2005
April 23rd to 30th • Surprise Anniversary Trip
Mom & Dad's 50th Wedding Anniversary
The girls planned a dinner out with friends,
but me coming out was a surprise, as was the trip to the Sierras.
Anniversary Party
Saturday, April 23rd
Carol and Patti picked a nice restaurant in Pasadena to host a dinner
in honor of Mom & Dad's 50th anniversary and invited some of their friends.
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My being there was a total surprise for the folks. The girls knew I was coming, but no one else did.
I flew in that day, rented a car, and headed to the restaurant.
Once there, I hid near the back, and called mom on my cell phone.
She kept saying, "I can't hear you." So I would say to her, "let me move to another spot."
I did that a couple of times, and she still mentioned that she couldn't hear me.
Then I leaned over her shoulder and said, "Can you hear me now?"
They were both surprised and glad that I had come.
Sierras Trip
Monday, April 25th to Thursday, April 28th
In addition to the surprise of coming out, Patti and I had also rented a cabin at Convict Lake for three nights.
We did some touring to see various places, which are all listed below.
A disclaimer, this was almost 20 years ago now, and I'm sure that some of these pics are out of order chronologically, so I just grouped them by location, even though some locations were visited more than once.
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Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, CA
The Alabama Hills, which run north and south on the west side of the town of Lone Pine, CA,
are just north of Owen's Dry Lake in Owen's Valley.
This area is also the gateway to Mt. Whitney, to the west, if you drive up to the trailhead,
and is also the gateway to Death Valley, to the east, if you drive southeast behind Owen's Dry Lake.
Dehy Park, Independence, CA
This little park on the north end of Independence has been a family favorite for as long as I can rememeber.
We've probably stopped their at least 100 times, but we never grow tired of it.
One of the pics shows a train engine parked near the road, but they moved that a number of years ago
to a museum a few blocks away and replaced it with a box car.
The strangest thing about this park is that it is a blend of manicured city park,
with a very wild native stream flowing through it, and at the back of the park,
there are miles of undistured desert slopes going west all the way to the mountains.
Convict Lake, CA
Some of my earliest memories from Convict Lake. Since I was a young child, my family would come here.
Started going up into the back-country as a pre-teen, then into adulthood. It's much more commercialized now.
But still a beautiful place. Since we came up here in April, there is still plenty of snow all around.
In fact, Patti and I tried to hike around the lake, but the snow levels at the back of the lake were too high.
Crowley Lake area
Across the highway from Convict Lake, to the east, is a vast grazing area for cattle and deer.
Through it runs Owens River (more of a creek at this point), which feeds into Crowley Lake.
Mammoth Lakes area
Just north of Convict Lake is the Mammoth Lakes area. This area incorporates a large number of lakes,
hiking trails in any number of directions, a ski resort, and on the west side of Mammoth Mountain,
a National Park (Devil's Postpile). The Pacific Crest Trail also runs just below Devil's Postpile.
It's also the divide in California, as all the snow that melts on the east side of
Mammoth Mountain flows to the east into the Owen's River, the water ending up in Los Angeles.
All the western drainage flows into the San Joaquin River, and eventually, the San Francisco bay area.
The lakes shown here are called Twin Lakes (confusing, since there are 3),
and this is as high as we could go this trip because of the snow.
Rock Creek Lake
Another family favorite, this one south of Convict Lake, is Rock Creek Lake.
We usually would park ourselves on the opposite side of the lake, but as you can see from this pic,
it's inaccessible because of the ice and snow. At 9,200ft, it's about 1,500ft higher than Convict.
The road to Bodie and Mono Lake
Bodie State Historic Park is an old silver and gold mine, high in the hills north of Mono Lake.
Patti and I tried to drive there, to see it in the snow, and were surprised that the road was open...
most of the way. It road was closed a mile or two from the park entrance, so we didn't get to see it.
But the views were still awesome, especially overlooking Mono Lake.
Lundy Lake
Lundy Lake is a small, almost hidden, lake in the hills just at the north west corner of Mono Lake.
I did find out from my sister that it's a great place to make and throw snow balls!
Now it's time to head back south to Los Angeles.
Back in Los Angeles
Friday, April 29th to Saturday, April 30th
Well, it was fun in the mountains, but some of us still had to go to work.
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Hanging out at my sister Carol's house
Spent my last full day in LA at my sisters house enjoying family time.
Flying back to Oklahoma
Like it is on so may of these trips, I'm ready to be home.
(only one pic - shown)
