Christmas Day Drive

Merry Christmas, everyone! As planned, I took a drive up to the mountains today. I started by sleeping in and enjoying a simple breakfast of frozen waffles and yogurt. Then I made myself a sandwich for lunch, grabbed the camera and headed out. On the way I stopped at the Poway cemetery to say hi to my mom and dad, as well as my friend Gonzo.

This was the first time I'd driven my Mustang up windy mountain roads, and I was stifled by slow cars. But once I got beyond Julian, traffic cleared up and I was free to attack the sharp curves. I used to scare myself on these corners with my Sentra, but since I'm still learning to drive a larger, much more powerful car, I took it easy. To my surprise, there was some snow on the side of the road. It was warm enough that I didn't have to worry about ice, but you can never be too sure. I made the turn off to Laguna Mountains and stopped along the Sunrise highway in various places to take photographs. You have a good view of the desert down below, but I didn't really find a good place to photograph the forest trees. Then again, I was probably rushing, not taking the time I should have to stop and enjoy the view and free, pine air. I did stop long enough in one turnout to each my lunch. It was funny to watch families stop, pile out of their SUV, spend one minute looking at the view before speeding off. I guess they were in a hurry to. Either that or they were worried about some strange guy eating a sandwich alone in a Mustang.

I finished my lunch and headed down to the freeway, where for some reason I speed up to 100 mph, watching carefully for CHPs. As traffic got very thick near El Cajon, once again I wondered why all these people weren't home with their families. I even drove by Iron Mt. again and there were more cars parked at the trailhead this morning than yesterday! So back home I am in time to watch football and relax before my three day work week.