too cold then too warm

I'm pretty new at brewing and started my fifth batch yesterday (first one during winter), a mash-extract kit IPA using WLP013 no starter. I usually leave my primary in a dark corner of the garage, but its much colder out there now. 2 hours after pitching at 65F, the temp had dropped to 62F. The yeast vial says to keep temp above 70F until fermentation starts so I brought the fermenter in the house close to the heater (woops). The heater was on with the thermostat set to 68...perfect I thought not thinking about the fact that thermostat shuts off at 68 but the actual air temp coming out of the heater is much higher. I woke up this morning and the fermenter was at 78F. I freaked out and took it back out to the garage where it has now dropped to 74. Good news its that 12 hours after pitching, a good krausen is forming and its bubbling away, but I can't imagine that being exposed to such a wide temp range over 12 hours was very good for the poor yeasties. Should I expect some less desirable flavors from this? ruined perhaps or just super estery? Any input on this situation would be appreciated.

your beer will be drinkable. just don't go entering it in any competitions.

Generally, higher temperatures during the growth phase aren't a problem. But you do need to get the temperature down now.

got the temp down and fermentation seemed to go just fine having tapered off now. I will be transferring to secondary for another 10+ days and was wondering if dry hopping might be a good idea on this IPA. I'm worried that it might smell estery due to the high ferm. temp and that a good hoppy nose might help it along. any thoughts?

A good dry hop always helps the nose of an IPA. Also the short time it ran up to the high 70's should not have a huge impact on the flavor as you got it down after that. The bulk of fermentation occurs over the first 3-5 days so it sounds like you spent most of that time in a lower temp range. Many ale yeasts are also quite tolerant of higher temps such as WLP001/Wyeast 1056

Also you may want to leave it on primary a bit longer. Say 14-21 days as while on the yeast cake the yeast will continue to work to clear up any esters. If you give it some more time in primary, then dry hop in secondary I'd guess you will have a very nice drinkable IPA with no heavy off flavors.

Cheers.