storm: outback USA...

So... the one free weekend I had in Redlands, CA... I decided to drive up the forest and mountains nearby... first to Lake Arrowhead and then Big Bear. Its always been a dream for me to spend 'dreamcatcher time' in the American wilderness... maybe growing up watching too much cowboy / native Indian movies. Now I get to experience it myself. I rented a brand new Hyundai Sonata (medium sized car) from Enterprise without much fuss... the folks at the car rental are professional and very friendly. It had 5 miles... on the mileage reader... beat that. Writing this blog now... I can still imagine the brand new car smell... flowery strawberry smell. No choice… cause public transport here sucks big time.

The drive up Lake Arrowhead was kinda smooth cause the signs are pretty clear.. road maps are very useful too. Had some guide from Rob and David from ESRI. At an altitude of 5100 feet it has a nice scenic drive up… I stopped to let cars go and also admire the scenery down the valley…. maybe right up to LA. You can also see some burnt or dead trees on the way up... there was a massive forest fire here and bug attack some time back. As u drive further up... you are totally surrounded by the San Bernardino National Forests... pines, cedar and cascading landscapes. I continued driving past the Lake Arrowhead Village … left my window down ... through small and curving roads… and landed at the North Shore... lots of beautiful lakeside homes here... millionaires abode… bordering the lake shore. Most of the shoreline here is privately owned... every inch… cause the view is breathtaking and the environment so peaceful. I spent a long time here... by a jetty... and also walking along the shoreline paths…. stopping a few times to soak in the 'classy' environment.... lotsa expensive chalets and houses here. The air is clean and crisp… with birds chirping and cold wind blowing through the pine trees. Along the quiet corridors you can find kids playing with their dogs, joggers treading the nice scenic paths, couples having romantic walks... nice. I drove back to Arrowhead Village from North Shore and had a nice meal there…. hungry after all that ;-)

Big Bear has its own ‘old western’ charm... snow capped mountains and ridges. Along the cliffs... snow drapes like a white carpet… occasionally turning into ice. I finally have the chance to play with... snow… yay!!! I walked into some of the forest area… covered with snow.... just park car by the roadside and hike... I jumped up and down … falling a few times… was wearing running shoes… not boots… stupid ... but nice fun. I started to shiver… cause I was not wearing thick clothing.. but what the hell… far cry from the heat in Malaysia. The forests here are well conserved and you can find a lot of interesting info from the locals... I went for a small hike with a group... he shared some good stories about the Native Indians here... Big Bear was occupied by the Serrano Indians about 3000 years ago. You can learn a lot from how Native Indians treasure the land and the forests... I wish had more time to hike up some of the popular trails here. Snow exists here throughout the year… made by snowmaking machines… largest in the world… yeah… that’s right, some of the snow here is fake… but who cares