When I was a small girl in the early 50s, my parents were good friends with Mac and Irene McKinsey who were summer caretakers of the gold mine for the company that still owned it. They were from San Jose, as were we, but were building a retirement home in Mammoth Lakes for the times they were not at the mine. Our family would go up to spend two weeks at the mine, my dad and Mac would hike to fish in higher mountains, my sister and I had fun playing around, being told to watch for rattlers and not to go in the mines..(which are NOT caves) which were pretty spooky, anyway. We had dinner at night with Mac and Irene in their mine manager's cabin and learned to eat trout by holding the heads and tails like corn-on-the-cob. We would stay in one of the various miner's cabins and help Irene with her chores. Several of their friends would come up in the summer, like us, and Irene kept all the cabins in good shape for visitors. Those trips to the mine was where I was imprinted with the smell of the Sierras, the Ponderosas and the decomposing granite make for a specific scent that brings back happy times... As the years went by, we got up there less and less. The last time I was at the mine was in 1969 after I had graduated from HS. I went up with my mom and my two younger brothers for a few nights. It was when they were building the FS campground so we had to leave our car out on the road the carry our stuff in about a mile, where Irene met us and helped us on up. I was very surprised to see that the mine is now a historic spot and can be visited by all. Those memories you make as a small child stay with you, so I hope more children are as lucky as I was. You only have about 14 summers to take your kids to have great experiences, so get out there and make memories. read more