These are the days I LOVE living here! (Fresno, San Bernardino: 2009, how much)

[mollyblythe]

Yesterday, I had appointments for work that took me to rural Tulare County east of Visalia and Tulare. Driving south down Highway 99, my car window was down, the air gently warm. Thanks to recent rain, the sky was clear and blue. White billowing clouds hung high in the sky. Snowcapped mountain peaks outlined the horizon to the east. Orchards of pink and white blossoms, fields of yellow wild mustard and blankets of golden poppies bordered the highway and roads. A vast patchwork of green fields stretched off into the distance, every now and then dotted with cows or a few horses. It was one of those early Spring-like days filled with utopian feeling.

This is when I love living here (and what I long for in the heat and smog of summer ). The only thing missing was a little creek and the ocean a couple of miles away.

What magical moments do you have where you live or do you recall from another place?

[sav858]

I really like after a storm when the mountains in Southern CA are covered in snow. When I drive to work in winter I have a great view of the San Bernardino Mountains on one side completely covered in snow and the Pacific Ocean on the other side. I like the contrast of palm trees, the ocean, and snow capped mountains all in one view.

[FresnoFacts]

I told my assistant the other day that it has been distracting looking out the office window the last month or so.

It has been a great view of the Sierras here in Fresno. Snow capped mountains, blue skies with just a few clouds.

From my office window which faces northeast I can see the notch of the San Joaquin River Gorge then panning north toward the mountain areas south of Yosemite.

And now the fruit trees are going into bloom, the Blossom Trail is open. There are California poppies blooming along the freeways here in Fresno/Clovis.

ahhhh, spring.

[rkb0305]

Originally Posted by mollyblythe

Yesterday, I had appointments for work that took me to rural Tulare County east of Visalia and Tulare. Driving south down Highway 99, my car window was down, the air gently warm. Thanks to recent rain, the sky was clear and blue. White billowing clouds hung high in the sky. Snowcapped mountain peaks outlined the horizon to the east. Orchards of pink and white blossoms, fields of yellow wild mustard and blankets of golden poppies bordered the highway and roads. A vast patchwork of green fields stretched off into the distance, every now and then dotted with cows or a few horses. It was one of those early Spring-like days filled with utopian feeling.

This is when I love living here (and what I long for in the heat and smog of summer ). The only thing missing was a little creek and the ocean a couple of miles away.

What magical moments do you have where you live or do you recall from another place?

I have the same kind of memories from the Fresno area. Too bad days like that were few and far between.

[FresnoFacts]

Originally Posted by rkb0305

I have the same kind of memories from the Fresno area. Too bad days like that were few and far between.

Actually its becoming more frequent to have the nice view days. I'm serious when I say we've probably had views of the Sierras over 30 days so far in 2009, losing it only on rainy days or the few fog days that we had.

I know we still have work to do in this area, especially in the summer. But the improved visibility and air quality the last few years compared to 10 years ago is amazing.

Interestingly the Bay Area is now out of compliance, they do not meet the EPA limits for particulates in the air during winter.

But it is creating opportunity to work to improve the Valley air more.

After years of saying winds don't blow Bay Area pollution into the Valley to cause problems for us, the BAAQMD is now saying Central Valley particulates MAY be blowing toward the Bay Area causing them problems.

Now they want to do a full, more comprehensive air current study. There has been some data holes in previous studies.

It will be interesting to see what they find, how much ozone blows east into the Valley in summer vs. the level of particulates that blow west in winter.

It may mean more help for the Valley to continue to eliminate the summer smog.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by FresnoFacts

After years of saying winds don't blow Bay Area pollution into the Valley to cause problems for us, the BAAQMD is now saying Central Valley particulates MAY be blowing toward the Bay Area causing them problems.

Are you serious?? They try to claim smog from the Bay Area doesn't blow into the Central Valley? WTF are they smoking? I guess in the Bay Area smog just magically evaporates and their farts don't stink either. Give me a break, it's fairly obvious the Bay Area blows its smog into the Central Valley. Just look at the wind patterns in summer, generally west to east and the mountains there are not tall enough to block it so it all heads inland and gets stuck up against the Sierra's just like it does in LA with the Inland Empire.

And when the winds shift the Bay Area gets spare the air days. Its so amusing to see people in the Bay Area rave about the air quality yet don't like to recognize the fact that they are blessed by their weather patterns blowing that crap in the Central Valley.

[cleosmom]

From growing up there I can recall days that the OP described, not many though.

Moving forward and spending a few years driving truck cross country with my husband I always loved seeing signs of Spring; calves, fledglings, flowers starting to bloom and blue skies.

[FresnoFacts]

I woke up this morning to a front page story in the Fresno Bee about the Wildflower Trail up from Clovis to Auberry. Here's the map.
http://media.fresnobee.com/smedia/20...ffiliate.8.pdf

Just in time to help me plan a foothill drive.

This is fiddlenecks in bloom near Millerton Lake just north of Fresno, photo just recently taken.

[jzt83]

This post is a nice reprieve from the negative toxic talk going on around here. It reminds me that I need to explore more of this great state!

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by FresnoFacts

I woke up this morning to a front page story in the Fresno Bee about the Wildflower Trail up from Clovis to Auberry. Here's the map.
http://media.fresnobee.com/smedia/20...ffiliate.8.pdf

Just in time to help me plan a foothill drive.

This is fiddlenecks in bloom near Millerton Lake just north of Fresno, photo just recently taken.

FresnoFacts,

Great story and update on our early wildflower bloom. I would possibly like to take a drive over that way some time to check things out. From your picture it looks like a place with a lot of potential. Unfortunately the image you posted is very small and suffers from jpg compression. Any chance of posting a little larger one without so much jpg compression to get a better idea/look?

Thanks,

Derek