Warmer then cooler ...

Of course we came here for the warmer, drier, sunnier weather.  I guess what I dislike the most about Indiana weather in the winter is the dreary, overcast weather.  I miss the sun!  So although it's been cooler these past few days, it's still been sunny most days.  We did have a day of snow in the mountains ... it's sort of weird.  It's clear and sunny here in the valley but right there in front of you are those huge mountains completely shrouded by clouds.  (And later you can see the snow as a result.)

But here's what we've been up to outside ...

We went to visit Our Lady of the Sierras shrine recently.  It's about 5 miles south of us just off highway 92. You have to park at the bottom of the hill and walk  up.  At the top is a huge cross and a statue of Mary, also a small stone chapel and other statues.  There's also a path with the stations of the cross, which I took, further up the hill from the cross and statue.  Great view from the top!

This 75' Celtic cross is made of concrete & fiberglass. There's a wonderful waterfall coming out of the rock on the left that I failed to get in this picture! Sorry!

Our Lady's statue is 31' tall and is concrete over a steel framework.

A side view of the chapel with a statue called the angel of Revelation.

Here's a view from the top of the stations of the cross trail.

There was a huge grass fire in this area in 2011, set by illegals trying to evade the border patrol and most of this had to be fixed or reconstructed.  For instance, the chapel was gutted by the fire and all of the wooden components had to be reconstructed.

Every week we've been going to the local farmer's market held in Legion Park on the north side of SV.  We really enjoy it!  And usually find something good to take home.  We also get lunch from a food truck and sit at one of the picnic tables to enjoy the live music.  Last week Wendell ran into a fellow who was an Army retiree and they had a lengthy conversation.  He's met several vets here which I guess isn't surprising -- I think they are posted here, enjoy the area and decide to retire here later.  This week we brought home Brussels sprouts, potatoes, oranges, almonds and a big juicy tomato.  Besides produce you can usually find booths with salsa, olive oil, wine, soap, yarn, jewelry, wood bowls, quilts, and many many other local crafts.  And the SV visitors center always has a booth where you can pick up a free newspaper and schedules of what's happening in the area that week.  Here's a couple pictures from this week.

This week we went back out to the San Pedro House and took off on one of their shorter (1 mile) trails.  We found the river -- it's the size of what we'd call a creek in Indiana.  In fact, it's about the width of the creek that crosses our road back home.  It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed that trail.  There were benches every whip-stitch -- good for me! We plan on going back and checking out another trail we didn't make it to that day ...

San Pedro River

Big sky country ...

Well, I'll close this post with another shot taken from our balcony.  Night was coming on and so the beginning of that snow storm in the mountains I mentioned.  God is good!