One friend commented that it was hard for her to believe that in the middle of the desert, one could find a place like the Mount San Jacinto State Park which was full of snow.  I couldn't believe it myself either.  I was totally in awe of what I saw.  I must confess, I enjoyed it a lot.  It doesn't snow in San Francisco, however, I have seen snow many times before mainly in Nevada.

The cable car ride up to the peak of Mount San Jacinto State Park.  There was only one way up and it was through this cable car ride.  I am usually not afraid of heights but this ride was just too much.  It went way too high up for me and I did get nervous along the way.  Actually, nervous is an understatement, I was petrified. I remember not looking down on both legs of the trip.

This is where we were headed.  All the way to the top.  The people we were with on the cable car were all dressed in ski gear.  I felt kind of not appropriately dressed for the occasion given my jeans and jacket.  I was glad it all turned out fine.  There was snow all right but we did not freeze.  If only I had known what the area was going to be like, I could have dressed ruggedly so I could have played and laid down in the snow.  It was simply gorgeous.

This was taken from the visitor center.  We parked the car at the designated lot and took a shuttle to the center.  Cars were only allowed to go near a certain distance from the cable car station.

Views along the trip to the top

Another view of the peak.

On the way to the peak, the cable car had to pass by a tower like this and there were a few of them.

Nearly there

Snow capped mountains

A view of another tower we passed while on the cable car ride to the top

Huge boulders in the snow at Mount San Jacinto State Park

It's been a long time since I got this close to the snow.  It was so wonderful!

It was cold in the park but it was not freezing.

Marc in the snow.  Marc is originally from the East Coast and he left it for California precisely to escape the cold winters.

Visitors at the park enjoying the snow in the middle of the desert

How I loved the feel of the snow!

Some tourists made these funny figures out of snow and left them on the picnic table.

This is the visitor center.  There were two gift shops inside and a restaurant.

Here's a view of Palm Springs from Mount San Jacinto State Park.  We also saw the San Andreas fault cut right through the city.  It was kind of eerie seeing the fault given that it extends all the way up to San Francisco in Northern California.