(Sorry, the pictures were deleted. I will repost them soon! July 27, 2011)

Day1 Drive to Mammoth Lakes

The drive from Los Angeles was smooth one. We stopped a few times along the way, once for two hours of shopping for bathing suits and groceries, and then another time for gas, and another few times for picture taking. All in all, the drive took us a little over 7 hours including the stops.

There is leftover snow on the ground around Mammoth, but not much. Mostly the stuff left from snowplows piling it up on the sides of roads here and there. The mountain has plenty of snow though, and they expect more Tuesday. Good thing we rented a 4×4 Jeep Liberty to get us around, rain, sleet or snow. We should be good to go.

For dinner tonight, we ate Mexican that we bought at the grocery store and made ourselves. It was delicious!

Well, everyone is showering now and then we’re off to dreamland to get some much needed sleep before skiing tomorrow.

We leave for the flight to Los Angeles in about 45 more minutes so I had better wrap this up. The ladies are on the other computers sending emails to their family.

Incheon has a nice airport. It has been fixed up since my last trip here. There are many shops to visit, but the prices are more expensive than Japan. The food is relatively the same in price and very good. I recommend the tuna sushi for 4000 wan. It comes with a cup of soup and pickled daikon and kimchi. All good for the price.

If you want to do Internet, there are Internet cafes throughout the airport, some for $$ and some for free. I found a free one!

Time to go.

Next post from Mammoth Lakes, California!

We should arrive in LA around the same time we leave the same day…only about a 20 minute flight! Amazing how that happens, eh?

Today, I had to run around all over the place to get some last-minute stuff done. Now, I have to pack my suitcase and make sure I’ve got all the proper paperwork.

Here’s a check-list for you guys, Chiemi, Eiko and May, if you read this today.

• passport (essential or you can’t leave the country)
• omiyage money
• clothes (essential if you don’t want to be embarrassed)
• shoes
• bathing suit (for the jacuzzi after skiing and swimming in Vegas)
• winter jacket
• light jacket or sweater or sweat shirt
• camera, memory card, cables to download if your memory card gets full, battery and charger
• sunglasses for skiing
• carry-on bag with nothing liquid, no food, and no harmful objects (whatever those things are I’m still in the dark since this is the first time I’ve flown in over two years and in-flight restrictions have gotten stricter)
• toiletries (beware because these things may not even pass customs and may be considered dangerous materials)

That should do it for the main things. I hope I don’t forget anything!

The next post will be coming from Mammoth Lakes, California, God willing. He’s in control, and I pray we arrive there and back safely.

The temperature in Las Vegas is 23C and clear skies.

The Grand Canyon ranges from 1C to 24C depending on where you are and what time of the day it is. The skies are clear to partly cloudy.

So we should experience some great weather on the trip and go through all the seasons of the year in one week as we start in Los Angeles 12C, drive to Mammoth Lakes -3C to snow ski, then to Vegas 23C and the Grand Canyon 11C.