Since I had 4 days off last week and the weather was beautiful, J and I drove up to the nearby mountain town of Idyllwild, it's the mountain right above Palm Springs, the one that the tram goes up to. The town is a little above 6000 feet, and it's an artist's community with several galleries and fun stores and eateries. Many people, adults as well as children, live there so they can attend the USC extension campus called the Idyllwild School of the Music and Arts. 30 years ago I took a summer class there and learned how to weave a Navajo rug from a Native American Indian weaver who came all the way from Arizona to teach the class. In the summer they hold many of the classes outside between the pine trees, it's absolutely beautiful. And you can here music wafting through the trees from the classical music students who are practicing on an outdoor stage. A fabulous experience!
On the way home going down the mountain we stopped at a couple of interesting spots to take some pix. J wouldn't let me take his picture so you have to see me instead. What I really liked both going up and down the mountain were the number of large spots to pull off at if you were slowing traffic down. And boy oh boy did the temps drop going up. It was 80 degrees at home when we left with the Santa Anas blowing but 43 degrees by the time we reached the town. And it was windy there too. Berrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
We saw a lake on the way up and stopped to see it on the way down. As you can see it was breathtaking.
But too cold to hang around at for very long. For the couple of students who asked here are the directions as best as I can remember them. Take the 91 Fwy. east to the 60 Fwy. going towards Moreno Valley and Beaumont and when you get to Banning start looking for the sign to get off at. Took us about 2 hours to get there from home.
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