we did seem to keep running into ridiculous predicaments along the way.

We decided that we should stop halfway to Mammoth in Lone Pine and camp for a couple of days. We've camped there several times during spring and fall, but never in winter. We knew it would be cold, but as experienced campers, we were prepared. Plenty of warm layers and most importantly, the puff down jackets. Until...

"Where are the puffs?" JD asks me about two hours into the trip. "What do you mean? YOU packed the car. You tell ME." Terror begins to creep in. Coldness is my kryptonite. Without my puff jacket I might as well not be wearing anything. The thought of spending the next week and a half in cold, cold winter weather without my puff jacket was enough to instantly turn my blood to ice. The more JD begins to remember not packing the puffs, the more silent I get. He finally decides to pull over and check the roof box for a definite answer. He comes back and the worst has indeed occurred. He tries to convince me that with enough layers and my ski jacket, I'll be just as warm as if I was wearing my puff. I'm not so convinced. With my puff I feel I can withstand any temperature. It's my security blanket. All I have to do is burrow down in there like a bird and I'm fine. I almost start to cry at having to spend the entire vacation COLD. JD attempts to console me and finally offers to turn around and go back home in order to grab the jackets. We were already so far into the trip, that turning around at this point would've meant not getting in to the campsite until the middle of the night. And also possibly dealing with a super fussy Emerson at having to be in his car seat for so long. So what is one to do? Do I be the a-hole that says, yeah turn around and add an extra 3 hours to an already too long car ride? Or do I suck it up and hope that I can power through the next couple of days until we get to the lodge in Mammoth and I can bask in it's fireplace? Grrr, not fair. I come to decide that as long as we have Emerson's puff then we should just push on. Luckily (or unluckily?), we found Emerson's puff in the back, but mine and JD's were definitely missing. So we continue on to Lone Pine. We get in pretty late and it's freaking cooold -- I think it was 20 degrees that night. Already I'm lamenting not having my beloved puff. Since it's so late, we decide to unpack the truck and just sleep in the back. This way if it happens to get too cold (ha!), we can turn the car on and blast the heat for a while and warm up. Well, halfway into unpacking the car, it dies. Yep, battery dead. Apparently the cold, the altitude and the fact that we had the interior lights and the radio all on contributed to draining the battery. It's taking all my self control not to completely wig out and I somehow maintain. Thankfully, after about an hour or so of JD powering down what we could in the car, the battery is miraculously recharged and we have power once more. Whew! I can now relax. A little. 

The next morning, we're determined to leave the bad luck behind us and continue our vacation with renewed rose-colored glasses. Well, it isn't long before The Curse of the Griswold Family Vacation strikes again. JD goes off exploring with Emerson while I stay behind and finish my coffee. They're not gone long before I see them coming back. That was quick, I think to myself. "Well, babe... it's a good thing you packed that first aid kit...," JD says as he approaches our camp site. My heart immediately races as I assume he's referring to Emerson. I bolt up out of my seat and search to see how bad it is. "Emerson is ok," JD says, "It's me." Oh jeez. Turns out that JD was running around, jumping on rocks and ended up scraping the heck out of his cheek on a broken tree branch that he missed seeing. I clean it up --  it's pretty bloody. I finish and I start to feel really queasy. Oh oh. It doesn't take long before the queasiness is followed by ringing ears and lightheadedness. JD quickly takes me to the car to lay down and feeds me juice and crackers because I can feel that I'm about to pass out!

That night, we decide to go ahead and pitch the tent. The thinking being that with the ground as insulation, and our body heat to warm up the air in the tent we'll be warmer than sleeping in a metal box that has cold air circulating around it. Logical, right? Well, in theory it might have been sound, but in reality it proved to be completely the opposite. We spent the longest, worst night I've ever experienced. The temperature was even colder that night than the night before, but also the tent was too big for us to warm up. It was so cold that the top of the blanket felt like ice. I can't even remember how many times JD and I both woke up during the night because it was so cold that we couldn't sleep. And every time we woke up, it was still pitch dark. Will morning ever come??? Emerson, however, was as snug as a bug burrowed down in between the two of us. Finally, when it seemed the sun would never rise again, it was morning. We skipped breakfast, quickly packed everything up, cranked the heat in the car and got the high hell out of there. We hit the road with visions of the warm lodge that awaited us in Mammoth on our minds...

[Bundled up against the elements. The mountains surrounding Mt. Whitney loom in the background.]

[Impervious to the 15 degree night we just spent, Emerson wakes up with a smile on his face.]

[Definitely not impervious to the frigid temperatures, Mama is reluctant to emerge from the blankets.]