Last week we went to Mammoth for a long weekend.
It was so AMAZING!!
I can’t remember the last time we had a family vacation.
It started off a little nuts, Adelaide got really sick Sunday and stayed home from school both Monday and Tuesday and Rich’s car had a PCB valve malfunction so we couldn’t take it and had to scramble to find a big SUV to rent just hours before we were leaving.
And I mean just hours, we got the car at 8:30pm and left at 2:30am and the rental shops closed at 10pm. We were a little panicked, thinking we would all have to squeeze in my car and oh yeah we had Rich’s cousin Nate with us and he is a BIG guy and we had our BIG dog and all our stuff and food. It would have required a major repack.
But…
It all worked out and we rented a BIG expedition and loaded all the stuff in it while the dog had my huge trunk all to herself. Lucky pooch!
I had this plan in my head to drive Daphne while asleep because she does not tolerate car rides around town well let alone a drive over 5 hours. So we typically give her a bottle at 1:30, we pushed that to 2:15 and left at 2:30.
I drove the first half of the trip in my car making sure to set the tone for Daph, no stopping, talking or jerks to wake her. I was not originally planning on taking the dog because she gets so hot and gets up with every turn but I had her. I dropped a big dark beach towel over daph’s car seat to block out the street lights and turned her sound machine on. I had to keep the car really cool for Mara so it was either AC full blast or windows depending on the outside temp, it was a little crazy but it worked and added extra white noise for Daphne and cool temps to keep me up. I was freezing though and had my seat heater on. Daphne was toasty in a fleece Jammies so no worries about her and the air was blocked with the towel.
I got a text from Nate that he could drive and I happily turned in my spot to him. Nate drove the stuff with Adelaide to keep her sickness away from Daphne and Rich joined me.
A long boring drive brought finally got us to sunrise in the most gorgeous snow dusted mountain ranges.
We arrived in Mammoth and found a great little breakfast spot that had steel cut oats for Daphne and great omelets and bagels for the adults.
The timing was seriously PERFECT!
Now the adults were exhausted and the kids were awake but oh well, it was an uneventful drive.
We also arranged an early check-in to our Chalet so we finished breakfast and arrived at check-in on time.
It has been record snowfall in Mammoth this year so to get to the Chalet they took our stuff by SnowCat.
This is what the sides of the road looked like and the entrance to the Chalet.
Rich, the kids and I took the first day to relax and adjust to the altitude, our Chalet was at 9,000 feet! We prepared for the next day by getting our rentals and tickets, and picked up some last minute items at the store. Nate decided to go riding for half a day.
That night everyone was pretty dead. Mara was in HEAVEN with the cool temps, snow and outdoor space. We just left her out most of the time, she did not even want to come in. She is such a good dog, doesn’t bother people or other dogs walking by unless they invite her to say hi.
The following days Rich and I took turns staying home with Daphne, he liked the crispier snow in the AM and I liked the softer snow in the Afternoon. We tried to have a half day of daycare one day with Daphne but that didn’t happen. We also tried to go ski together while she was napping and got in 1 hour together and she woke up to Nate and was not happy. Big sis Adelaide to the rescue but Rich still had to go in, it just takes time to make it in for the mountain, it’s a BIG mountain. Nate said she didn’t cry as hard as long as she didn’t see him, LOL. That’s Daphne. The switching worked, I think I would have been dead if I skied all day everyday. I was tired enough from a few hours.
There were ZERO lift lines as well, so it really was all skiing and the slopes are long and I haven’t skied for two winters so I was a little rusty but it felt so great to get back out.
Adelaide did AMAZING as well. She decided to snowboard this trip instead of ski and that was ok. She stayed on the easy slopes on the first day but by the second day was going down some really tough stuff, what would be a black back east but a tough blue out west. I was so proud of her!
One the trip back we decided to drive home at night so we could sleep in our own beds and that was a good idea, the middle of the night road construction was not fun but the drive seemed easier, maybe because I didn’t help except the first hour leaving the resort to get to dinner but I did have to tend to Daphne once she stirred a couple times.
I highly recommend Mammoth to anyone considering it. Lots to do for all not just skiing/snowboarding. I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we did making the memories.
xoxo Desiree
Life is RADD 
Enjoyed sharing your memories. Glad you had fun making them.
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