Babies, Bodie, Mono, and More (Part 1)

A GOOD TRIP is GREAT
but
A GREAT TRIP is BETTER!!!

Thursday morning found me rushing to the airport, forgetting my pillow and anticipating my arrival into the Reno/Lake Tahoe International Airport. I was elated to finally get my weekend started. After a short flight (1 hr. & 45 min.'s to be exact) I arrived in Reno and was picked up by my sister-in-law. I picked up some last minute gifts for my new niece and nephew and then proceeded 'home.' Like I really needed any last minute anything, I had already packed an extra suitcase full of baby gifts I'd purchased; though I was able to sneak some of my camping gear in there as well, so I was definitely justified. Ha! Guess that's an auntie's job. Spoil, spoil, spoil!! =)

I arrived in Fallon and immediately made the necessary phone calls to get 'mommies & daddy's' (ie. my bro and sis) to my parents house with their new bundles of joy. I got to meet my little buddy Aurelius first.

Wow, I had never seen such a perfect little man. He was so precious.
Here are some pics of our first half hour together.

There's a definite connection. =) hehe!

So, maybe we were both a little tired.

ZZZzzzzzzz

I then met my little Princess Sofia and wouldn't you know --
she was perfect too!!

We're gonna' get along just fine! =)Hmmm... they must have good genes. Haha!!

OK, so don't try this at home. It's harder than it looks. :)

Not to give a literal play-by-play, but I wouldn't do justice to this day if I did not add a picture of that night's dinner. Definitely a highlight of going 'back home.'

Yummy!!!
My mom is the BEST cook in the world. She is a professional cook and baker.
Not a bad gig when you're her kid!! Haha!!

The night began to slowly slip away as we busily packed and loaded the car for our early morning drive to Yosemite National park. Ok, so you have to understand when I say 'early'... it is a much different definition then I'm used to. Haha... everyone says, 'RENTERIA TIME,' hmm.. not sure that's a good thing. I was awake before the dawn, showering & makin' my list and checking it twice for our trip. By the time we loaded up it was already after 9AM. Grrr.. oh well, it was my vacation so I thought I'd just go with the flow. We stopped to get some groceries for the trip and then we were off. {My dad, mom, my nephew Rueben (12) and I.}

The drive felt somewhat surreal as I had not been on that road for many years. Another highlight of 'home' is hearing my dad tell stories about when he was younger. He is one of the best storytellers I've ever met. You feel like one of the characters in his story and experience both their triumph and defeat. Haha!

Planning for a trip is always important but diverting from those plans is also fun... a good balance is GOOD! As we drove through the California desert we passed a road that said 'Bodie... A Town Frozen in Time." My mom said, "I've always wanted to go there" and my dad said, "Yeah, we've passed this road for over 30 years and we've never stopped and we've always wanted to go there." So I said, "Well, lets go then!" My dad confirmed that I really meant it, as he knew how excited I was to get to Yosemite and knowing we were only planning on spending a little over a day there anyway... this could really cut into my plans. Oh well, you only live once. So he did a U-turn and went back to the entrance. It was a little freaky actually, we were on this long windy dirt road which seemed to take us nowhere.
Rueben, who might I add is so afraid of the dark he sleeps on the couch in the living room adjacent to my parents bedroom, because his room is too far away, was a little nervous. He said, "It's a GHOST TOWN?" I answered, 'Yes!' I then told him about a movie I'd heard about where people went to a ghost town and would fall into mines and winds would kick up dust and cause people to lose their way and families would get seperated and then they'd never get out. As you can well guess, his eyes were getting wide and not with anticipation and then he finally said, "Well, maybe we shouldn't go then." Haha!! I'm so mean! :) Well, sometimes you have to create your own entertainment... even if it's at someone elses expense. Yikes! (He reads this blog so I want him to enjoy it too.)
We finally arrived to Bodie about a half an hour later. We parked and Rueben said, "Abuelita, Tia, you better hide your stuff... unless you want a ghost to jack it." I thought it was so funny!! I couldn't stop laughing. {Oh, Abuelita means Grandma in the most endearing way and Tia means Aunt.}

The Mill
The town of Bodie, previously spelled Bodey, was named after William S. Bodey a miner who discovered gold nearby in 1859. A mill was erected in 1861 causing the town to grow and flourish to an estimated population of 10,000 by 1880. It was a booming town with miners, robbers, gunfighters, store owners and families.
At its peak the town had 65 saloons, gambling halls and opium dens. Often miners found temporary relief from their labors at the local saloons and other facilities in the red light district. It was said that the mixture of gold and alcohol caused many deaths, presumably one man was killed every day in Bodie.
Yikes! I was sure glad we waited to visit.
The Methodist Church

My mom said, "It makes you wonder how many people have sat and listened to God's Word in this church, huh?" She trailed off by, saying... "and all their big fancy dresses." Rueben asked what she meant by that so I demonstrated with a curtsy and a twirl in front of the church while pretending to hold my flowing dress in place. And he then said, "Oh, so that's why they made that door so big!" Haha, I then said, "Why?" He said, "So all those women could fit." Kids are hilarious!!

Most of the buildings did not allow us to enter so photographs could only be taken through windows. So, here are a few more to give you an idea of what a great place this was to visit. We really needed much more time, but two-in-a-half hours was all I was willing to spare.

On our way out of Bodie, we took the wrong road... haha... in keeping with the laid back mood, we did not turn around and followed the road. Hmm, I inwardly hoped it was the right direction. I began to disperse some snacks to keep us energized for our next adventure. The road we took was gorgeous. We did not realize it but we were actually taking a back road to the same town we were originally heading towards. As we almost reached Lee Vining, the final town before Yosemite, I asked my parents what the name of the lake was that we were passing. They said Mono Lake.
I'd been on this road before, except this time the lake seemed to draw my attention, so... in keeping with the theme, I asked my dad to turn around so I could get out to see the lake. The weather was extremely overcast and it looked like a storm was brewing. Not a good time to be near water, so I told him I'd hurry. My dad said, "Well, at this rate, we're never gonna' get there." I laughed and said, "Oh, we'll get there but when we do, you may wish we wouldn't have because you're gonna' be exhausted from hiking so enjoy it while you can." Haha!
I immediately smelled a musty smell, not like a lake at all, rather, like the ocean. I could smell the salt in the air and my parents explained that this was a salt water lake. It used to provide the community a flourishing shrimp business, but it had been some time since the shrimp had disappeared. My mom and I got out of the car and walked to the beach. My dad yelled out the window and said, 'Can't you just look at it from here?' I looked back, shook my head and ran towards the beach. I only had my small camera with me and decided to run back to get my larger camera and my dad asked me why I needed that. I just kept saying, "Wow, that's so weird, unbelievable really, huh... it's just so strange," and then started to walk away. He then said, "OK, wait for me." Haha... it worked!! Of course Rueben was not going to stay in the car alone so he too jaunted alongside us to the beach.

But this beach was like no other you'd ever seen... seriously! It was amazing in a DIFFERENT way. What was so different you ask? Well, first of all, when my mom and I had gone to the shore I felt something on my legs. I looked down and there were a billion little black things flying around. I looked behind me, to the side of me, and straight ahead and I realized there was something desperately wrong. I stepped back a few steps and noticed nothing unusual, nothing in the air - everything was 'normal.' I saw a man with a beautiful camera and a lens to match and asked him while covering my mouth with my shirt what that was. He proceeded to say..."They're Alkali or Brine Flies." Ugh! There were billions of them - no exaggeration. The first thing I thought of was a plague. Looking back I wish I woulda' taken a picture of them while they were flying, but what was so strange was that they would all fly around in a frenzy, you couldn't even see your feet because of how dense they were and then they'd all of a sudden stop flying, and everything looked normal. To give you an idea of how many there were... look at the picture above. The black line on the shoreline ... yeah, well those are all flies. (If you double-click the pics you can enlarge them to get a better view.)
They also lined the rocks and much of the beach. I guess they're pretty 'nice.' YUCK!
I was really proud of myself, as I am not a big BUG person, and even stood there while they were flying. Not one squeel. :)
This lake is said to be 650,000 years old and thought maybe to be 1-3 million years old. Hmm, I'll let you figure that one out. This lake has quite a history, I would spend more time talking about what I learned but in the interest of time, I'll allow you to look it up. So if you're interested in Ecology, Geology or Chemistry or if you're just a NERD looking for something to research, go to http://www.monolake.org/visit/ that oughta' keep you busy. Ha!

Well, we were only 13 miles from Yosemite and about 1 mile from Lee Vining, California, so why rush it. Right?!?! Uh-huh!! Well, since Lee Vining was one of the first places my parents lived when they came to the U.S. I decided to ask them where they used to live. Being that the town is all of a quarter mile long (roughly) it was not hard to find. This was the entrance of their two bedroom apartment. They laughed and said this was such a great place to live. Lee Vining is up in the mountains and is always COLD. It felt great! They reminisced and told me of a time they awakened to find snow covering most of the entrance. My dad had to crawl out of the window to shovel the snow so they could get out the door. I love memories and anything that stimulates them. So, I decided to treat everyone to an ice cream cone from the local ice cream stand.My mom said she remembered eating ice cream and hamburgers here 35+ years ago. This establishment has been there over 70 years.

Well, we're almost there folks. Unfortunately I'm a little blogged out, so if you'll forgive me, I'll add the Yosemite piece later. Sorry for the suspense... who am I kidding... No, I'm not! :) I hope you've enjoyed the road trip so far... and remember, it's only been 24 hours since I've been home... and the fun has ONLY just begun! =)