Sunday, March 16, 2008

Day Trip to Find Desert Flowers

6am on Friday morning we were on the road for the two hour ride to the desert. There is a small window of opportunity to see the desert in full bloom after rain has fallen. I had always heard about it, but never was able to make the trip to see it. I was excited because this would be a new experience for me, and Grant had not been in this area before so it was new to him as well.

Initially, we found that it was dark and foggy which isn't the best combo for a drive on a two lane windy mountain road. About when I was ready to say "turn around" because the visibility was not much beyond the hood of the car, we rounded a bend and the sky was crystal clear.

About 30 minutes into the drive we started to see the sunrise and the scene took on a whole different feel. Typically on a day trip you are focused on "getting there" to then enjoy the day. Seeing the sunrise during the drive gave us the feel that we were "there" all along the way.

Sunrise Sunrise

We arrived in Borrego Springs at 8am and decided it would be nice to have breakfast there. It was pretty quiet and not a lot of stuff was happening at that hour. But we did find a place and proceeded to have a breakfast to die for at Kendall's Cafe in the Borrego Mall. I think it was the homemade salsa that they put on the top, it was UNBELIEVABLY GOOD!! In fact, I'd drive the two hours just to have that omelette again then turn around and drive the two hours back home....IT WAS THAT GOOD!

031408_0816a.jpg

After breakfast we started driving around to see if we could find the flowers that we had heard so much about. We ended up at Coyote Canyon and found a nice array of purple, white and yellow flowers.

P1010118 Grant

The sky was crystal clear, but the wind was intense at times.

Coyote Canyon Coyote Canyon

Indian Head Mountain, can you see the face looking up at the sky?

Indian Head Mountain

We spent about an hour in Coyote Canyon then drove on to the Anza Borrego State Park and parked at the Visitor Center. We then walked the path to Panaromic Outlook. It was still quite windy and it was really starting to get hot. Grant wanted to explore Palm Canyon Trail, I was more than happy to find a shady spot to sit in and wait for him.

Anza Borrego Springs National Park

Anza Borrego Springs National Park Cactus Flower

Then I was more than ready to head for the car when I discovered their bathroom facilities on the trail!

Men's Bathroom

Although the "girl's room" at least had a block wall where you can go behind....my immediate reaction was still "oh, hell no!!!"

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

aww, it seemed that you guys had a great trip!

i love, love the flower pictures.

sweetp said...

Great photos. It must have been amazing to see the desert in bloom like that. Would like to visit that part of the world one day

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KnitsAtTrafficLights said...

It was a great day, we had a lot of fun and yet it was just a simple day trip. We have vowed to do this more often......because apparently, there is so much to see just around the corner!

Sweetp, I have lived a couple of hours away from the desert for more than 20 years and this was the FIRST time I got to see the desert flowers. It was great, I hope you are able to visit this area one day soon. Spring time is a great time of year here!!!

Chris M. said...

Where's the lady's room?

KnitsAtTrafficLights said...

Chris,

The ladies room is behind a rock wall, but it was in use at the time and I didn't want to take a picture risking getting my ass kicked by a woman with an apparent bladder control issue. ;)

Seriously, who pees outside in broad daylight?