THE BIG SNOW OF 2023

So it all started like this

while walking the dog and picking up her poop next a palm tree.

What's this?

Snow???

No way!

In my lifetime it's only snowed in Southern California 2 other times 

that I can think of,

the non mountainous areas that is.

And as we kept walking more came down,

on roof tops and parked cars.

Such a novelty,

and our pup Sophie loved it!

We had heard it was going to snow in our mountains

 but had no idea it was going to come down to us here in Anaheim Hills.

We are anywhere between 410 to 745 feet in elevation.

So I texted our neighbor Rebecca who lives below our cabin 

and she said it was snowing like she's never seen before!

She is a fifty something Army veteran 

who grew up in Crestline

 and said she had never seen it snowing so hard there.

Crestline is at 5000 feet,

the lowest elevation of all the mountain towns in So.Cal.,

but apparently the hardest hit.

Luckily she had she son there with her.

She said she heard trees falling and branches breaking.

Thank goodness her home survived.

The next day on the TV news channels, 

we heard that our only grocery store,

Goodwin and Sons in Crestline,

 had it's entire roof collapse.

Another store,

 our only hardware store's roof collapsed as well.

Oh no!!

And the roads were blocked and no one could get in or out.

It took Rebecca and her grown son

3 days to shovel themselves out of their front door

to get to their car.

And it was completely buried in snow.

But still no one could drive their cars 

because there was even too much snow for the plows.

She measured her snowdrift at over 6ft. tall.

So many were stuck with no food, heat, medicines or mail service.

Rebecca could not get her medicines.

I think they were eventually helicoptered in.

Goodwin Market in 1946

Goodwin and Sons in 2023 before the Big Storm came in

Ariel view of  it's collapsed roof

Demolition began after most of the snow melted

For days after the storm and collapse,

Goodwin and Sons,

Crestline's family owned grocery since 1946,

 was giving away undamaged food and other necessities for free

to anyone who could get into town.

This was an all in one store,

 complete with not only groceries,

but an old time soda fountain and candy shop, fishing supplies, gift shop,

mountain gear and house hold necessities.

I can't even image the cost of all they lost in this disaster.

Townsfolk were distributing the freebies to neighbors who couldn't get into town.

Our dear friend Chris,

 who lives up in Crestline full time,

knew the storm was coming so he went down the mountain to Costco

and bought $400 worth of food for himself the day before it started.

Thank goodness because 2 of his close neighbors were without heat or food.

They were barely able to walk thru the snow to get to his cabin

and he invited them to stay in his one bedroom place.

So for two weeks he feed them

and he said they watched a lot of movies.

Couldn't do much of anything else.

Chris loves to entertain.

He grew up in his parent's Victorian Bed & Breakfast in Seattle Washington,

and helped run the place for years.

Meanwhile,

back at our little cabin...

Driveway in front of our cabin and big lump of snow on the right is our Jeep

a week after the Big Storm when Rebecca was able to walk up to our cabin 

she took these pictures for us.

My little art studio with a wall of snow against window

Zach with little sis Danielle

Of course my own children were living it up in Mammoth,

a popular ski resort for Southern Californians.

Picture above was a couple of weeks before the Big Snow hit.

And this pix was taken during the storm.

My son and his wife drove thru the blizzard to ski that weekend.

Crazy kids!

When they got done skiing 

and went to find their car it was completely hidden in the snow.

Ha ha!

A good month and a half  later Jim and I finally ventured up 

to try to start our Jeep.

We were really surprised that the soft top hadn't buckled as well.

But it was sopping wet inside.

YUCK!

We did a bit of shoveling so we could back it up and get the battery going again.

But of course it was deader then a doornail.

 We also noticed right away that the yard was a total disaster.

Many downed trees and large branches,

but my dear Camellias survived with their buds ready to open.

How about that?.

Thank goodness there were no leeks inside the place.

Just the pilot light inside had blown out.

An easy fix.

But then we had another revolting development.

When we headed into town for a new battery,

we had a bit of a misstep,

more like a slip and slide into a 6 foot snowbank

 with Jims classic Mustang Convertible,

his boy toy.

Yes another accident!

I wasn't driving,

thank goodness,

 and I had on my seatbelt.

Can't say the same for my significant other.

Some of us don't learn our lessons.

And it was an expensive one.

We had to be towed all the way back to Orange County 

and it was $12 a mile.

Let's see,

with tax it came out to about $450.

Yep.

With an overweight 40 lb. pup in our lap between us,

we squished into the cab of the tow truck.

It was quite a picture.

Sadly our Insurance Co. won't pay to repair this gorgeous car 

that my husband has taken such loving care of.

It was going to cost them too much so they are totaling it 

and giving us a bit above Kelly Blue book for it.

Jim had just put in a brand new engine last year.

I thought he was going to cry.

Oh yea,

and then this happened a couple of days later.

We went back up with our one remaining vehicle,

my VW convertible,

to put in a new battery in the Jeep, 

but that made no difference.

The starter was frozen or something so AAA to the rescue again!

When it rains it pours that's for sure!

And hear we are today,

back to our bedroom community of Yorba Linda/Anaheim Hills, 

looking into the distance at our beloved mountains.

 This one is the San Gabriel Range and Mt. Baldy.

P.S.  Went to cabin again today to pick up our repaired Jeep.

It was just some loose wiring.

Probably a little critter climbed up to shelter itself from the storm.