Beautiful Blues

There were lots of pretty clouds around today...

The really big thunderheads were staying off to the east over Big Bear and the desert.

I love the shadows the clouds make on the hillsides...I could watch them all day. 

Blue sky, blue lake adds up to beautiful for me... 

To see more beautiful skies click here. 

Sky Watching

It's been mostly cloudy here lately, but with very little rain.  The clouds were hanging around to the east and west of Red Rock Wall (it's a turnout on Highway 18 constructed from red rock, making it easy for the locals in the 1930's to give it a nickname).  The photo above is looking east.

This one is looking west towards the San Gabriel mountains.  Wrightwood, which is in the San Gabriels, got so much rain yesterday there was flooding!  I wish that would have happened for my beloved San Bernardino mountain range, but I'm glad it happened for them.

This one is looking down at the San Bernardino valley through the brown smear of smog that is so prevalent down there this time of year.  In the autumn when the Santa Ana winds have scoured the air clean it is sometimes possible to see all the way to Catalina Island (about 126 miles from this turnout).

Zooming in a little on the San Gabriels and that beautiful blue sky.  Even with the high fire danger and overcrowding in the summer and on holidays,  I love living up here.

Linking with Skywatch Friday

A Landmark

This statue of a Serrano indian marks the entrance to the Arrowhead Springs Hotel in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains.  Well, it started out as a hotel, then was used as a navel hospital during World War II, then it was a hotel again, then it was used as headquarters for a religious organization.  I'm not sure what it is now, or who owns it. 

The hotel gets its name from the natural landmark on one of the hills behind it.  It was frequented by the rich and famous for years; Elizabeth Taylor honeymooned at the hotel with Nicky Hilton. 

The landmark is an arrowhead.  The Serranos believed that it pointed down to the location of the hot springs, and considered it holy ground.  It's certainly shaky ground...it's  very close to the San Andreas fault line.

The arrowhead has been burned over to many times to count, but it always comes back.  Nothing is done to maintain it.  The arrowhead is also where Lake Arrowhead got it's name, even though you can't see the lake from the arrowhead and vice versa. 

These photos were taken a couple of years apart.  It's easy to get photos of the hotel from Hwy 18, but you have to take the Waterman Canyon turnoff to get to the hotel's driveway, and I kept forgetting. 

Linking with: Through My Lens

Skywatch Friday

A sunrise (unusual for me!) captured in late December of last year from a little rest area along side the Rim of the World Highway in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California.  The San Bernardino valley is far below, hidden under the clouds, and Mt. San Jacinto is the highest peak at the left of the photo. 

To see more Skywatch Friday photos, go to:

www.skyley.blogspot.com.au

Sunday Sunsets - Winter Pastels

One Word Wednesday - Bleak

Sunday Sunsets

Taken in early November of 2009 from Highway 18 (Rim of the World Highway). 

Sunday Sunset

Taken July 2008 heading west on Hwy 18.