Let's all go to Palmdale!

I got called to do a reporting assignment yesterday that required me to drive out to Palmdale. I had no idea where Palmdale was, other than "in Los Angeles County". About 60 miles later, I got another startling reminder of how ridiculously big Los Angeles County really is.

It's funny that one of the most popular pieces of lifestyle propaganda about this area is that one can "surf and ski in the same day". While that feat is technically possible, the reality is that most Southern Californians don't really travel between the metro area's many environmental zones in one day. I know I sure as hell never had. When I got the call about going to Palmdale, it was about 10AM, and I was standing up to my ankles in ocean water in Santa Monica. I was dropping my daughter off for
surf camp. Luckily, I had a change of clothes in my car, so I was able to pull a quick Superman switch and get right on the road, armed with directions to my destination.

Now, I expected Palmdale to be a suburban community, but I think that in order to technically be considered a suburb, a place has to actually run up to an urban area. That wasn't the case during my drive. The temperature rose by probably 15 degrees as I crossed the San Gabriel Mountains, and the next thing you know, I was looking out across an expanse of empty high desert. You know you've gone quite a distance when ALL of your local radio stations go out. It was interesting that despite the rugged feeling of this area, every five miles or so I found myself passing a small enclave of identical cookie-cutter homes. Where do the people who live in these little prefabricated outposts go to the store?

As I neared Palmdale on Highway 14, I caught a glimpse on my left of magnificent rock formations that I later learned were the
Vasquez Rocks, a little known national park has been used for location shoots in tons of films and television shows including Star Trek, Bonanza and The Flintstones Movie. I had never been very interested in the idea of hiking before, but I've now added hiking this area to my "To Do" list, but not until the winter when it (hopefully) cools off a bit.

I made it back into Los Angeles by about 4PM, just in time to hit rush hour traffic. Still, it was kind of nice to have gone from the cool ocean to the high desert in one whirlwind morning. Maybe this winter I'll even try the surf/ski in a single day thing, and see how that works out. How many miles away is Big Bear?