Palm Trees and Snow!
Everyone awoke this morning to a spectacular sight that I believe is found only in Southern California. Snowcapped mountains with palm trees in the foreground.
A winter snow storm swept through SoCal the last few days (yes, it really does rain in California), blanketing the mountains that surround Los Angeles and neighboring towns in snowy splendor: peaks with exotic names like San Gorgonio, San Jacinto, San Bernardino (not all of our mountains are so beautifully named for saints – we also have Mounts Shasta and Baldy). But they are breathtaking sights, made all the more astounding by the fact that one observes them through the fronds of tropical palm trees.
It gets even better. A short drive to the nearby Mojave Desert puts you in the middle of one of the most spectacular landscapes on earth: cacti and Joshua trees dusted with snow, with majestic snow-blanketed mountains rising against a deep blue sky. Where else on earth, I wonder, can one see desert sand dunes and alpine forests in one blink of an eye?
I once flew around Alaska’s Mount McKinley in a single-engine plane and saw plenty of snow but no palm trees or cacti. When I was doing research for my book, Green City in the Sun, I saw beautiful snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro backdropping flat-topped thorn trees where giraffes grazed, and a vast savannah of tall tawny grass – but again, no palm trees. And when I visited Santiago, Chile during a South American book tour, my eyes popped out at the spectacular snowy Andes – but I don’t recall palm trees.
Palm trees and cacti, Joshua trees and sand dunes standing against snow-covered alpine peaks is an awe-inspiring vista. I wonder: does such a view exist anywhere else in the world? I really would like to know.
Image Source: B.Wood Collection
