Tuesday 10/10/2017.

Before going home, June Lake loop was our plan for today.

Check out of the hotel was easy.  We filled up gas in Mammoth Lakes town before taking hwy 395, heading to June Lake which is about 30 minutes up north.  To get to June Lakes, take a left turn on hwy 158 (there’s a sign that says June Lake Loop so you won’t be missed).  There’s a simple Shell gas station for anyone that needs it right at the corner but the price is a bit higher than in Mammoth Lakes.

To get down to the June Lake, take N Shore Dr on the right and drive on the way, you should pass the ticket booth which won’t charge you just for beach access.  The lake is so beautiful full of little stones; on the left are aspen trees with bigger rocks where people can sit to fish.

But if you don’t want to get down to the lake, continue on hwy 158, the view that looks down to the lake from hwy is so beautiful with rows of yellow trees on the foreground and the reflection of the lake is so clear.  We were there a little bit too early that the sun didn’t hit the aspen leaves yet; and plus there was no clouds on that day so the pictures we took did not look that great.

We spent quite some time at the June Lake shore; William picked out 1 rock for souvenir.  I wished to stay here longer but this was our last day here so we had to hurry up; otherwise we’d get home too late.  We continued to drive on the June Lake loop; took a short stop at Silver Lake, passed by the Grant Lake and then headed home.  At Silver Lake, while waiting for Tim to check out the area, I tried to feed William Macaroni & Cheese but he didn’t eat much.

At Bishop, our favorite stop, we filled up gas; stopped by Mc. Donald, got some french fries for William, coffee for Tim and caramel Frappuchino for me before continue our way.  William must be hungry that he grasped the french fries pack and kept it for himself. I was just glad that he decided to eat something.

William felt asleep holding the french fries pack; but then 1 hour later he woke up crying so we had to stop at the gas station.  I thought he might get car sick because of sitting too long so I tried to take him out for a walk but he refused to leave his carseat and cried.   Did not know what else to do so I played 1 of the video clips that he likes so much.  He started to stare and watch the videos and then stopped crying.  What a relief! He watched videos all the way to home.

We got home around 8:00 PM with no traffic jam; William ran straight to bed as usual.  I served him noodle soup from canned but he did not eat much.  Tim & I had instant noodle soup.  We were all tired so we went straight to bed after dinner; after all we all had school/work tomorrow.

That concludes our autumn trip for this year.  Compare to last year, we stopped by lots more places and we were lucky that the yellow leaves were at peak or just past peek.  Last year there was storm that it was so cold and we were 1 week too late, but this year with the average temperature of 75, it felt more like summer.

After all we had a great time (not too much relaxing) here in Bishop / Mammoth Lakes but decided to go some place else next year.  Colorado, maybe?

To get down to the lake, take N Shore Dr and go straight to June Lake Beach Parking.

Mon 10/9/2017.

South Lake drive was so beautiful that we decided to go back here today.  But before that we made our first stop at Mc Gee Creek.  The drive to creek is not that long but Tim loved it because it’s full of yellow color.  We stopped here for a few minutes so that Tim could take a short walk around.  Next stop was Rock Creek Canyon.  Last year we loved this place but now that we saw South Lake drive, Rock Creek Canyon suddenly became less interesting.

Noon, we arrived at Bishop; and this time we stopped by Pizza Factory with hoping that William would eat pizza. The last 2 days he didn’t eat much so I was kinda worried.  Turned out this place has a little game room so we let William playing here while waiting for our pizza.  To my surprise, William ate lots of pizza!  I was so happy that he finally wanted to eat something during our trip.

To my disappointment, after only 1 night, the leaves turned dark and didn’t look as beautiful as we saw yesterday.  But today we found a waterfall on the way (left hand side), which we didn’t see yesterday.  We stopped here to take a few family pictures.   Then we continued our way to the small waterfall near the Parcher Resort.  The light at this hour was so harsh that we didn’t stay here long; so we decided to drive back the Mammoth Lakes.

In the Mammoth Lakes area, we stopped shortly at the view point of the Twin Lake, took the Twin Lake loop and checked out the Mary lake, Mamie Lake and Horseshoe lake.  Tim called Horseshoe lake is a dead lake because the trees around this lake is all dead, look like they had a fire or something.  When we got here the sun was set; so it was about time to get back to the hotel; which is only 7 minutes away.

Dinner: Chao ga for William, we had bo cuon banh tranh voi rau.  Dessert: William loved to eat the chocolate cupcake.

Tonight, unlike previous 2 nights, William had a little trouble sleeping; I almost felt asleep before him.  I wished he could sleep earlier so that I could start packing because we were leaving the next morning.  I tried to pack earlier but he kept jumping up on the suit case and took the stuffs out so I decided to wait till he sleeps to pack.

Small waterfall near Parcher Resort, South Lake

Sun 10/8/2017.

Today’s plan was to visit all 3 lakes today: north lake, Sabrina & South Lake.  North lake to me is ok; Sabrina is nice with a long  walkway along the lake; South lake drive is beautiful with lots of yellow leaves but the lake itself is not that impressive.

We left hotel around 9:30 AM.  On the way to North Lake, we stopped by Convict Lake first; the leaves here are past peek; and it was hard to find a parking space.  We let William sat on the wagon but he didn’t like it; he cried and tried to run back to the car.  Out of blue, this nice man who was fishing saw him and gave him a little Mickey Mouse toy.  William loved it enough that he sat quietly in the wagon and played with the new toy with a smile on his face. (Lesson learned: need to bring toys to calm him down during crisis like this).  We had a little talk with another man who was fishing there too.  Later ,his wife told him to show William the fishes that he caught; and let William touched it.  We all laughed at William’s reaction after touching the fishes: he did not like it.  We stayed here until noon; then had lunch in the car before continuing our way to North Lake.

So we headed to Bishop, stopped by Carl’s Jr. again to buy lunch for William, he only ate french fries; refused to eat the hot dog or cheese burger.  Yesterday the lake at Cardinal Resort was so beautiful that I decided to go back and take a few more pictures.  Then we headed to North Lake for real this time.  The road to North Lake is rough and narrow; we have to watch out for other cars coming from other directions.   There are not that many aspen trees around the lake as we hoped so we only spent a few minutes here, took a few pictures and then head for Sabrina Lake which is near by.

I like this lake, it looks more like Big Bear Lake with a little island in the middle of the lake; there’s a cafe and long walk way with the handle bar along the lake which I think is really nice.  We let William sat on the stroller; and because the walkway is full of gravel, Tim could not push the stroller so he turned around and PULL the stroller instead.  William loved this; he laughed out loud so much that everyone stared at us :).

Left Sabrina Lake, we made a right turn from hwy 168 to get to South Lake.  The road to South Lake is so beautiful with lots of aspen trees.  Too bad it was getting dark that the sun could not hit the tree; otherwise it’d be so much more beautiful.  Near the Parcher Resort, there’s a small stream that was nice with few branches of aspen trees framed the since.  We stopped here to take a few pictures before heading to the lake.

Finally we reached the South Lake but the lake itself is not that impressive compared to Convict Lake.  It was getting so cold because of the wind so I only took a quick walk along the lake while Tim & William stayed in the car.

Left South Lake around 5:30 PM; the sky was starting to get dark.  The hwy 168 now seemed so long.

When we got back to the hotel, it was totally dark.  William only slept for 1/2 hour for nap during noon so after dinner, we let him went straight to bed. After finished his milk bottle, he felt asleep with the bottle still in his mouth.  At home he would not fall asleep that easy.

Dinner: Chao ga for William; we had Bun Bo Hue which I bought at Quan Hy in Westminster one day before we left for Bishop.