Marlana and I took off for a much needed, but altogether too short, vacation in the Eastern Sierra Nevada earlier this week: Sunday through Thursday.

It was the first time we went camping with the dogs: Geordie (2½-year-old collie) and Bo (10-month-old corgi).

It was exciting!

On the way up, somewhere between Lone Pine and Independence on highway 395 there was a car in the underbrush on the other side of the road, belly up. We'd had some flash rainstorms on the way, so maybe they hydroplaned.

On Tuesday we went to the vista at Mammoth Mountain. Despite it being July 18 (in the Northern hemisphere), there was still enough snow that people were skiing, and there was a large snow patch behind the vista. We discovered that Geordie really, really likes snow! He was gamboling like nobody's business. (Because we didn't know the frontier of the patch - there might have been a cliff over which he could have plummeted - I didn't let him off his leash, but if I had I know that he would have been running full-tilt all through the snow. Bo, it turns out, could take it or leave it.

Tuesday night we met a couple of gentlemen who had been hiking in the mountains and had gotten separated from the third member of their party: the wife of one of the gentlemen. She had not made it to the campground, and they had no idea where she was. On Wednesday they got the Forestry Service's search and rescue (SAR) team involved, with hikers and helicopters. By the time we left on Thursday they still had not found her. However, when we arrived home Thursday night we looked up Inyo County SAR and learned that she had been found, safe and sound. Thank God!

On the way home, just North of the intersection of highway 395 and Interstate 15 (Hesperia-ish?), there was a car next to a drive-through fast food restaurant on the other side of the road, belly up. No idea what led to that one.

It was a fun trip, and the dogs fared well. A bit more excitement than we'd have preferred, but enjoyable all-in-all.

When Marlana gets the pictures off her camera, I'll try to post some of them.