南加州的冬天就是好，可以上山看雪，下海泛舟。新年有玫瑰花車展，如果想避開人群，還可以去荒漠走一走。

 

老宅男、老宅女的女兒也很宅家:)) 沒有遠行的計劃，這個歲末就去家附近走走吧。

 

12/27 去洛杉磯和Santa Monica海灘(見上一篇  冬遊)

 

12/31 2021年的最後一天開車上山看雪景。或許天晴了雪就開始消融了, 消融後的雪山沒有了想象中的潔白和壯觀。倒是因為積雪，好幾處景點都關閉了。

 

 

 

 

 

被啄木鳥啄得千瘡萬孔的樹幹

 

 

1/1/2022   新年伊始，開車去看玫瑰花車展。$20一張門票(現在得記下這些價格，for future references)，走了不少冤枉路，排了一個小時的長隊，終得一見繽紛妖豔的花車。看圖說話:

 

虎年迎新春:

 

 

 

中間用黃椒點綴:

 

疫苗也是一主題:

 

 

 

 

 

 

花車的照片太多了，就先貼這些，眼睛太累了。

 

1/2/2022 再接再厲，進軍Joshua Tree National Park ($30一輛車)。 女兒開的車，去兩小時車程，回來黑燈瞎火的三小時車程，她一個人開下來，不出狀況，也算是她個人的milestone (當然有某人把關). 在西雅圖她是屬於沒車族，以前上下班有公共汽車，近一兩年在家上班，更是少出門。這次回家，頭兩天也沒有動靜，突然有一天就想起練車。1/1她開車去看完花車，吃完點心，買完菜，她還興衝衝地要開夜車，某人居然也同意。 這一趟遠距離的駕駛給了她信心，也奠定了1/2/2022來回開五小時車程外加在公園內一兩個小時開車的基礎。

 

因為是一天來回的行程，我們沒有上次(12/2019)看得仔細，不過卻也爬了一座石頭山，走了一條新的trail, 在夕陽的餘暉中登高看日落。途中看見一隻肥兔在草叢中覓食; 日落時分又遇見一隻漂亮的柴狗，隻見它望了我們一眼，便轉身消失在廣闊的大漠裏。匆匆一瞥，未能將之攝入鏡頭。

 

沿途見到的雪山

 

 

 

 

攀岩的勇士

 

 

 

 

 

 

都是舊地重遊，卻仍有新發現和新收獲。

 

01/02/2022:  This is our second visit to Joshua Tree National Park, two years apart from the first one in December 2019. J was in a driving mood that day, and with the dad sitting by the side as a guide, she drove to and fro with confidence-- two hours nonstop to the park and three hours back in the nightly darkness, in a row. Asked why she was so into it this time, she answered that this is the last skill that needs to be mastered.

It was a perfect winter day, sunny and windless. As we entered the park at noon, the temperature outside the car was 50s F. Inside, the temperature was set to high 60s. Sitting at the back seat on the right side, I may not have the best view, but was compensated by the warm sunlight slanting through the car window. Like the Joshua trees that stood by the sides embracing the sun, I felt enveloped in the sunny air.

We stopped by a rock mountain. While J and I lunched in the car, he ventured alone to explore. “The daunting mountain isn’t what it looks”, he said after he safely descended. So under his lead, three of us, sometimes on all fours, made it to the summit. Standing atop, we saw a floor of withered grassland, dotted by numerous scrubby Joshua trees. A road in the middle snakes up. Elevated at the end of desert are mountains forged by varied rocks-- small, big, round or pointed. The formations could be random but often geometrical. The scene was sedate, and we found peace in front of the wilderness.

Two-hour-drive must be exacting for a new driver. As J took her nap in the car, he and I sauntered around.  The air was crisp. The recent rains must have freshened the tips of Joshua trees, as they looked greener than what were in our memories. The needle-like spiny cacti were silvery and shiny in the sun. Later on another trail, we saw a fat gray rabbit scurrying for food among the dry bushes. At our last stop, a coyote was spotted before it disappeared into the depth of the desert. The land looks barren in our eyes, still it is home to dozens of plants and animals, who choose to live in this harsh but spacious desert, surviving and thriving as they adapt themselves generation after generation.

The temperature soon dropped to 30s F in the afternoon. As our shadows dragged long over the rocks, the sun suffused its last rays over the mountains.  At twilight, we were headed home, driving out of the park, down a long slope that was illuminated by the city lights.