It’s almost a joke at this point. I’ve been in Mammoth for nine months, long enough to give birth to my new life here, and none of my friends or family in Los Angeles have come to visit me.
Well, okay, just one.
But he was here with his partner and they rented a condo in town, so that wasn’t the same as visiting me, me, and staying at my house, which is what I’d really really like one of my friends or family to do.
The town of Mammoth Lakes benefitted, however, since my friends paid their TOT tax on the condo. See, I know what that means now. It means visitors who aren't renting illegally here in town pay a 13% condo hotel tax, and that helps support the economy here by paying for necessary services like police, fire, and road repair.
My friends also treated me to a lovely dinner at Petra’s, my favorite restaurant in Mammoth, which sort of made up for the fact that they were just too tired on their way down south after three days of skiing on the mountain to stop by my place, um, just off the 395.
Let it be known that my San Francisco friends are off the hook because the passes are closed most of the year and it is a bit of a haul for them even when it’s open. They’re more likely to say, oh, let’s meet in Tahoe!
My mother is also off the hook because she doesn't drive on freeways or highways. Plus she's almost an octogenarian. That means my sister Cynthia, who lives in Los Angeles, has to get off her ass. Or on it, in order to drive up here.
But come to think of it, there was another friend from Los Angeles (Orange County, to be exact), who came up for a visit in November. But he was staying in Reno for a convention and instead of driving down for a visit in Mammoth, guess what he said? Let’s meet in Tahoe!
I was not ungrateful for that. He made all the reservations and booked a nice cabin on the North Shore, and it was a very nice visit in Tahoe, which I hadn’t seen in twenty years.
I just can’t help but wonder, though, why didn’t he want to drive an extra hour or so to Mammoth?
Was it really the same reason my cousin from Denver had, who will be flying to Reno in April? “I’m coming to Reno for business,” she emailed. “I’d really love to see your place in Mammoth - maybe this summer, okay? But for now, let’s meet in Tahoe!”
And that's fine with me, because I love Tahoe and we're going to have fun. But why isn't Mammoth equally alluring? Well for one thing, Tahoe is closer to the wine tasting district in El Dorado. Another is that it has a really big lake and much cuter 1800's type towns and buildings and stuff. Mammoth is kinda ugly strip malls and stuff. Until you get to my house at McGee Creek, which is really beautiful, with spectacular views, and lots of open space public lands to roam.
“Okay,” you’re probably thinking, “that Catherine isn’t really very good at advertising Mammoth, is she? Has she remembered to describe how beautiful it is in the fall when the leaves are turning? Maybe some of her friends - if she really has any, that is - would have come then. Or what about the glories of hiking in the Lakes Basin in the spring, summer or fall? Has she mentioned that? Or cross-country skiing there, right now?
“Or what about how close Mammoth is to June Lake, Mono Lake, and other great day trips and public lands? Has Catherine, obviously so deficit in her descriptive abilities, told her friends and family about that?
“Or about how divine it is after you’ve stretched your limbs and lungs hiking or skiing to freshen up and enjoy libations and repast in any number of terrrific local establishments, such as Skadi, Lakefront, LuLu, Side Door, Alpenrose, Convict, etc.?”
Yeah, yeah, I have, so that’s not why they’ve not visited. In fact, I’ve even posted photos on my blogspot to further entice my Southern Californian no-excuse lazybonesjoneses comrades to get off their butts and make the drive. But they haven't. And in fact, two of them recently got mad at me when I got confused about scheduling during one of my rare visits south and couldn't see them. Excuse me, why haven't they made a point of visiting me up here, huh? huh?
“There’s really no excuse now because they can fly,” said my colleague and new friend Stacey Powells, originally from Encino. Somehow, I was reassured when she told me that in the past seventeen years she’s lived in Mammoth, there are still friends she’s known all her life who have found excuses not to make the trek. So I might as well not expect any of mine to show up in the next seventeen years, either.
I did have one friend who was originally from Los Angeles who came to visit me from where he now lives in Utah. And he stayed for a solid three weeks in August, allowing for all kinds of summer hiking in the backcountry and good times in town. So maybe it takes moving to Utah to make the visit to Mammoth. Utah people get it about the mountains and snow. They know it's worth the drive.
So, back to my friends and family in Los Angeles, here is the only reason I can think of why they just can’t seem to make time for the five hour drive up the 395 to Mammoth and back.
They really want to go to Yosemite.
Recently I asked my niece if she’d like to fly here for her 18th birthday in March.
“I’d really like to see your place, Aunt Cathy, but I was thinking it might be fun to meet in Yosemite. I’ve never been there. Isn’t that close to Mammoth?”
I had to explain that Tioga Pass will be closed until June or so.
“Oh, are you really that far away?” she wondered.
Yes, apparently, I'm really that far away.
But here is where you can go hiking just outside of Yosemite when the pass has opened in June. Shot taken on June 29, 2008, two days after I moved to Mammoth. It's basically less than an hour from where I live. Take that, you lazybonesjoneses!
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