Week 6 - middle portion - Ramona, Julian...a harrowing trip over the mountains

Leaving the time share in Indio

   We left Indio on Sunday, after a quick visit to Shields Date Farm, where we bought some of their own blonde dates...yum.
   We left sunny Coachella Valley and climbed, climbed, climbed into the mountains.  The views into the Valley were spectacular.  But then - the weather deteriorated.  As we got into the mountains, we saw ominous signs telling cars to have chains.  We figured that they were left over from winter.

Looking back at Coachella Valley

Leaving Coachella Valley - note road

But, no!  We hit snow, sleet & hail at two places as we crossed over various mountain ranges.  The one hour drive took two and a half.  Mark had to creep along.  We saw 3 cars in ditches, one on its roof.  (It had happened several hours before.)  We saw a trailer truck jack knife just in front of us.  As everyone was going so slowly, the accidents we actually saw resulted in no injuries to people.  It was pretty harrowing.  It was also beautiful to see snow amongst cactus. 

Uh oh!.....but just the beginning!

Cactus & Snow

Then, we descended about 4,000 feet into Ramona, where we are staying at San Diego Country Estates, a beautiful tennis timeshare. The apartment is spectacular with huge rooms and a fireplace.
   We saw a Western Bluebird and an immature kestrel.

Snow

Getting more slippery!

Sleet & hail....from car window

   We spent one day going to Julian, a small mountain community known for its apples.  There was a lot of snow.  We visited Menghini Vineyards and bought one of their Merlots and went to a Witch Creek Vineyard wine tasting room and bought two of their Viogniers.  We were supposed to go horseback riding Tuesday, but the stables cancelled due to mud.