We left east LA on a
Monday morning dripping with dew. It was reminiscent of being in Mexico
when I was ten years old. The morning was familiar save for the dew; it
was flirty or as we like to call the ladies with intention, coquetas! As we walked out into the
street onto a vertiginous hill, the dew batted its eyelashes as we brushed up
against it in passing. It was a casual
goodbye as we headed toward the desert - Palm Desert and Indio where my eyes
would trick me yet again. Palm Springs
is a mirage. Not a mirage worse than
Yankee Stadium sitting right in the middle of the Bronx, but pretty close.
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| © Carolina Hinojosa, 2015 |
We drove up the San
Jacinto Mountains into Idyllwild. From
desert to blizzard is where we found ourselves on Monday afternoon. I had not expected such a beautiful turn of
events where we experienced every season in a mere two days. As we escalated the mountain we found
ourselves in the midst of a 30-degree temperature drop and we left the sun to
fend for itself in the desert. We made
it up to Idyllwild, gently driving through the small town and being deterred by
signs that urged us to put chains on our rental vehicle. We stopped at a quaint coffee shop atop the
mountain where the lumberjack cashier made us feel at home, but not before
offering a bacon cupcake. Who says no to
bacon cupcakes? Not a couple of Texans
about to be stuck in a blizzard on a mountain in the supposed desert!
“So when do you think
we should be off the mountain?” I
cleverly smiled while ordering our chai tea lattes. I didn’t want to look like a foreigner, but
it was apparent in the nervousness in my voice.
“Well, I suggest that
you two get off the mountain before the sun goes down. We’re going to be snowed in. It hasn’t snowed like this since 2002. Where are you both from?” His beard caught particles of dust that
floated through the air. Typical cabin
roughage, I assumed.
“Texas!” Erasmo proudly beamed.
Of course, we would
be the ones to be caught in a blizzard on the ONE day that it decided to snow
like it hadn’t snowed in 13 years.
Magic. I like to call that magic.
We quickly shared the
bacon cupcake and drank most of our lattes before we made it out of the cabin
and toward the rental vehicle. By then
it was coming down a little harder. Like
the Texas tourists that we are, we pulled out our camera phones and had a quick
snowball fight before we had to follow the plow down the street. Moments later, the entire landscape was
draped in an array of white canvas.
Trees poked out from beneath the snow, elegant and majestic as if being
robed for the throne.
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| © Carolina Hinojosa, 2015 |
We passed the Pacific
Crest Trail, it’s marker covered in white silk.
Half an hour later, the temperatures rose and we were back in the desert
on a brown mountain and headed toward Indio where we met up with a wonderful
person and his sweet mother. I don’t
know if it was how Idyllwild took my breath away or if it was the long drive,
but being in a home with such strength and love of family made my entire body
relax and fall into deep and rapid sleep.
We left their home at 4am on Tuesday morning to get back to San Diego and
fly home. I never wanted to be home like
that in all my life. Home. Where we came back to our children and our
families. There is nothing like
traveling and having a beautiful time, but my favorite part is coming home to
my beautiful family.
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