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Mountains, Desert, Ocean: Can One Place Have It All?

Sunday, while Hollywood was getting ready for its big night, with Oscars, red carpet, and gowns, we travelled to the mountains to enjoy the snow. We loaded the skis onto the Jeep and headed for our favorite local ski resort, Mount Baldy. Here's what we found:




I am sometimes reluctant to make the journey to Mount Baldy. Not that it's a long one by L.A. standards (45 minutes from our home to the parking lot) but - when it comes to skiing I am spoiled because I grew up on a mountain. Anyway, the view from the top is reward enough: the Mojave desert to the north, the Pacific to the south, and a checkerboard called Los Angeles county in between.

Mount Baldy is one of those L.A. excursions that make me wonder how one place can have it all: the desert, the beaches, the mountains; surfing, skiing, hiking... Is it a surprise that the movie industry should have settled here?

Images from top to bottom: palm trees against the San Gabriel Mountains; Lord's Candle, a drought tolerant California native; and view north from the top of Mount Baldy's chair 3 into the Mojave desert.
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Comments

debi said…
Christina,

I envy you; from Frisco, TX a ski trip is a minimum eleven hour drive.

The pictures are beautiful. My parents have land in Colorado that is arid high-plains, a half hour from Wolf Creek Ski Basin. I wish I was there right now.

Standing on the top of a mountain looking down on the world is one of the best experiences there is, especially in the quiet created by snow.

Ahhh, nostalgia.
March 2, 2011 at 8:24 AM
Lorraine Seal said…
Christina

I love these pictures! Thanks for posting them. The one of the palm trees against the snow-covered San Gabriel Mountains strikes a chord for me in particular.

I went to Salzburg's Donnerstag Markt today, the one in Mirabellplatz. On my way back, I noticed that the snow is getting patchy on the mountains here; pastures are beginning to appear.

Lorraine
March 3, 2011 at 3:15 AM
Christina Schweighofer said…
Thanks, Debi and Lorraine. I feel blessed to be living here. Glad to hear that winter in Austria is on its way out!
March 5, 2011 at 9:49 AM
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