June Lake

Sometimes returning to the site of a childhood happiness disappoints. Spinning tea cups make you want to vomit. Old houses and neighborhoods look smaller and somehow out of date. Schoolyards seem empty without the friends who used to join you there.

On the other hand, certain special places never lose their magic no matter how many years have passed. Yes, nostalgia lurks around every corner, beneath every pine tree, but more importantly, new memories and new joys are constantly born from the same old fertile soil.

For me, June Lake is just such a place. Some of my best childhood memories are there -- catching chipmunks with my sister and my favorite cousins, getting up before dawn to go fishing with my dad, singing songs around the campfire with my extended family. I could go on and on. But June Lake is not trapped in this static childhood moment. Our most recent trip and the one two years ago suggest that it is also a place where my husband and brother-in-law can learn to fish themselves, where my mom can teach my boys to make "rock soup" beside any number of gorgeous lakes, where I can help Max make his first s'more and Henry take his first bath in a sink. June Lake is a place where memories are constant being made as opposed to a place where memories once happened. And that is exactly why I will keep going back and why I am already counting the days until our next trip...

All reflection aside, here are some nitty gritty details about the time we spent in the High Sierras:

We left at 4am (??!!!) on Saturday morning in a packed mini-van and drove up to Yosemite. My mom hadn't been there in over 30 years, so we enjoyed spending a few hours driving around the valley, walking the 1-mile trail at the base of Yosemite Falls and picnicking beside the river. After lunch it was onward over the Tioga Pass and into the June Lake Loop.

We stayed in a house close to Gull Lake and just down the road from a whole host of extended family members. My sister and brother-in-law joined us there on Sunday and we spent the week fishing, exploring various lakes and creeks, eating too much at restaurants, cooking yummy meals at home, and visiting with friends and family over campfires and bar stools. We got our fill of wildlife sightings -- deer, coyotes, trout, quail, scorpions, racoons, and even a bear! The boys had a wonderful time even if they were occasionally a royal pain in the ass. Why did Henry have to go psycho every time we were seated in a restaurant? Why did Max have to wake up at 6:00 every morning? As everyone who has children knows, vacation is never the same once little ones are on the scene, but discovering things anew through their eyes has its own rewards.

And now, without further ado, the photo montage...