Jill's Journal: The girls’ Daddy, who also just so happens to be the Best Husband in the World, turns 40 today. FORTY. The big four-oh. I’m not certain he’s traumatized by this, but I might be. Forty sounds grown-up. Forty sounds serious. You know, the whole “40 days and 40 nights” stuff in the Bible. Or 40 lashes. The back 40.
Yes, turning 40 is definitely serious. And on the occasions Rob posts on this blog, he might sound like a pretty serious guy. But that’s only part of his personality. He’s also got the greatest sense of humor of anyone I know, as he’s shown by some of his wacky profile pictures on Facebook. I always tease him he wastes all his good stuff on Facebook when he could be putting it here on our family blog. Well, not today.
On this day, his 40th birthday, I stole borrowed some of those silly, Photoshopped pictures of Rob to share right here and celebrate this wonderful husband, father, friend, and person. These "many faces of Rob" make me laugh, which is what one should be doing on a birthday, especially such a milestone one.
Jill's Journal: Just outside of Lone Pine, in the large valley between the Sierra Nevadas to the west and the Inyo Mountains to the east, are 30,000 acres of unusual and incredible rock formations. These rocky hills – named the Alabama Hills – would be worth seeing all on their own, but Hollywood has kicked them up a notch. Since the 1920s, more than 400 movies and dozens of t.v. shows have been filmed here.
The Alabama Hills are particularly suited for Westerns, but they’ve also served as stand-ins for India, Africa, Arabia, the Gobi Desert, and distant galaxies. The dirt road meandering through the area called “Movie Flats” is appropriately named “Movie Road.”
Some of the more recent “big” movies filmed on location here include Gladiator, Maverick, G.I. Jane, and Gone in 60 Seconds. Old-time movies include some of John Wayne’s, Roy Rogers’, Gene Autry’s, Clark Gable’s, Tom Mix’s, Fatty Arbuckle’s, Errol Flynn’s, Gregory Peck’s, Robert Mitchum’s, Gary Cooper’s, and Hopalong Cassidy’s finest.
Television shows shot here include episodes of The Lone Ranger, Star Trek, Bonanza, The Virginian, The Twilight Zone, and so, so many more. Two days ago, Movie Road was closed for filming, so who knows what’s about to come out next from “them thar hills.”
Long before movies and t.v., the Alabama Hills area was named by Confederate sympathizers during the Civil War. The name honored the Confederate cruiser C.S.S. Alabama, which sunk 50+ Union ships.
A few specific examples of former movie sites found here include the grave site from the movie (not the t.v. series) Rawhide...
...a precarious wagon scene from How the West Was Won...
...and a pivotal scene from Showdown, shown today...
...and in the film. Other sites we visited included a few spots from Gunga Din, The Gay Caballero, The Tall T, and Hell Bent for Leather, all good old Westerns.
Our very favorite area was The Lone Ranger Canyon, where literally hundreds of scenes from the original movie serial and then the wonderful old show were filmed (including the original ambush when the Texas Ranger became The Lone Ranger). This was all way before my time, but I adored the re-runs as a kid. “Hi-ho Silver, away!” It was on par with re-runs of The Rifleman for me. :)
And since no mention of The Lone Ranger can be complete without the opening song, here it is in all its glory (I have no idea if the opening was filmed here, but doesn't the terrain look suspiciously similar?):
And more shots of The Lone Ranger Canyon…I warned you it was my favorite.
Our three girls weren’t overly impressed by all the Hollywood work done here, but they absolutely loved climbing among the rocks. They’re like little mountain goats.
I found a t-shirt at the campground store that signified how we hike -- a family of 5, three small kids, that didn't entirely want to travel the number of miles to make it up to the summit and back. I hope you get the giggle out of it that we did.
Jill's Journal: That would be the peak of Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States. It towers at 14,495 feet above sea level.
Mt. Whitney makes up one-third of the trifecta of geographical mountain facts that have stuck with me since elementary school. The other two, in case Mrs. Petrone ever asks, are that Mt. Everest in Nepal is the highest mountain in the world and Mt. McKinley (also known as Denali) in Alaska is the highest point in the U.S. Since neither of those two peaks were nearby today, it was kind of exciting to lay eyes on Mt. Whitney.
We started on Whitney Portal Road for the 12-mile journey from Lone Pine to the highest point on Whitney accessible by car.
We had a few thousand feet (up) to go when I snapped this picture. The road turns steep and winding with a switchback or two. Scenes of the road are prominently featured in a Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz movie, The Long, Long Trailer, and in a Humphrey Bogart film, High Sierra.
Here are the girls at the end of the road at 8,631 feet, the closest we would get to the summit. If you’d ever like to climb Mt. Whitney, this is where the trailhead is found. It’s a strenuous 22 miles round trip and about 10,000 people annually obtain the permits to attempt the climb. The girls were disappointed we wouldn’t be climbing to the top. If they truly comprehended how far 22 miles is or what it means to gain 6,000 feet in elevation during a hike, they’d be thanking us.
Madelyn weighed herself on the backpack scale. It confirmed she’s too big to be carried on hikes.
There’s a nice picnic area at the trailhead. Doesn’t this make you want to settle in for a peaceful afternoon in nature?
Jill's Journal: We really enjoyed the beginning of our stay in Mammoth Lakes.
And what’s not to like, with scenery like this all over Mono County?
And then the snow came…twice. The mountains went from being bare to looking like someone sprinkled confectioners' sugar over their peaks.
The first snowfall on Thursday night was fun, as first snowfalls usually are.
The girls loved playing in it.
And it sure was pretty.
The main lodge at Mammoth's ski area celebrated by making even more snow with their giant snow-making machines.
We were on track to leave on Sunday, having very much enjoyed our couple of days “camping” in the snow. But then, a second winter storm came in on Saturday night. There had been only a 10% chance of it hitting our area, so we hadn’t been too concerned. Silly us.
We got another eight inches on top of the eight we’d gotten two days before. The temperatures dropped to single digits at night and got barely above freezing during the day, just enough to melt only the top layer of everything and turn it all to ice.
That meant we weren’t going anywhere with the trailer. We waited it out two more days, with Rob diligently working on the slides to rid them of ice in hopes we could eventually move. Madelyn snapped this picture because it made her laugh every time she looked out the window to see her Daddy’s feet.
With a window of four days before the next, much bigger storm was supposed to hit and trap us there even longer (I had visions of us being dug out next June), we finally made our escape, icicles and all.
Our first sign of civilization was in Bishop, California. Many years ago, I used to think Bishop was a dinky little town in the middle of nowhere, but it’s amazing what a little perspective can do. Bishop felt like the promised land after our exile in Mammoth. We lunched like kings in the warmth at Erick Schat’s Bakkery, a famous Dutch bakery in the town of less than 4,000, then continued happily dropping in altitude. We’ve cut our elevation more than in half (to 3,700 feet) and are now safely ensconced in Lone Pine, California. It’s our last cold-weather place for the next few months and frankly, its almost-freezing temperatures at night and no-need-for-winter-jackets during the day feel downright balmy after Mammoth. Ahhhh, warmth. It’s not overrated.
