Mountain fire update

As of last night's 11:00 p.m. news, the town of Idyllwild will be OPEN TODAY!  Whoo, whoo!  That's great news!  Depending on the weather, I may take a drive up there today.  I did take a quick (1 hour) drive up Highway 74 through Deep Canyon yesterday.  I saw 4 California Highway Patrol cars coming down the mountain, 2 more brown unmarked sheriff's department cars, 2 green BLM pickup trucks, and another 2 fire trucks all coming DOWN the mountain from Idyllwild.  Phew!  So, now instead of seeing crews driving to it, they are driving away from Idyllwild.  The fire, last night, was 68% contained, thanks to Idyllwild getting over an inch of rain Saturday night and Sunday.  We actually had puddles here in Palm Desert right out in our street.  I didn't even hear the thunder, but folks all up and down the valley watched the 4:00 a.m. light show (I slept through the whole thing!)  Of course, Thursday I had just taken my car through the fancy smanchy brand new car wash down in north Indio (the kind where you swipe your credit card and then drive through the car wash)...I HAD TO...it was so filthy!  I even got to use their free hose to clean out the back and the driver's side mats.  Now, of course, I need to go back!

Anyway...I digress...

I took a short drive up Highway 74 to take some photos yesterday morning since the clouds were so pretty hanging on the mountains.  The last photo is looking down from Deep Canyon across the Coachella Valley.