Whale Watching

I scored a couple of Whale Watching tickets from work and I have been dying to use them. So I called up my sister Jackie to join me. We crossed our fingers that we would see some since there are no guarantees. The boat departs from Dock 2 in front of the Aquarium.

Off we went. There were two boats that take people. There was a huge line.

 I love Shoreline Village!

We saw many boats out, it was a perfect day for being on the water!

I did not mean to take this video. I had my camera in my pocket and I took it out to snap a pic of us and it was set on VIDEO! lol.

We were in the front of the boat and the spray was getting us. At first it felt good but after a while it was getting all on our sunglasses, hair (which made it super sticky, because of the mousse in my hair and the salt water) haha!

Jackie searching for whales. We almost gave up.

There was the other boat that left along with us.

They take you all the way to Catalina Island area.

FINALLY the Captain spotted a Blue Whale!

There he is!

There is his tail! You might have to click on the photo to get a better view of it.  We also saw some sea lions and dolphins. The dolphins were too fast for us to get their picture.

We went downstairs because we got a lot of sun. I didn't put enough sunscreen on my body. I got burned a bit.

Well they spotted another Whale! darn I would have got a better picture on the top deck!

We were on the boat for 2 1/2-3 hours so we were hungry and didn't want to eat junk food they had on the boat. So we went down to Retro Row and ate at Number Nine, a Vietnamese restaurant. We loved it! Jackie ordered Jasmine Iced tea and the "Pho" soup which had the works...chicken, tofu, beef brisket, they give you sprigs of mint, jalapenos, bean sprouts to add to your soup and I had Jasmine tea infused with Lychee and "Bun" a cold noodle dish with Five Spice Chicken, egg roll, crunchy onion toppint, cucumber, cilantro, carrot and the dressing which I think is made with Rice vinger and something else they must add to it. It was pretty tasty!

We also shared a Lychee Sorbet. We were in heaven. The place was reasonably priced too for the fancy presentation they had anyway! Will go back again!

Last Day In Mammoth

This was our campsite early in the morning. The brisk air and the sunlight woke us up. It was kinda nice not looking at our watches and completely disconnect our selves from our cellphones.

Smokey the Bear says "Only YOU can prevent forest fires" hahaha. It is sad that a lot of trees were burned down because of fires.

The rest of the family decided to go to Rainbow falls and the Devils Postpile but since Dave and I already did that last year we decided to go exploring! Dave really wanted to shoot his new shot gun and wanted me to try it too. We went off roading and found this area where the locals must come out to shoot. There were gun shells everywhere. We were not on private property though, I was kinda looking around waiting for some cowboys to ask us what we were doing there...LOL!  I shot a smaller gun before but the shot gun had more recoil. I was all tense and scared it would hit me in the face. But I shot it twice! I was scared but I wanted to learn.

We had both pellet and slug bullets. I shot the pellets because the recoil wouldn't be as strong as the slugs. It was loud! We had our earplugs on. Plus it was so quiet all you could hear was the wind.

The slug shot.

The pellet shot.

After shooting we went on another off road trail looking at our map for Owens River but could not find it. But we found an even better spot! HOT SPRINGS! We had a little picnic by them. Too bad they do not allow you in the water. It is BOILING hot.

You just want to go in so bad.

DANGIT!

GORGEOUS!

Okay so it was so hot. We found Owens River but it was too grassy and slimey for me. I just hung out and drank beer and gatorade!!

Dave got right in!! He's like the Honey Badger. He don't CARE!

The Twin Lake area where we camped.

So pretty.

On last shot of the camp before we leave...I was so sad to go. I had a great time. No bear in our territory thank goodness. But I guess as soon as we left a bear cam into my family's area!! OH NO!

Camping in Mammoth

On the way back from Bodie Ghost Town we used the off road trail which was all gravel. It was not bad at all.

Such a pretty country. You can see Mono Lake in the distance.

We were pretty tired from walking in the Ghost town that we just drove by Mono Lake and it was just gorgeous. I had my polorized sunglasses on and the ripples in the water looked amazing. There are no fish in this water because of the high alkaline. Just brine shrimp and a bunch of birds are there feeding on them.

So we came back into camp and it was starting to get really chilly so we lit a fire.

Then soon everyone wanted to get warm so they came on over!

Toasting some marshmellows and drinking some booze!

We started telling storys and the kids were playing campground games. Good times!

Mammoth Inn/Bodie Ghost Town

 Dave and I got up to Mammoth 1 day ahead of the family so we decided to book a room at the Mammoth Inn. I was a nice stay there, it was really warm and inviting inside, a perfect cozy cabin feel. Nonetheless it's summer, I can still imagine bundling up by the fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate.

We had a nice dinner there that evening. No pics of the food but I had an amazing Mammoth Burger with cheese and steak fries! Dave had the Porterhouse Pork Chop with a baked potato with the works!

The next day we headed out to Bodie a REAL Ghost Town just 30 miles north of Mammoth. I was kinda creeped out I must say. I cannot even imagine being there at night, it is up high, right smack in the middle of nowhere!

So Bodie used to be a busling Gold and Silver mining town with a population of 10,000 people!

Once the gold and silver were gone people left. So now all that is left are these old houses built in the late 1800's.

This is the Blacksmith area.

The old jailhouse!

Inside the jail cell.

A delapated stone building.

Part of the bank.

The safe inside the bank.

Of course there were Outhouse's outside each home.

Inside one home...Super creepy eh?

Okay, I know what you are thinking...the ORBS right?

It is scary how the windows have these old tattered curtains.

Very creepy.

The interesting thing is the Park ranger and some staff live in 3 of the homes there. Can you imagine? Hell no! I bet they have some good stories!

One of the resident's cats.

The church.

Inside the church.

We were allowed to go inside one home. Haha...Dave and his Union Calvary hat! Everyone was calling him "Ranger Dave" LOL!

This building was slanted, I thought it was cool!

The fashion back in those days.

Inside the now Museum, used to be the Theatre. And some hearses that would carry coffins to the cemetary there. We didn't get to see the cemetary and I am glad we passed...

We walked a lot. The high elevation takes a toll on the old lungs! whew!

Inside the saloon.

The general store.

Another room. Part 2 tomorrow!