Our waning vacation hours were essentially spent packing and driving. Mimi and Grampy were to go back to Reno for a couple of days before flying back to Maine. Rather than drive them all the way back, we found a shuttle service that would pick them up at Harrahs in Stateline and drop them off at the airport in Reno. From there they could catch a second shuttle to take them from the airport to the Peppermill. Gotta love the accommodations the industry offers to keep you gambling! Mimi and Grampy piled into the van one last time, along with a couple of sleepy, pajamaed kids, and I drove them down the hill to the casino where they got some mushy hugs and kisses from L and N before disappearing into hotel. When I got back to the condo Stacy was just about done packing and cleaning. By 9:30 we hit the road, retreating down Kingsbury Grade to Minden and the long road home. We'd heard from Kirk and Lynne that Highway 395 was clear all the way down to Bishop, so we took that road, one of the most beautiful mountain drives I'd ever been on. It wasn't a particularly bitter, depressing drive, as the end-of-vacation drive-homes can conceivably be. The scenery was so beautiful, and the roads fairly clear and traffic-free, that it was altogether enjoyable. It also helped knowing that the next day was Sunday, so I still had a day to recoup before diving back into work.
We made our first major pit stop at the National Park center at Mono Lake back in California. There's something about Mono Lake that is very disturbing. It is a bleak, Mordoresque landscape that moans of desolation and poison. The lake, caustic with naturally occurring chemicals, is essentially barren. The nature center at the park station has a big display on the - umm - biodiversity in the area. Evidently some sad little saline-loving shrimp endures the forsaken Mono Lake waters, but not much else. I have always had trouble coming to grips with the irony that this blasted wasteland can be literally across the mountain ridge from the florid lushlands of Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park. It was a welcome rest spot nonetheless and the kids browsed the book store and drew pictures at the kiddie art station fit for instant exhibition.
Near the June Lake Loop
Back on the road we continued due south. The mountains around June Lake were brilliant in their show sheets. We detoured over to Mammoth to grab meatball sandwiches for lunch, but managed to hold back our animal urges and pack them away in the car. We had better plans for them: a picnic at Convict Lake! Stacy and I had spent a couple of days in cabins at Convict Lake five years ago with Stacy's brother, Uncle Kyle and then-wife, Aunt Noelia. L was an infant at the time and Kyle and Noelia's boy, J, was practically a new-born. We had had such a wonderful time and so enjoyed the area that we are compelled to stop and stare each time we are in the neighborhood. This time we parked our car at the lakeline, found a secluded rock beach, and devoured our now-chilled meatball sandwiches in the brisk outdoors. The cool breezes coming across the lake kept us from dawdling, but even a few stolen moments at Convict Lake are better than none.
Convict Lake in the "Old Days" (circa 2005)
Owen's Valley Near the Whitney Portal
The rest of the ride was reasonably uneventful: The mandatory break at Schat's, the dutiful march down the Sierra-lined Owens Valley, the twisting dogleg through Red Rock Canyon State Park, and the depressing dump out into the Mohave vastland. The kids were remarkably humane through the ride. (It pleases me greatly that they seem to enjoy long car trips. I always did at their ages.) The most notable feat of the return voyage, it seems, was celebrated on Highway 14 in beautiful, stylish and much sought-after Palmdale, when the family's Toyota Sienna, our glamor-van, our happening hot-wheels, our "swagger wagon," hit the big 50,000. We would have pulled over to savor the moment, but decided we didn't want to get shot.
Then: A clean familiar bed. No need to get up too early the next morning. Peace, quiet and closure!
No comments:
Post a Comment