Destination: Snow Globe

2020 has been the year of cancelled flights. This was our first anniversary in the last 3 years that we weren’t on the East Coast. Originally, we were planning on spending our anniversary in Chicago but we didn’t want to contribute to any unnecessary air travel during this time. Since it was the one weekend of the year it actually rains in Southern California, we decided to skip the beach and cozy up in the mountains instead.

The Sierra Nevadas are one of our favorite spots in California. It has the best hiking trails surrounded by stunning backdrops of glacier lakes, pine trees (foliage during the Fall!) and crisp mountain air and it’s home to our favorite Yosemite National Park. The Sierras were the perfect spot to celebrate our 8-year anniversary.

Juniper Springs Resort

Our trip was literally planned the night before we left. When we heard that the Sierras were supposed to get some snow this weekend, David decided to check on the availability and there were condos still available at the Juniper Springs Resort.

The service here was amazing and every single person there was so kind and helpful. They took their Covid protocols very seriously and placed a 24-hour gap in between each guest’s stay. We were put on the top floor of the Sunstone building in the corner room and WOW the views from our place were incredible. The afternoon we arrived it started to snow so we weren’t able to see the mountains surrounding us but waking up to this view in the morning was the best. We had a cozy fireplace in our living room and spent a good amount of time here eating takeout and watching the new episode of The Mandalorian and a Harry Potter movie marathon.

Lakes and Hot Springs

We definitely underestimated how much snow would fall this last weekend. We woke up to a Winter Wonderland the next morning and it felt like we were in a real-life snow globe. We decided to have breakfast at the Warming Hut. Definitely recommend this cozy little place! They have fresh squeezed OJ (of course) and a DIY portion on their menu. You can choose each breakfast a la carte to make your perfect little breakfast combination. Did I mention they also have homemade ketchup?

Convict Lake was on our list of places to see which was a quick 20-minute drive outside of town. This lake has an interesting history on how it got its name. In 1871, a group of escaped convicts from a prison in Nevada took refuge at the lake. A posse pursued them and a shootout ensued. Crazy stuff. We took an afternoon stroll around the lake and it was beautiful but FREEZING so we didn’t stay too long.

Just 10-min away from Convict Lake is the Hot Creek Geological Site. This little spot reminded me of a mini Yellowstone National Park. The area has steaming hot springs, small geysers and a boiling hot creek. Hot magma lies about three miles below the surface of the earth here. Be warned – it is a 10-minute drive out but you will be driving mostly on dirt and gravel so drive slow!

Just call Kevin, I suppose

On our way back into town, it started to snow…like REALLY snow. When we were about 5-minutes from our hotel, our car got stuck on a very icy hill. We took David’s Mustang to Mammoth which was probably not one of our brightest ideas. David was also very adamant about not buying chains so we decided to risk it…at this very moment is when we realized we effed up lol. Did you know most sports cars have rear wheel drive? Well I didn’t and I definitely learned that the hard way.

You know that scene in The Little Engine That Could where the cartoon train couldn’t make it up the hill. That was us.

In our defense, other vehicles were having a hard time getting off this icy hill too and just moments later our car was part of the multiple cars slowly slipping down this damn hill. (I’m going to be honest here…this was hilarious to watch) After arguing for a solid 15 minutes on our romantic 8-year anniversary (lol), we decided to finally call a tow truck. We initially called our hotel to ask if they had any recommendations for a local tow service. They told us about a guy named, Kevin.

Kevin is essentially a local celebrity in Mammoth. It seemed like everyone and their mother knew Kevin. While we were stuck on our little hill, multiple locals stopped and offered to try and help (which was SO kind). We had two guys knock on our window and asked if we were alright. We told them we called Kevin, to which they responded “Oh you called Kevin! Hey Kevin!” as Kevin, our savior came to our rescue. He chained us up to his truck and towed us safely back to our hotel. Yes, this looked as ridiculous as you could probably imagine. This whole situation made our trip even more memorable lol.

Lesson learned – just bring an AWD car or bring some chains. Seriously.

Later that night, we decided to take the shuttle (obviously not the car) to The Village. Our shuttle driver commented on how they got a lot more snow than predicted and how the roads are quite icy. We then shared how we had to get our car towed earlier today, to which he responds “Were y’all the ones in the Mustang?” In that very moment, we knew we became the new local celebrity village idiots.

He probably knew Kevin too.