Eastern Sierras
Woke up a few times in the middle of the night, once to a whining huskylab who wanted to be let out, then a second time to the realization that the power had gone out. Did not quite realize that had knocked out both running water and heat in the RV park til the morning.
When the morning proper arrived, a night of fresh, slushy snow revealed itself, along with snow continuing to fall. While we could deal with no heat, no running water and no electricity unfortunately made the decision to abort the trip an easy one. Not sure Lucas quite appreciated the difficulty of the sitation we were in, but then at five years old he would have been on the young side to do so.
Power actually came back right as we checked out, but throughout the day and night US-395 from Bishop to Mammoth remained closed. Our route south on 395 also had several closures, although again no actual signs or restrictions on the roads stopping us. Snow did get heavy enough in several places that only high ground clearance and AWD could get through, but that was no problem for Chris and Mike.
Snow was everywhere, even south of Red Rock State Park, and again in the San Gabriel Mountains. A quick, only slightly-better-than-indifferent lunch in Palmdale, was good preparation for the heavier-than-expected snowfall on a freshly reopened CA-14 between Palmdale and Los Angeles. While snow in the area happens plenty often in the winter, this time there was enough snow to make things feel like a winter wonderland in more than a few spots.
As disappointing as it was to have to abort the trip, one plus was being able to catch friends before they moved to Europe. Ate way too many xiao long bao at Din Tai Fung in Century City, but it was great to see Kim before she and Ali move across the Atlantic.