Thanks everybody for your comments. I really had a blast on the trip and I'm already wanting to plan another mountain adventure somewhere.
To answer some of the questions....
I flew out of Whiteman airport...just a few miles north of Burbank and flew into Lone Pine, The trip takes 1 1/2 hrs. Better than 4 hrs driving! The plane is a '72 Cessna 177B (also known as a Cardinal) We thought a friend was gonna pick us up in Lone Pine but he didn't make it out there so luckily we were able to catch a ride up to Whitney Portal courtesy of the airport manager's husband.
I have to say...that spot at Consultation Lake was great. Much better than Trail Camp...even though you gotta either climb down the ledges or walk over to Trail Camp to get water.
Regarding my headache and nausea, both the altitude and a few nips of that Jack Daniels the night before contributed
I started feeling better once we got started and felt fine the rest of the way up and down.
The weather was a little iffy for flying when we got back down so we stayed in Lone Pine for the night and flew back the next morning.