The Wacky Adventures of Liza and Mary

I enjoy water in all of its forms.  When it's cold, windy and rainy in San Diego, I rather head up the mountain and take it in it's frozen state.  I wanted to take advantage of the storms this week and head out to the snow.  I have one female friend who is always game to travel on a sometimes not-so-well-planned-out journey, even if it may be a risky undertaking.  We knew that the storms were raging in Nor Cal and took it as an opportunity for an adventurous trip to Mammoth.  Little did we know what we were in for...

Here I am trying to attach the inside portion of the snow chains.

After 2 different attempts at installing mandatory snow chains --the first loaned by a friend was too small (the sizing on the bag is definitely wrong!) and had to drive back to Bishop only to purchase another set that was too big!!  Don't ask.  At this point, I was going to somehow make it work and not have to drive all the way back to Bishop again.

Mary and I ghetto-rigged these snow chains.  We made due with what we had.
The rubber in the inset was not part of this snow chain set.

We finally got the snow chains on and passed the safety check point (how??) at around 10:40 am.  We noticed that as we were driving toward Mammoth Mountain, many were headed away from it.  Should we have taken this as a sign?



When we finally arrived in Mammoth there was a Snow Storm Warning and possibility of road closures, meaning that if we didn't immediately turn around and head out, like many people were doing, we may risk being stranded in Mammoth.  I didn't think that was such a bad thing.  Mary, on the other hand, wanted to get back to her hubby and kiddies that evening.  Bummer.

We arrived just in time for the afternoon sessions at 12:30 pm.  Of course, there were only a couple of lifts on the Canyon side that we were at because the groomers couldn't keep up with the snow.  So we decided to head over a bit to the other side of the mountain.  Those of you who snowboard know that sometimes it will take traveling across to various ski lifts to get back to where you started.  To add more excitement to our day, the last ski lift we were in line for to take us to the top so we can head back to the other side of the mountain where our car was, closed!  We had to walk across until we hit another run that we could board down.  Ugh.  Walking on tons fresh powder in snowboard boots is not fun.

Our 8-hour drive home was another story but I'll save you the grueling details.  It definitely was an experience we'll always be reminiscing about.  Always good times Mare!!

Until Liza and Mary's next adventure.. Ciao.