5 AM Saturday morning, off to Big Bear. Even though I do not mind waking up early to putter around the house, have some coffee, read the news on the computer – to actually get ready and leave the house at this hour is different. Let’s put it like that – I am not bright and chirpy and at the height of my mental faculties that early.
So it took a while to become aware of my surroundings while winding up the road towards the top. I did notice that some houses were already decorated for Halloween. Well, I though, up here in the mountains they certainly do thing differently – fake snow as decoration – but then, why not.
As I said before, my mind is a bit sluggish at that early hour. Fake snow… fake snow… Oh my God, that snow is not fake! That is not for decoration, that stuff is real!
And indeed, it was all for real. The night before temperatures had dropped to 18°F ( – 2°C) up in the mountains and it had snowed for the first time. On October 11th; even for those folks up there that was a bit too cold a bit too early.
Though it did look pretty, especially on the slopes, it was really, really cold, even after the sun came out.
All day long temperatures rose just slightly above freezing. But then again, when winding down the mountain on the way back the next day, the lovely warmth of the lowlands was appreciated even more than usual.
The night we spent in Santa Fe, the temp got down to 20 degrees. That’s far too cold for me. That’s a whole winter in Texas.
Well, for temperatures like this we have to travel. Down here in the “flatland,” especially the coastal region, temperatures are considerably more moderate. We go into a collective rigor when approaching 50 F at night.
Although it can get much, much colder inland, in the high desert.
I’m all for moderate climate living. I whine a lot when the weather turns cold. Fortunately, it doesn’t for long here.