Mammoth

It was time for another road trip.  Daughter No 1 was visiting from England and it was a good couple of months since we last ventured out of LA – so we booked a cabin and headed up to Mammoth Mountain.

Road trips are one of my favourite things about living in the US.  40 something years of living in the UK and we rarely travelled anywhere further than two hours away. Here, if somewhere is two hours away it's on your doorstep - people will think nothing of driving two hours just to get the weekly shop at a Costco.  A few weeks ago we drove an hour and a bit just to have waffles for breakfast - we're so American!

So back to Mammoth - 350 miles from LA and 8000 ft up, it's one of American's premier ski resorts.  It's a six hour drive from LA and once you get out of the city, the roads are quiet and traffic free. Road trips are great for seeing small town America, although on this trip we drove through the back of beyond passing through one street towns that looked like hell on earth in the torrential rain. As we got higher up the rain  turned into snow and the snow turned into a blizzard - not a great deal of fun and positively hairy when we got to the part of the road where the snow chains had to go on

But we made it! 10 ft high drifts on either side of the road with only roof tops and tree tops visible under a  pure white fluffy blanket; stepping out of the car and sinking into 2ft of soft powdery snow! At one point we did actually wonder (hope!) if we might get snowed in, but the blizzard stopped, the sun came out and it was time to head up to the ski-lifts!

I’m not a skier – I’ve tried it but it seems like a lot of effort for not a lot of fun.  I take the camera; take a good book, watch the others ski down a couple of runs and then retreat to the café for a hot chocolate.  Of course if this was Europe I’d have been asking for a tot of rum with my cocoa, and we’d have been coming down off the slopes at the end of the day for a steaming hot gluhwein, but despite the difference in the après-ski atmosphere, Mammoth was still great fun.  It was all a bit dead and quiet by 9.00 pm most nights but we’ve lived over here long enough now to know that that’s when most Americans head off to bed; and when you’re ski-ing you do need to be up that mountain early to beat the queues for the lift.  

The ski chalet was positively luxurious, equipped with every home comfort that we pseudo Americans have now come to expect – three bathrooms, queen beds, dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer, microwave, coffee machine (how did we ever manage all those holidays in a caravan in France with a two ring burner and bunk beds), flat screen TV’s in every bedroom….

Flatscreen TV’s – now there’s a thing.  When I was choosing our accommodation, and I’m very particular and check everything that’s ever been written on Trip Advisor before I book, it was very noticeable that a lot of Americans would comment that their accommodation was not up to standard because it didn’t have a flat screen TV in every room…. What is it with America and this obsession with watching TV?  Apart from the fact that there's nothing on TV but mindless drivel, you’re on vacation – it’s quality family time – you get out a pack of cards or have a game of Scrabble or Monopoly….

Several rounds of Scattergories and a jigsaw puzzle later, our break in Mammoth was over.  All too soon it was time to pack away the salopettes and head back to LA where it had rained continuously for the last 5 days (glad we missed that one!!)  Fortunately our chalet did have underground parking (and this is where those hours of research pay off) so we didn't have to dig the car out of  10 ft of snow and drive along with a 2ft top box of compacted ice.

We've promised ourselves a trip back to Mammoth in the summer so we can actually see what the place looks like naked so to speak - meanwhile - here's a few pictures of it with its clothes on. Definitely one of my favourite places so far.