I won’t say that visiting California is like coming home, but it is definitely nostalgic.  I only lived in the LA area for about 6 years and it was nearly 45 years ago.  However, in that relatively short time, I found out that something in my genetic makeup needs mountains.  The desert and beach are nice too, but it is the mountains that my heart has yearned for ever since I moved back home.

I could never live here again for the same reason we moved home in 1967.  It is too far from my family.  The members of the clan have changed since then.  My parents and one of my brothers are gone as well as my aunt and uncle.  That doesn’t lessen the ties that hold me there though.  If anything they are stronger than ever.  My children have grown up and raised families of their own.  All of them live in the Southeast.  I expect to have great grandchildren soon and I can’t participate in their lives from the West coast.

Still, crossing the desert with the mountains looming on the horizon soothed a part of me that has been longing for the sight of tall rocky ridges for years.  We haven’t reached the area I know best as yet. Our first stop is at Jimmie’s friend Jose’s.  He lives near Lake Arrowhead in a small mountain community called Crestline.  He has a gorgeous view behind his house.

The air here is clear and temperatures are mostly cooler than the valley, especially at night. We’ve enjoyed our stay here with him.  The weather has been great and we spent yesterday visiting all their favorite train watching spots.

I had been in this area before.   We used to bring our sons here in the winter to play in the snow.  The road then was only two lanes twisting back and forth along the mountainside.  It has since been widened to four lanes.  The outer lanes are supported by huge concrete brackets attached to the side of the mountain with nothing below them.

The back of Jose’s house is much the same.  The supports are smaller and the drop below not as large, but a strong earthquake would send both tumbling down the same steep slopes.  I’m not sure I could be comfortable with either situation on a long term basis.  As you can see from some of the photos, I’ve overcome a large part of my fear of heights, but it does still make my nerves twang to think of those long drops.

Today they were going to a train watching place that is about 2 hours from here.  I voted for a day of working on the photos I have been shooting along the way.  It’s not the first time I’ve been alone this past week, but it is the first day I’ve been able to do as I please all day long.  The radio is playing classical music, I’ve got a cup of tea beside me and I’ve spent the day working on my photos.  No interruptions.  Nothing to break my concentration.  My next project is to get them all posted to the web.  Hopefully, I’ll get most of that done later this afternoon.

Tomorrow we move down to the valley.  I’ve been told that most of the smog has been cleaned up, but the view still looks awfully hazy most of the time.  When we drove through Redlands on the way here, I noticed that the air still smells brown.  I am sure I’d get used to it again if I stayed here long enough, but I’d say the smog still hangs out down there.

I am looking forward to this section of our travels though.  I plan to swing through our old neighborhood and take a couple of photos of the house where we lived when the boys were small.  We had moved from there before Chrystal was born, but I don’t remember the address where we were living just before we moved back east.  I’m not sure about finding it.  Still it occurred to me that she and the boys might like to see photos the places where they lived when they were small.  I have some snapshots taken when they were little, but not many and none of the area itself.