THIS was our gateway to sunny SoCal, on I-5 South just above LA:
Tejon Pass. The northbound highway was closed.
Once there, in the city where my mom was born & raised, where my grandparents & uncle are buried, we holed up for a few days with my dear college housemate & her husband, visiting with them as well as some of my cousins AND a dear almost-sister of the Mate’s, Rhonda.
I’ve been to LA more times than I can count, since childhood. Since I can no longer visit my grandparents, this time I chose to notice contrasts and extremes. For example…LA is this:
Looking south from Will Rogers State Park
and this.
The LA River, with trees full of garbage and the former belongings of homeless people, flooded out
It’s the 100 year-old avocado tree whose fruit my wonderful cousins gifted us with
We got a whole bag full! Thanks, guys!
and it’s the Woolsey Fire, which spared Rhonda’s house (and chickens–a miracle) but destroyed the art studio where she and her late husband Alisha made and kept all their creations (she’s a metal artist; Alisha did glass).
That slab is all that’s left of the 2-storey studio.
Part of one of Alisha’s pieces that survived the fire
If you think about it, that fire from last November–California’s largest ever–is itself a symbol of extremes. Too much drought mixed with too many people = misery. It burned nearly 100,000 acres and over 16,000 structures…including these, Rhonda’s neighbors across the road:
I’d seen it on TV. But it’s so different when it’s all around you.
I can only hope these folks can recover their lives. Their mailbox has a personal note to “George,” their mailman.
Leaving LA for what we call The Big Left Turn to cross the rest of the continent, we made our recreational stop in one of our favorite, accessible national parks, Joshua Tree. The first set of trails is only 8 miles (but a world away) from the interstate.
We are so lucky to be able to walk so safely into the desert like this. Think of all the people for whom the desert means danger.
Since I have so many pictures of rocks, this time I focused on flowers.
These pool little golden poppies are too cold to open!
There were a lot of them! Ah, blessed spring.
Isn’t this gorgeous? Anyone know what it is?
But what’s up with those dark clouds?
Ocotillo cactus blossoming
Hmmm. Getting colder by the minute.
Last little blob of sunshine…
By the time the Mate took this, snowflakes had begun to fall.
Hurry up, my legs are freezing.
Let’s get out of here! Dropping back down to I-10, we left the white stuff behind…
…until next morning, driving into Tucson. Seriously?!
Seriously.
I don’t know if this is just Climate Change, or Nature’s way of reminding me I need to include “Snow Falling On Saguaro” in my photo gallery. I saw that, all right, but unfortunately I didn’t capture it…’cause I was too cold and wet to take off my gloves.
Sun’s supposed to come out tomorrow. It would be nice to have something non-extreme to notice for a change.
Wing's World 
Wow, extremes everywhere this year! I’ve started using the term “climate chaos.”
Good term–nails it. I’m going to use that too.