Not Tofu -- TUFA! Feb. 7, 2012

Mammoth Lakes and Mono Lake, CA:
Today Bob's job required a drive to Mammoth Lakes, California to look at some roofs to bid. He asked me to ride along with him. Woo hoo! Road trip! Estimated travel time: three to three-and-one-half hours one way.

Wake up call at 5:30 a.m. Bob had to put in a call to the person in charge at the job site he was traveling to in Mammoth Lakes, California, to find out the weather. If it was snowing or predicted to snow, we wouldn't go since it would be hard for him to look at the roofs with snow on them. Prognosis: Snow wasn't supposed to fall until 10:00 a.m. so if we left Sparks immediately, we could make it to Mammoth Lakes before 10:00 a.m.

As we were driving out of the RV park light snow was falling. Through Reno and partway to Carson City we had light snow, then ** poof ** no more snow on the roads. The mountains were covered with snow which is what's needed in winter around here for skiing and snowpack. 


The scenery on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains is very pretty, especially with snow.

We drove through rocky canyons, high desert, big valleys and saw lakes and wetlands. 

This trip brought back memories of my childhood when our family took trips to the eastern Sierra Nevada. I remember Lone Pine, Bishop, Crowley Lake, Twin Lakes, Convict Lake, June Lake and Virginia Lake. Dad loved to fish so we would fish with him and Mom would paint beautiful pictures of the mountain lakes. I remember climbing around on big boulders and a mountain made of obsidian. I believe we have also hiked to the Inyo Craters, though I could be mistaken because I might be confusing the obsidian mountain and crater hike with Lassen National Park. In summer, it would be fun to visit some of those old stomping grounds.

We got to Mammoth Lakes at 9:40 a.m. 

Bob spent time looking at two commercial roofs in town and gutters at a condo up at the ski area. Here's a picture of his work truck with some snow in the background. 

After spending time sleeping and reading in the truck waiting for Bob to do his work, we did a little sightseeing.


When we were kids, mom and dad took us to an earthquake fault that we could walk in. It made an impression on me that the fault had snow in it even though it was the middle of summer. The crack in the earth was deep and wide. While we were in Mammoth Lakes we found it and I got a couple of pics of it. We couldn't get down to the bottom because of snow.

After the earthquake fissure, we drove into town and had lunch at Old New York Deli & Bagel Co. Bob had a turkey pastrami sandwich and coleslaw. I opted for the veggie breakfast burrito sans onions. We were both very happy with our selections.

Bob's turkey pastrami with coleslaw and my veggie breakfast burrito. Ummmmm.

Breakfast burrito all dressed up with nowhere to go except my mouth. It was sooo good.

It started snowing lightly when Bob finished up looking at his jobs. While we were looking at the condo gutters, we were directly down the hill from one of Mammoth Mountain's 14 chairlifts. There was fresh snow on the ground and happy skiers and snowboarders on the slopes.

Our plan is to come back to Mammoth Lakes, CA for a weekend in September to see Devil's Postpile, Rainbow Falls and hike to other waterfalls in the area.

For dessert, Sprat's Bakery was our choice. Five pastries were boxed up to take with us in the car to snack on for the rest of the day. 

Sprat's Bakery

After lunch, we took a six-mile scenic drive back to US 395. I had Bob make a quick stop so I could build a snowman for Mom. (Mom, I tried hard to make a cute snowman, but the snow was more like ice chunks. I couldn't even stick sticks in it to make arms!)

Looks more like a snowgirl.

Once we were back on US 395 headed north, our next stop was Mono Lake to hike the one-mile South Tufa Trail to look at tufa formations. Tufa formations are a lot like stalagmites except they don't form in a cave, they form in water rich in calcium, bonding with calcium carbonate in the water to form limestone.

Photos taken from South Tufa Trail:

Tufa everywhere, but no tofu in sight.

Mono Lake is big, but really only a fraction of what it used to be before California started taking water years ago.

From Mono Lake, we had a snow-free drive back to Sparks and arrived home at 5:15 p.m.


Bob went to work out and came back energized and a little crazy. He did happy dances around the living room to skeptical gazes from the cats and me.


Great day and NO VERTIGO!