TRAVELS WITH MATTIE

HEY GUYS.  Last week: thunderstorms, boulders, dinners with my Eastern Sierra buddies and foster parents, hot springs, fireworks, snakes, Clark Canyon, Dike Wall, fish tacos, beer, statistics, too many burritos, Mono Bars (What the hell!? Why didn't anyone tell me???), statistics math math math statistics, the Ryan Moynier/Galbraith Experience, rolled ankles, the School House Museum mystery tour, statistics math, salty Mono Lake floats, and yesterday A REAL SHOWER and Vietnamese Lettuce wraps for dinner, then dessert wine as the sun went down over Mono Lake. Whoa.  For most of last week, it rained all afternoon. And not the typical hour-long passing Sierra thunderstorm...I mean all  afternoon it rained. It was gorgeous, and made perfect daily windows for working on course prep in Lee Vining and Mammoth Lakes. Late last week, the rain stopped and it's been beautiful since. Not hot. Just beautiful, breezy, cool, sunny, perfect.  Recently, Mattie a...

Last year we were 30 miles south, camping at Lake George and painting and drinking a beer at Slocum's while watching a little red-white-and blue parade through Mammoth Village. This year, we're sitting on the front porch swing of the Latte Da Cafe in Lee Vining watching a rain storm over Mono Lake and writing a lesson about Bayes' Theorem. Work still feels like play when you're up here, and we're doing a lot of both. Happy 4th of July, everyone. Love, Allison & Mattie the Patriotic Dog

Y'all! We've had a really great time since we last checked in. After fishing the beautiful East Fork of the Walker River (during which Scott and I were both totally eaten alive by biting flies), we caravanned northwest (I think?) for a relaxing couple of days at the Kaffer Cabin near Grover Hot Springs. Uncle Dan and Aunt Diane made us a great BBQ dinner, with delicious gin and tonics, and we ate out on the new deck for the evening.  With the help of Benadryl, I fell asleep quickly after cookies for dessert, and the next day we woke to a mellow start and drove up to Charity Valley for a friendly hike. We found petrified wood, caught a few fish, saw the most amazing beaver dam ending in a 13-foot waterfall (those are brave builders), walked through neon wildflowers, and learned all about every plant along the trail from Uncle Dan (whether we wanted to or not...but we really wanted to).  Everyone left and Mattie and I stayed for an extra night. I love camping, but e...

Things are perfect. Scott has been camping with us after coming out of a successful Half Dome trip in Yosemite. Which means: awesome fishing (great browns on dry flies out of Lee Vining Creek - who knew?), meals (and meals, and meals) at the Mobil Station, stunning late afternoon storms, floating in Mono Lake with Pacificos, and wildflower adventures below Tioga Pass. I got to see my great friend Elin, and her parents (and also my great friends) John and Mary are coming to stay in the Mono City Paradise Villa in just a few days. Yesterday, we walked through a giant meadow of wildflowers framed by snow-spotted mountains and watched a handsome coyote slink through the grass below us along the creek and out of sight. It's been kind of like this:  Our last night at Convict. We miss our family. Making friends with the locals, from our sagebrush home in the Owens Valley. Wild things.  Looking north from our little temporary home. If there is a...

Mattie and I are still playing around the Lee Vining/Mono Lake area. Some mellow bouldering in Mammoth Lakes and on the Oh! Ridge Road above June Lake. More artifacts, and artifacts, and artifacts forever. Last night I saw the Dead Winter Carpenters kill it at the historic Mono Inn as the moon came up over a  still Mono Lake on a perfect weather early summer evening surrounded by a bunch of dirty, bearded, PBR-drinking men, gorgeous mountain women in long dresses and shoeless children. Everyone danced. Today we're headed back to the Ice Cream Boulders. Tonight, Scott is coming out of The Valley and Old Coyote Moon is playing at the Lee Vining Mobil Station. Seriously.

Recently: 1. Family reunions and multi-player 'Artifact or Notifact' with Mom, Dad and Anni off Benton Crossing Road. We're sad to see our family leave the mountains. Also: hot springs, fish, family, storms, sunsets, sagebrush, Convict, campfires, s'mores.  Everyone wins. Yetis and gremlins everywhere. 2. Petroglyphs with Aunt Diane in the Owens Valley.  Walking with bears. This was special. I'll write about it sometime, when I get it together. And bighorns. 3. BOULDERS. Dreamers, Buttermilks, Geophysics, Pocketopia, and on and on for ever.  Ray cruising the classic "Bourbon IV" at the Dreamers.  THE BUTTERMILKS. 70 degrees and everything came together. Views of the petroglyph boulders and perfect backdrops down on the Buttermilk Road.  Oh, you know this one. Figuring it out on Green Wall Essential. 4. Perfect Sierra storms... Mattie the mountain dog, looking south through the Owens Valley.  ......

Hallelujah, we're officially back. After a great time with Sid, Anni and Scott, Mattie and I packed up the little truck and moved south.  Anni, Sid and Mattie on an evening bike ride. The drive was an incredible evening through Carson Valley, Walker Canyon, past the smokey sawtooths behind Twin Lakes west of Bridgeport, and finally down from Conway Summit and on to Lee Vining just as true dark hit Mono Lake. We made a home for the night at our favorite secret site along Lee Vining Creek, and fell asleep quickly in warm weather to the sound of rushing water. Mattie waking up, the home at Lee Vining Creek. We were up early and continued south on the 395, stopping briefly at Convict to get sites for Mom and Dad (they're coming up today!), then were off again to climb at The Dreamers east of Sherwin Summit.  These rocks are unbelievable. Perfect pockets of solid tuff, unbeatable weather, and new friends. Mattie and I spent a day climbing with wonderful Santa Cr...