I spent a few days in Mammoth last week. It was a nice change of pace, although a constant conflict between needing to work and wanting to play. What I learned driving up past that amazing blanket of white, with three to five feet of snow on every rooftop, the sidewalks covered head high with drifts and hardly an obstacle left on the mountain, was that I really, really should have been in town when all that was coming down. Sure, half the lifts would have been closed, but so what? I could have rode through the trees off stump or down from chair five all damn day happy as a clam.

A really cold clam, but happy nonetheless.

The drive back was typically long, lonely, and gorgeous. I wonder how many miles I have logged through the eastern Sierra in the last fifteen years or so. Between all those climbing trips to Bishop and Lone Pine, the road trips to Yosemite and Tahoe, and now, the dozens of runs to ride/slide/fall down a mountain. I figure I've made some sixty trips or so, average of 300 miles each way, comes out to 36K miles.

I think my last car had fewer miles on it before I turned it in!

Not sure when the next trip will be. I miss my time on the rock. I miss Crossroads Cafe. I miss bloody knuckles that aren't the result of a tug of war with a 97 pound boxer. I miss long, fast single track and caked on dirt.

But I also miss powder. I suppose I'll keep an eye out for storms and hope they conveniently coincide with free Fridays.

Clearly, I need more time to play.

In other, utterly random, unrelated news, whole wheat pasta tonight with a tomato sauce and sauteed eggplant and yellow squash with garlic, onion, red wine, olive oil and topped with a little bit of mozzarella.

Last night, rice noodles with stir fried tofu, radishes and cucumber in tamarind, soy sauce and sesame oil on a bed of green leaf lettuce.

Breakfast of scrambled egg whites, diced asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, and feta.

Lunch today, egg burrito with black beans, diced tomatoes, avocado and green chilies.

Snacks of sliced grannysmith apples with dusting of cinnamon and agave nectar.

I've seriously been on a tear. No processed foods. It's like a mission. Can I make a meal in 15 minutes or less based on whatever random shit we have in the kitchen. I'm getting better at it.

In other, other utterly random news, a new season of Top Gear is begun (FINALLY), and I saw my first Veyron on PCH. An event almost as exciting as running into a young Angelina Jolie back in 2000.

Almost. But with virtually the same effect.

Boys will be boys. Vegas tomorrow. Ciao.