Lone Pine

The Stutelberg family decided to get out of town for the weekend! We left midmorning on Saturday for Lone Pine, CA. Lone Pine is located about 2 hours North of the Antelope Valley at the base of the Eastern Sierra Mountains. Lone Pine is the portal to Mt. Whitney. My dad hiked up Mt. Whitney about 10 years ago and said it was an amazing (literally breathless) experience! Someday Karl and I would love to hike it. We just need some babysitters for a day or so...hint hint!
The boys slept on the drive to Lone Pine so we didn't immediately stop in town. We drove up Portal Rd a few miles and pulled off the road and had a picnic lunch and hiked around. The rock formations at this spot were really cool. The pictures of Matt squatting and leaning on a rock and Micah by the rocks were taken here. They were in "forts." We had a good time scouting out lots of "forts!" We then drove up Portal Rd to the Whitney Portal. It had been about 70 degrees out when we had our picnic and just another 10 miles up the road it was 45 degrees at the start of the Whitney trail!We stayed the night in an old hotel in town that was built back in the 1930s to house actors and movie crews that were in the area filming old Westerns. Matt was VERY excited to stay in a hotel! Both boys were bouncing off the walls! We had dinner across the street at a pizza place which was also a special treat for the boys and added to the excitement! Once we got the kids in bed (no small feat) it took them over an hour to fall asleep! Karl and I were trying not to laugh because it was kind of cute/funny how excited they were!In the morning we ate breakfast at the greasiest (yummy yummy) cafe in the world. We then drove back up Portal Rd to Lone Pine Campground. We hiked a bit, Matt rode his tricycle, Micah pushed his toy, and hung out by the stream. When the boys started getting tired we loaded back in the car and drove home! It was a great weekend! Hopefully all of you had a nice weekend!

GOODNIGHT!!