Skip to main content

The First Snow of the Year

 
Photographs by Alexander Chow-Stuart
'Twas the day before school started again and there had been heavy snow up in the Grapevine area of Los Angeles - and nearby Los Padres National Forest - so we decided we'd try to take Hudson and Paradise sledding...even though Interstate 5 was officially closed to all traffic!

In fact, because of the weather reports and road conditions, our initial plan (after a quick dash to buy snow chains for our car) was to try to drive to Wrightwood in Angeles National Forest - farther away from us but potentially more reachable, given the road conditions.

So we set off, bundled up in our warmest clothes and with our sturdy plastic sled in tow, and started north on the 405, intending to turn east on the 14 and 138 toward Wrightwood.

Then as we were driving, we heard that I-5 had just reopened, although chains were required, so we kept going north, merging onto the 5, and found the freeway relatively free of traffic - although there were still a few big trucks thundering along.

We were fortunate in avoiding the need for chains at any point and made it to the town of Frazier Park in the Tejon Pass, near Mount Pinos, one of our favorite winter spots for sledding and simply enjoying the snow.

After a weekend blizzard, yesterday's snow was fresh and powdery and about 8-12" deep - perfect for stomping around and scooting down the hills on our sled. It was Paradise's first real experience of walking through snow (we had taken her last year to Wrightwood but she was a little young to fully appreciate it), and certainly of riding a sled (with us holding her), and she had a fantastic time, as did we all.



We stayed until it started to get dark and really cold, then had a quick dinner inside a warm Mexican restaurant before driving back in the dark, with the snow-covered mountains looming around us with a curious mix of beauty and slightly Shining-esque menace!























    
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Please note that for reasons I have not been able to solve yet, I have enormous difficulty posting replies to comments - so I apologize if you ask a question or just make some wonderful remarks and I am not able to respond. I am working on this, because it is very frustrating, but apparently it involves rewriting some of the code of the template! So do not hold your breath...

Thank you for taking the time to comment, and for reading my blog - Alexander

Popular posts from this blog

The High Tower Apartments and The Long Goodbye

Photograph by Dwayne Moser. This beautiful apartment complex in Los Angeles is called the Hightower or High Tower Complex (the High Tower name refers to the central elevator, I believe), and was designed in 1935-1936 by architect  Carl Kay - and made famous in 1973 by my favorite film, Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye (see Why I Love Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye ). Although Altman used the building as Philip Marlowe's apartment in his somewhat post-modern Long Goodbye (the film plays with references to Old Hollywood and opens and closes with the song, Hooray For Hollywood ), the building has another direct connection to Raymond Chandler. It was apparently the inspiration for Chandler in his book, The High Window (the first Chandler novel I ever read), in which Chandler describes the residence of Philip Marlowe as being on the cliffs above High Tower Drive in a building with a fancy elevator tower. (Thanks to the Society of Architectural Historians Southern
4 comments
Read more

Thank You Sonora ER, Dr Trujillo and Dr Johnson.

Microphone stand designed by Hudson. Our eight year old son, Hudson, has been having severe abdominal pain over the past week to ten days, and this week we took him to see Dr Jennifer Neufeld-Trujillo , one of our regular pediatricians at the Forest Road Pediatric Clinic in Sonora, and also to ER at Sonora Regional Medical Center. We just want to say a big thank you to everyone - including all the very friendly and helpful staff at ER - for their care of and concern for Hudson, who is gradually starting to feel better. We would also like to make a special mention of Dr Lisa Johnson , who was on call tonight for Forest Road Pediatrics, and who had a long telephone conversation with me, in which she answered many questions with a depth of knowledge and experience that was both highly reassuring and informative, and who left us feeling confident that we are on the right path for the weekend - always a difficult time when your child is not feeling well. Hopefully, Hudson will cont
Post a Comment
Read more

Please Sign Up For Email Updates To This Blog And My Writing Workshops

The Malteste Falcon, 1941. For those of you wishing to keep up to date on my writing workshops at the Central Sierra Arts Council , the most efficient way is to sign up in the "Follow This Blog By Email" box in the right sidebar beneath the Buddha. You will then receive an email update every time I post to the blog, including any changes in times or dates or other details of the workshops (although I shall try not to mix things around). I would also greatly appreciate it if you would "Like" this blog on Facebook , by clicking on the "Like" button also beneath the Buddha. This lets you follow the Facebook page associated with this wesbite, AlexanderStuart.com , which frequently has additional content not included in the blog. Blade Runner, 1982, courtesy of artist Gavin J Rothery. In the meantime, the first Writing Workshop of the New Year will be on Saturday January 21st 2012 , at the Central Sierra Arts Council, 193 S. Washington Str
Post a Comment
Read more