Growing up on the Arcularius Ranch was a very wonderful experience for me. I have many fond memories of the time I spent at the Ranch. I was very fortunate to have both of my parents at home. As home was their work.

The annual trip to the Ranch was always an experience. I, like my mother, would get terribly car sick coming up the hill. Thank goodness I quickly recovered once we arrived so I did not have to drink my grandfathers remedy. On many of the trips we had to drive on top of snow as the main road to the ranch was not open.

I spent most of my early years playing with my little dog Salty. He was my constant companion. On occasion I would disappear into the sage brush. Mom and Dad were able to find me by Saltys' jumping over the sage brush. Where Salty was, I was. Salty and I would follow Mom and Dad around and on occasions we were assigned various chores like folding the towels for the cabins and raising the flag.

Summers were the most fun as many of the guests would bring their children and we would get together and play. We would spend hours playing card games in the lobby, having ping pong and croquet tournaments. In the evenings we would play kick the can and on occasions we would have a snipe hunt.

Mom would take us to Whitmore Hot Springs for an afternoon of swimming and a picnic lunch. Whitmore Hot Springs was at one time just a hole in the ground where my mother remembers having her Saturday bath. It has since been turned into a regulation swimming pool. Once a week I would have to take swimming lessons which was no easy task, I would have to be dragged into the water by the instructors. Eventually I learned that the water was not going to kill me.

Once I learned how to swim I decided that it was time to float the nine miles of the river on an air mattress. The only restriction that Mom and Dad gave me was to get out when I saw anyone fishing. A friend from the ranch went with me. We would get out when we saw anyone fishing and when we came to a bridge that we could not go under. As the current in the river increased and got deeper, it became increasingly difficult to get out. Several times we had to go by someone fishing and all we could do was wave and say that we were sorry. (We did have a few complaints when we eventually made it home). We did not realize that there were so many bends in the river and all of a sudden dusk was setting in any we were only half way. We ended our adventure sunburned, scratches all over, hungry and tired. We had to walk the entire way back to the ranch and were strongly disciplined for disturbing the fishermen.

My Grandmother and Grandfather would take me to their cabin in Mammoth for visits. Their cabin was in the Mammoth meadow which is the Mammoth Golf Course. He had a horse named Sierra and taught me how to ride. I would spend all my time riding and eventually he let me take the horse to the ranch. Sierra and I would go from cabin to cabin visiting with the guests. Sierra would get an occasional carrot and I would get cookies. I taught many of the guests children how to ride. We would play Cowboys and Indians and on occasion we would herd a few of my uncles cows. One summer I decided to marry Sierra and invited all the guests to the ceremony. I was dressed in my levi's and had a veil made of mesh. One of the guest acted as minister and when he pronounced us as horse and master, Sierra proceeded to stepped on my foot. We all had lemonade and cookies and then Sierra and I rode off into the sunset. A few years later Sierra had to be retired. He had many good years as my Grandfathers horse and then became a part of all his grandchildren's lives. My Grandfather and Uncles loaned us two horses for the summer, Trigger and Silver. Now we could really play Cowboys and Indians. Trigger was a wild mustang that was caught and broke by my Uncle Frank. Trigger and I became a great team. We entered many horse shows and gymkhanas. He was responsible for my addiction to horse showing which I carried on into my adult life.

The airport was not used much and was not considered an official airport by authorities so it became the most versatile piece of property. During my horse days it became a race track, a rodeo arena, a baseball field and even a driving range for hitting golf balls. During the evenings it became the sniping grounds or kick the can field. As I grew older it became a place for myself and many of the guests children to have their first driving lesson. I looked forward to the evenings as Dad or Mom would take me out for a driving lesson. On occasions Dad would have to teach some of the cleaning crew how to drive a stick shift.

Being a teenager, I was always in need of extra cash so on busy check in/out days I would make the beds to help the cleaning crew. Once the beds were made I would then wash all the towels and bundle the sheets for the laundry service. Every now and then I would get the opportunity to baby-sit for some of the guests with smaller children. As I got older I began working in the store.