All through Texas and Arizona, I was on the lookout for roadrunners, and other than a brief sighting, I never found any -- and here were two of them in the parking lot in Indio!!!

Indio is surrounded by mountains, making it very picturesque.

We took a drive over the mountains toward Idyllwild, through Santa Rosa and San Jacnta Mountains National Monument. We found more wildlife at the visitor center than on the drive, including hummingbirds, chipmunks . . .

and even this little red racer trying to get in the glass to the visitor center.

They can get quite a bit of snow in the wintertime at these elevations.

Coming down the west side of the mountains, the landscape changes drastically, even at this elevation of 5,000 feet.

This is the small town of Idyllwild, set against the mountains with a Swiss village aatmosphere.