Story and Photos by Ken Hulsey
The winter before our family moved to Louisiana, a snowstorm swept through southern California on Christmas Eve, blanketing the local mountains in several inches of the white stuff. The next day, we decided to take a short drive from our home in Victorville to the picturesque mountain town of Wrightwood to enjoy a rare white Christmas.
I figured Wrightwood would be a better bet than the nearby, and far more crowded, destination of Big Bear. Not only would the roads to Wrightwood likely be less congested, but we'd also avoid the hordes of Angelenos flocking to the slopes.
Sure enough, the drive up to Wrightwood was a breeze, and we easily found parking along a side street free of ice and snow. We spent the day strolling the quaint, snow-covered town, taking in the magical, Hallmark-esque scene. It had been years since I'd last laid eyes on such a winter wonderland back home in the high desert of Victorville - save for that once-in-a-lifetime three-foot snowfall.
Alas, those picturesque white Christmases are but a distant memory now that we've settled in central Louisiana, where an ice storm is about as close as we get to snow these days. Though the experience is anything but fun, slipping and sliding across the icy landscape like a hockey player sans skates. For now, I'll have to content myself with cherishing the memories of that truly special day in Wrightwood, watching the kids sled and pelt each other with snowballs amid the snowy pine trees.
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