You should be able to see the surface a little bit. It was actually kind of scary at the peak because one side was a sharp fall. The other side is not as steep but you'd be rolling down the hill until you hit bottom. I guess I'd rather roll than fall till I hit the ground.
It really wasn't a long hike, but I was out of breath constantly. I guess it's the high altitude. I took the kids to the bathroom in an icecream shop in Lee Vining one day and we had to hurry back because the rest of group were waiting. One of the kids decided to down the street skipping instead of running, and we all followed. Well I probably only lasted about 20 seconds. Not as much oxygen. It's bad enough that a grown woman is skipping down the sidewalk, but to only last for 20 seconds was even more embarassing.
After we came down from the mountain, we went for another hike to a lake called the Dog Lake. I heard it's called Dog Lake because it's in a shape of a dog. Makes sense. On the way to Dog Lake, we saw deer. Some kids have never seen them before and wanted to get close. I remembered driving to bar tournaments in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania and finding a bunch of deer on the road all the time. I miss those days.
I sat down away from the rest of the group during lunch so I could sit in the shade. One of the kids came to sit next to me and we started talking. He paused for a little bit and thanked me for bringing him on this trip because he never expected it to be such a great experience. I really should thank you and the other kids, because I wouldn't have been there if it weren't for you guys. It's like vacation for me, even though I was working 24hrs each day.
After lunch we headed to another lake for a swim. It almost seemed like some private beach on an island.
I just dipped my feet in the amzingly clear water, then rested underneath a tree. It felt like heaven.
That night in the closing circle, we shared how we felt about the whole trip. I first shared about how much I love going to Mono Lake. It's like nowhere else in the world, at least from what I've seen. Even though this was my second time, I realized that there is just so much to see there and I could never get enough of it. Even with the things I already saw last year, I noticed new and different things, either because I just didn't pay attention to them before or I just simply forgot and was able to enjoy them like it's my first time. It was a great opportunity to reconnect with people I met last year and meet new people as well. I spent 24 hrs with my coworkers and the kids which was a totally new and exciting experience. I felt like I got to know them better and I was able to be myself.
One of the things we were asked to do was to pick a word and make a poem using each letter of the word. The word that came up in my mind was "WATER," probably because I drank gallons of them and the entire trip was about water conservation. I felt that this trip helped me forget about stress, worries, and pain. I was able to cleanse myself from all these things by coming here, at least for the time being.
Saying goodbye to them made me feel lonely and sad, but I'm just going to focus on coming back again, if not next year hopefully sometime in the near future.
On the way back, we decided to stop in Manzanar, the site of former Japanese American internment camp. Since we didn't have much time and not everyone was interested in going, I meant for it to be a bathroom break/mini educational experience. It ended up being very interesting, particularly for my coworker.
I got to experience a little bit of what it was like to be there. I mean, there's absolutely nothing there...
There's so much to see in California...
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