The Vacation, continues...

On Monday, August 20th we got up, packed up and continued our drive up the 395 Hwy. We headed out to Bodie, a Ghost Town that is kept in a state of "arrested decay". Many of the buildings have been left, just as they were when the last inhabitants walked out the door in the early 1930's. It is a pretty neat place, although in it's hey day of the California Gold Rush it was reported to be the most "lawless' town in the west. Bodie boasted 32 bars and 52 brothels...whew. My favorite fact about Bodie is the journal entry of a young girl when she discovered that her family was moving there, "Good bye God, I'm going to Bodie.". It was a bit warm that day, but it was cool to walk around, look into windows and imagine what the town had been like with people in it. Gavin had the opportunity to do the "Jr. Ranger Program" while he was there and had several sites that he had to find and then we read about them and answered some questions. He got a cool badge when he was finished.

After Bodie, we went to the Mono Lake visitor center and looked out over the lake. We also saw an interesting movie about Mono Lake and all of the birds that fly there to nest. (oh, and flies, too... gross). We headed to our campground for the night and enjoyed our last night of hook ups and showers. I did some laundry to prepare for the next week of living in the dirt! I read a LOT of Harry Potter and could barely put it down to go to sleep....but finally... sleep won.

On Tuesday, August 21 we drove up the mountain and into Mammoth. We stopped at the Visitors Center to get information and the market, to get milk. During our drive to the campsite we spotted a turn off for "Obsidian Dome" and it was a name I had remembered from when I was a kid. We found a shady spot to enjoy lunch (Spaghettios... oooooh I LOVE having a motorhome) and then checked out the BIG pile of Obsidian before us. Obsidian is a volcanic rock that is shiny and black and can be very sharp along it's edges. Native Americans used it to make arrowheads! Gavin found some good pieces and we also found some pumice. We took the samples inside and had in impromptu science experiment with the rocks and discovered that pumice is so full of holes, that it floats. (I knew this, it was the kids' discovery)

We made our way to Twin Lakes which is absolutely gorgeous and set to the task of trying to level our motorhome in the MOST un-level spot. A challenge, but at last we got it level "enough" that I would not roll out of the top bunk at night. In the site was a "bear box", a metal locker where you put your food if you are tent camping and the kids played in it for almost an hour. Who knew that a box could be so much fun! They closed themselves up in it and screamed and pretended that they were on a ride at Disneyland. Pretty funny! Gavin and Andy headed out to try fishing for a while, and luckily I had an alternative dinner planned, because they came back, with no fish. We had a campfire and our first Marshmallows... Gavin was pretty stoked about that. We all crashed out, slightly sticky and fairly exhausted from our day of adventure