Camping at Mammoth

Lake George

Uncle Nick, Kirk, Adam, Ben and Kelsey

Kirk and the boys playing Nintendo DS

Uncle Nick helping Ben fish

Proof that Ben caught the fish himself

Not bad for a morning of fishing

Learning how to clean fish with Kelsey

When we arrived at Mammoth Lakes, I had no idea where to camp. I drove around and came upon the old library complete with the longstanding librarian. I asked her advice on camping with the boys and she suggested Mary's Lake. I drove up to the Lake but the spots were too filled with RV's. I decided to go on up to George Lake at 8900 feet and found the perfect spot in more ways than one. There are only 16 campsites, all among the trees around the lake. But more importantly, we found the best camping neighbors we could ever imagine. Kelsey is a 35 year veteran of teaching 8th grade history and the epitome of patience. He was camping with his 23 year old son Kirk who is also studying to be a teacher and their Uncle Nick. They cooked for us, did our dishes, taught the boys how to fish, taught Mom how to camp and even gave Ben one of their fishing rods and set both boys up for future fishing. Most importantly, however, they were great role models of how to be generous, patient and kind men. Ben became very adept at casting and caught all sorts of fish which Kelsey taught us how to clean. Adam caught some fish as well and Ben even ate a fish eyeball (reportedly a mix of crunchy and mushy without much flavor). We also learned how to make camper's stew the best of which was prepared by Adam. The boys hunted for Bigfoot in the dark and even got to play video games on Kirk's Nintendo DS. Overall it was an incredible three days that we will remember forever.