Best of Blog Challenge 2009 – Car Ride

The setting – southern California in early August.  I was driving a rental car during a brief visit to California to attend to some personal business as well as pick up my daughter so we could return to Tennessee for her annual summer visit.  It was Saturday in the late afternoon.  I had finished meeting with a friend and wasn’t going to see my daughter that night so I decided to drive up to the ski lift area of Mt. Baldy (officially Mount San Antonio) just to see the area and maybe take the ski lift up to the top to the “notch” which is the main camp for both skiers and hikers.  I hadn’t been up to the notch in at fiftenn ten years and it’s one of my favorite places in southern California.

It was a beautiful, sunny, bright, blue sky kind of day.  I drove up the winding road that leads back and up into the mountains from the flatlands below.  I had the windows down, enjoying the slightly cooler mountain air.  The smell of pine and the fresh breeze tickled my nostrils as I drove. The gorgeous sites of the mountains and trees and rocks were like poetry to my eyes. Eventually, I arrived in Baldy Village, the little “hamlet” that is perched just below the ski lift area and then proceeded up past the village and up the switchbacked road that leads to the ski lift area.

I finally arrived at the ski lift parking lot.  The familiar sights were a blessing.  Visions of previous trips up to the area filled my mind.  The Cub Scout trip over 35 years earlier, where we played in the snow and had snowball fights emerged into the my conscious and I smiled at the thought.  So, too, did I remember the several college trips to the area, during my backpacking classes when we’d do a midnight hike up from the ski lift parking to the very peak of Mt. Baldy, an almost 5,000 foot climb which culminated in a final ascent of the peak just prior to sunrise to watch the sun rise over the southeastern peaks of the San Bernardino mountains before turning around to hike back down to our cars.

Locating the ski lift office, I ventured inside to find out about the lift.  Unfortunately, I had arrived just 20 minutes before the lift stopped operating for the day.  The cost to take the lift was just high enough that, even at half price, didn’t justify the cost if I’d only have a few quick moments up at the notch.  I would have gone had there been more time to take pictures and take in the incredible panoramic views of southern California available from the notch.  I settled for a few quick pictures with my iPhone, both of me and the majestic trees before I climbed back into my rental car and drove slowly down the mountain.

In spite of the abrupt end, the drive was definitely my most memorable drive of the year.  It was peaceful and full of childhood and adult memories.  It was heavenly.