Thursday, January 1, 2009

Idyllwild, California


Idyllwild is a quaint town high in the San Jacinto Mountains, about 40 miles from Palm Springs. A beautiful drive to Idyllwild starts on Route 74 which begins where Monterey Ave ends. Route 74 is a fun-to-drive, windy road with panoramic views of the Coachella Valley that eventually passes through Garner Valley, an area with many picturesque horse ranches. A bit further on Route 74 is Lake Hemet, a Forest Service area with facilities to enjoy a picnic or a nice walk along the lake.

Shortly after Lake Hemet, on Route 243 is Idyllwild - often snowy yet sunny in the winter. Idyllwild has shops of all types - some beautiful art galleries, others with crafty wares - one where you can create your own piece of pottery, a couple shops that sell homemade soaps, spiritual shops where you can get a psychic reading, clothing stores, a Nepalese paper and wool store, among others.....

Of course, there were lots of dining options, and we enjoyed a great lunch at the Red Kettle - Brad had a fantastic pastrami on rye, and Suzanne had a chicken Philly sandwich - sort of a Philly cheesesteak with chicken - we got the recipe to make these at home it was so good! The service was a bit slow, but we think it's because the place was absolutely packed with a line out the door - obviously the place to eat in Idyllwild!

After spending a few hours meandering and eating, the drive home continued along Route 243 which offered more fabulous views - this time of the mountains and valleys to the west. There was a lot of snow along the route (not on the road), and many of people were out sledding, making snowpeople and enjoying the sunny day. Route 243 ends at I-10, and the loop was completed.

campingandtravels.com blog note:
As you can see, campingandtravels.com has a new header with some pictures of places we’ve been (from left to right: Bow Lake in Banff National Park, Charcoal Kilns in Death Valley National Park, the California Coastline). Some other changes/additions/moves:

  • You can add your name to the Follow this Blog link
  • You can now Share this Site with the Bookmark link
  • The Subscribe To link is easier to find (on the right)
  • The Blog Index (very helpful in finding information about specific places or topics) is the last bit of information on the right margin
  • The Blog Archive is now below the last post.

We look forward to hearing what you think of these changes! Just click on the word "Comments" below any post or email us.

2 comments:

Jerry and Suzy said...

We have enjoyed the town of Idllwyld a couple of times. We spent a week at the Thousand Trails Preserve there with our young grandson several years ago. It must have been several years, because Jason is now 25. That's one place in Southern California we long to return to.

Unknown said...

Good review on a well laid out site, I love to read reviews on places to visit, They will come in handy when I hit the road :)

Don (doncat) and Cheryl

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