Bishop...

First of all....
I LOVE VACATIONS!!!

So - Pat and I took a trip up to Bishop, CA.  He had a few hikes he wanted to do and since I tagged along he booked us a super cute little air bnb right off Highway 395 in Bishop.

My main worry was the altitude.  I don't recall ever being that high up, and driving up to where your ears start popping can be a trigger for me.  Then I was thrown another curveball right before we left - I got the CRUD.  I was pretty sick for a few days and there went my practicing for hiking and my energy.  Lord.  This of course brought up some PTSD from when I got sick before going on that rough road trip with the ex-jerkoff.  So - Hello Anxiety!

But - all was well!!  With only 1 mishap (you'll read below) the trip was damn near perfect.

So - Day 1:

We rolled out of the OC about 8:30ish and did have a missed exit that cost us about half an hour of oops time...but then we were golden.  He was thinking of a hike up near Lone Pine that led you up to the Whitney Portal.  The elevation gain was pretty brutal and we were both worried that might not be a good idea for me, so I brought my beach chair and was thinking he could just drop me off at Diaz Lake while he hiked.

On the way, we stopped at a rest stop off the 395 and guess what - there was a cache!  So of course I had to log that...

Light Post Cache

I had also looked up random roadside attractions off Highway 395 and one of them was The Lemon House!  I squealed with excitement when we drove by it!  We of course had to pull over and check it out.  It didn't seem like anyone was around and the place seemed pretty deserted.  There was a for sale sign...not sure if it's just the Lemon House or the whole thing but FYI...he he!

The Lemon House!

Such a weird place...

When we rolled into Lone Pine we were pretty hungry so we stopped at the The Alabama Hills Cafe.  It was super cute and the food was delicious!  It also sparked the interest of us to go check out the rocks that it was inspired by.  So - rather than we split up, Pat thought let's go play a bit in Lone Pine!  So yay!

We thought we hit up the Mobius Arch Trailhead...but we never did find the arch.  It was pretty warm and super windy so we didn't explore too much trying to find it but it was really pretty nonetheless!  So 1st hike check!  It was little but lovely.  And - there was a cache!!!

At the trailhead

My pano from the top of the hill

Where's the arch?

Pat taking pics of me taking pics

Cool Cache!!

We then decided to do the little drive through Alabama Hills.  The waiter at the cafe gave us a little map that had certain rocks looking like animals and things at certain mileage points.  It turned into a bit of a comedy show he and I trying to find them so we gave up about half way through and just enjoyed stopping randomly and checking them out.

Cool random hole

These rocks are so cool!!

Pat went climbing around

Apparently lots of movies were shot around here!

Rad for my paint setting!

We found a random mine

Pats Pano

After some pretty warm exploring we headed up to Bishop to our air bnb.  It was such a cute place and right off highway 395.  The little town of Bishop was walking distance from the place.  Could not have been more perfect.  It was a little bungalow behind a main house.  There was one bedroom downstairs and the main part upstairs.  Here was the view from the deck.

Hi Sierras!

This little guy was doing all kinds of sky dancing

After we got settled we wandered the town a bit getting familiar with what's around us.  Our tummies rumbling we landed at Moutain Rambler Brewery.  Great little spot and perfect for what we were craving.  Bit of slow service but we were in no hurry...and I will say - I swear Kate McKinnon waited on us.  Ha!

As we headed back I of course wanted to look for a local cache.  It was awesome!  There was a place called Rusty's Saloon that was apparently a popular local spot and it was out there.  As we were looking around this dude came out for a smoke and said "Hey!  Are you guys looking for one of those Pokemon Geo things?!"  Ha ha!!!  Welp - Pat had actually plucked it from the top not realizing it was actually the cache.  The picture I took of him didn't come out but let's just say it was in something like this:

There was also a cool Virtual Cache on our way back as well.  It asked us a bunch of questions about this historic mural.  So got to log 2 in Bishop!

 That evening we found ourselves chilling out on the deck watching a very pretty cloud show.  Perfect start to the vacation!

Vacay has begun!

Day 2 we headed up to Mammoth.  Pat's intention was to hike something called Devil's Postpile but it was unfortunately closed.  It was also a bit chilly so I forked out some cash for a Mammoth Lakes hoodie which is super cute so no regrets. Tee hee.  The gal at the Visitor's Center suggested Sherwin Lakes Trail.  So we headed up there.  It ended up being a little more brutal than either of us were planning but so well worth it and just gorgeous!!!  I was honestly surprised I was able to keep up as well as I did!

I love the sound of rushing water!

Me on a bridge!

Up up we go!

Taking it all in

This one took a couple of tries...LOL

Love my paint setting

This tree was rad

We called it the Horror Tree

Ain't we cute?

Kind of love this one

After we spent a little time at the lake, there was 1 cache.  So we headed off to find it.  It was quite the side excursion and when we thought we got thwarted by a river crossing we were super frustrated.  Hell bent on finding our way across we finally did, thanks to some help from a lovely fisherman who told us to head a bit farther up.  When we got across we didn't look too long until I found it!  I may have screamed a battle cry of victory!

Getting across for that cache!

Found the fucker!!!!

What a glorious find!  Then back down!

Careful babe!

This tree just decided to grow on through another tree

When we finished the hike we headed to the Mammoth Brewing Company.  Friggin DELICIOUS burgers!!!  Really pretty view too!

Damn Delicious Burger!!!

After we got back to the bnb, we pretty much did a whole lot of nuthin.  It was absolutely lovely!

Day 3 started off quite badly.  Yours truly happen to lop off the top of her left hand ring finger with a total freak accident with my razor in the shower.  Yup. That just happened.  I honestly can't even begin to explain how it happened but it sucked.  Pat was almost ready to take me to Urgent Care.  We did get the bleeding to stop, sort of, and bandage it up for the hike.  But it hurt like hell and has been seeping ever since.  BLECH!!!  Other than that damn incident all was good.

This was the hike Pat was really looking forward too and I know why now.  It was seriously probably the most beautiful hike I've ever been on!  It's called Little Lakes Trail.  This is also the one I was most worried about due to the 10K elevation.  But I did great!!!!  I cannot tell you how relieved I was to not get sick.  The drive to the trail was a bit swirly but I did ok.  YAY!!!

It was a big chilly, but when we were walking in the sunshine it was nice.  My breath was taken away multiple times by the beauty of this place.

Snow!!!

That's alright I guess

Stop it

Not a painting...real..yeah..that's real!

Gateway to beauty

So as we arrived at near the end of the hike, we realized that the rest of the trail to continue was covered in snow and not crossable.  Most people were turning back.  So the bummer was we didn't make it to Ruby Lake.  But lord was it pretty!!

Not as graceful trying to get across

Flipping off the snowed over pathway with my bloody finger

Um...we can't get over that.  There's actually a flat trail under there...

Although these folks decked out with the right tools could do it.  Not gonna lie...was so worried they were going to slide in.  Most people were turning back at this point

Still a nice spot for lunch!

Kinda gorgeous

Trying not to slip in the snow

I shot a little video that I hope comes through:

It's going to be pretty hard to top that damn hike.  Lemme tell ya!!!  So damn gorgeous!

We headed back, grabbed some steaks at the grocery store and had dinner in for our last evening.

The next morning we pretty much packed up and headed home.  But not before we stopped at the yummy Earl Schats Bakery.

Yummy Yummy in my Tummy!

This was just a perfect little getaway spending some much needed quality time with my love!  He showed me some beautiful places and we found out that I can handle altitude!  Woohoo!!!