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Published: June 15th 2010
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Bavaria World!
Bavaria World! Driving through Mammoth Lakes (aimlessly) I see a faux-German lodge that tempts me to google for German cuisine. Unfortunately, the nearest authentic german food is over a hundred miles away, in Reno. Having nothing much else to do, I set out for Reno. I arrive in Reno, but the german restaurant/store - "Bavaria World" is closed, so it has to wait until tomorrow.
The next morning I hit the gym to work out in exchange for what I already presume will be a feast. And a feast it is. Arriving at Bavaria World, which has a modest looking storefront in a somewhat seedy part of Reno, I enter and am immediately enraptured by the delectable goodies in the bakery/deli and the authentic items on the menu. This is a lot of stuff I'm going to have to try- I'm going to have to pace myself. And, it will take more than one day. First things first- I hit the restaurant. For the appetizer, I devour the creamed herring. Next, for the main course I've wisely chosen the Weisswurst, which is a bland (in a good way) white sausage native to Bavaria, and which comes with a scrumptious homemade pretzel and
The restaurant half
The restaurant half of Bavaria World. mustard. I also ordered a side of potato pancakes, which came out greasy but tasted marvelous. Lastly, in very un-german fashion I enjoy some dessert- a rumball, which is as good as my mother's or ex wife's. Oh yeah, the restaurant area itself is classy (but deserted) with a back room that has a stage, where they hold their oktoberfest and other events. The waitress is a very friendly local. I also meet Klaus the owner, a very German (read: stern and distant) older fella.
Stuffed but not finished, I head into the deli/bakery/market half of the establishment. What a selection of homemade goodies. I can't even begin to list the numerous German goodies but I'll try. Behind the glass are the pastries- all manner of strudels, schweinohren, speculas, dobusch, black forest cake, poppy seed cake, marzipan-almond horns, fruit and cream tarts, more rumballs, cannolis, danishes, and much, much more. The lady behind the counter is a German from Bremerhaven with a gregarious (in a bizarre way) personality.
In the market they have all kinds of imported German chocolate and cookies (Ritter Sport and Lebkuchen!) and even more kinds of German packaged food. There is quark, solid (and
A german lunch
Weisswurst, potato pancakes, and a Munich-style homemade pretzel with mustard. Lecker! homemade) German bread, huge jars of red cabbage and sauerkraut, many regional German beers, imported jams galore, and German tabloid magazines. In the deli they have all of what you'd expect (if you knew what to expect 😊 )- Bierschinken, and other schinkens I'm not familiar with, salami, probably at least 20 types of liverwurst and pate. In addition to the pastries and deli meats there is german potato salad (kartoffelsalat), cucumber salad, rotkohl and other prepared sides. After scoping out the givings, I take leave with the intention of returning tomorrow and making some tactical selections.
The next day I return to Bavaria World. Long story short, I leave with a homemade pretzel, a marzipan-almond horn, a loaf of dark russian rye bread, some bierschinken and onion liverwust, a helping of kartoffelsalat, a bag of christmas lebkuchen, and a whole poppy seed strudel. Looks like I'll be eating German food for a few days.
Leaving Reno, I park for the night somewhere outside of Markleeville. The next day I head down the road to Virginia lakes, in the Sierras. At the trailhead parking lot, I notice a snow-free mountain before me begging to be scrambled up, so
I head up. It looked alot smaller from the parking lot. I spend the next hour ascending probably around 2000-2500 feet, mostly scrambling but occasionally having to climb some larger rocks, and eventually reach about as high as it's worth going, with some tremendous views.
Parking by a cool stand of aspens for the night, I hit the Yosemite high country for the day, since the road has recently opened for the season. It's actually snowing at Tioga Pass. Just a quick hike up Lembert Dome, which provides stunning views of Tuolumne Meadows and the surrounding peaks, and I'm back out of the park the way I came. I've already been to Yosemite a million times, and I really just need to purchase a new annual National Park pass.
The next day I'm back in Bishop, again inquiring at the White Mountain ranger station about snow-free trails. They still say that Big Pine Creek is my only option. I'm tired of hearing this, and I suspect that some of the other trails can be done. I head over to South Lake and embark on the trail that goes up to Treasure Lake (maybe 5 miles?). About 2/3s of
Schinken and liverwurst
Schinken and liverwurst the way up the trail gives way to snow, but there are clear tracks so I don't let it stop me. By walking up some snow slopes and following the tracks where visible, I eventually make it to the frozen-over Treasure Lake. I run into a hiker camped out while his friends scale a local mountain and chat for awhile. That explains the tracks. They are on their way to climb some mountain whose name I can't remember. I'm totally jealous, because the mountains beyond look foreboding and for me, tempting, and I have tons of energy to tackle it, but not the right equipment (need crampons, and ice axe, and a helmet). No worry, I WILL return to do this or another high pass once the snow clears up some more. For now I behold an awe-inspiring frozen alpine environment. Back at the parking lot, I chat up a cool young ranger who is from Mississippi, and we share thoughts on the differences between southerners and westerners (southerners are more courteous).
In dire need of some real socializing, I set up some hikes and gettogethers through meetup.com and outdoors.com. This requires me to go back to Reno (!),
so I head back and stay in a Motel 6, since I need to cut my hair and generally reset. The toilet is leaking water all over the bathroom floor, but hey that's what I get for a 33$ motel. Tomorrow, I'll hit the gym, and the next day try out my first "meetup".
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