Thursday, November 28, 2013

day forty-two...thanksgiving road trip day two


Today was full of driving and adventure. I took this picture above when we took a little walk to a natural hot spring that just bubbles up from the ground. It is amazing how hot that water can be even though it was about 40 degrees outside.

Breakfast
I woke up around 9am this morning and made myself a vanilla pumpkin shake. I just mixed some pumpkin flavor drops with a french vanilla shake packet. Thought the pumpkin was appropriate being Thanksgiving and all.


After breakfast we were on the road to do some exploring. My dad wanted to show us some mines, but there was just too much snow to make the trek. So instead we walked around and took some pictures.

As soon as we got to the hiking site, the sweetest "guard" dog came right up to us and joined us on our walk. He was sort of like our guide, I suppose. You think the snow would bother him, but this little guy just loved it.


After walking around, we crossed a half frozen creek and found an area to relax near the creek. There was a giant spot of fresh powdery snow, so I decided to make a snow angel. Why not, right? And in case you were wondering, yes, it was extremely cold and uncomfortable, but I definitely don't regret it.


Morning Snack
Once we got back in the car, we traveled back to check out of our hotel and started driving towards Mammoth. On the way, I ate some brown sugar cereal crunch along with a bottle of water


We stopped along the way to Mammoth to check out some natural hot springs and ran into this creek called hot creek. It is basically a scalding hot creek of water. It was really neat to see actually. The water is heated by some volcanic matter under the earth...I don't really understand how it works. All I know is that the air is freezing, but the creek still remains piping hot. Simply amazing. Those really blue pools are just some of the hot springs.


We hiked down a trail and was able to touch the water, but couldn't get too close at times because it was blocked off. I guess the water is too hot to touch. Walking back, we found this giant rock on a hill, so my dad decided he wanted to take a picture of me sitting on it. He is quite the photographer, isn't he?


Lunch
We finally made it to Mammoth when I ate my lunch for the day. I ate a s'mores crunch bar while we looked around.


We then decided to head back up north to check out what was up there. We found out that there is nothing really past Mammoth. But we did find this gorgeous, giant lake. It was lightly iced over and just a beautiful sight to see.


Afternoon Snack
After getting tired of seeing nothing, we decided to head back to Mammoth where we got a hotel room for the night. My parents then grabbed some dinner while I heated up my dinner in the microwave (thankfully provided in the room). I ate the green bean casserole I made yesterday...such a delicious Thanksgiving meal! And even after sitting around for a day, it still tasted pretty good! Click here for the recipe.


Dinner
After we ate our Thanksgiving meal, we headed out to see a movie. I heated up a calorie burn cappuccino and brought it with me to drink about 30 minutes into the movie. I tried to make it scalding hot so by the time I drank it, it would be drinkable hot...but...it cooled down to a more of a warm temperature. Not my favorite temp, but still delicious! I wasn't able to snap a picture because...well, it was dark in the theater.

Dessert
We came back to the hotel room right after the movie and I made my last meal of the day. I blended up a peanut butter milkshake and enjoyed every last sip. Great ending to my Thanksgiving day. And you know, it feels pretty great going to bed slightly hungry on the most food-centered day of the year.


Well, I am off to bed. I hope your Thanksgiving was a blessed one!

xoxo,
Toni

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