Jurassic Park of Borrego Springs

Galleta Meadows Estates was the property of Dennis Avery, who envisioned adding free standing art to that property. He commissioned Ricardo Breceda to create the metal sculptures that dot the landscape throughout Borrego Springs. Sadly, Mr. Avery died last July at the age of 71 but everyone who comes to Borrego Springs will be able to see enjoy these wonderful sculptures because of him. We saw some of the artwork last year when we were here but only on the north side. This time we checked out the south side, which is a trip back to prehistoric times. We had driven on Borrego Springs Road for a few miles and all of a sudden there were giant beasts everywhere you looked. We had gone back in time.

 

 

 

 

 

We're not in Kansas anymore, Savannah

 

"Wild Horses, couldn't drag me away" Rolling Stones

 

 

 

We really enjoyed the Sky Art of Borrego Springs.

Saturday was a great day, HOCKEY is back!!!!! Even better, our Ducks beat Vancouver 7 to 3. What a great first game of the shorten season. And the old man :) Teemu got four points. Nothing slows Selanne down. He is still the Finnish Flash and we love him.

Monday morning we watched the Inauguration and then packed up for our next journey from the quiet Borrego Springs desert to the zoo that is Quartzsize.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Visit to a Pumpkin Patch

No, this is not an older blog from Halloween. I'll get to the Pumpkin Patch shortly. We finished off our 3 weeks at Oasis Palm with a chili cook off on Saturday. There were 16 entries including ours. Sadly we didn't win but got to taste a lot of good chili. More chili with beans this time. Last year when we were there were more chili without beans which is the more traditional for cook offs. We had a good time and met a lot of nice folks who we hope to run across again in our travels. Sunday morning we planned to go to Mojave National Preserve. However, that morning I checked the weather for that area and it showed high of 36 that day and 32 on Monday :( I don't think so. I know there is a cold front in all the south west but Borrego Springs has highs in the 50s and that sounded a lot better. So we stopped to get propane and diesel and headed back to Roadhouse Rd, near Borrego Springs. Our first night we were happy to get back to some nice sunsets.

 

 

And now to our Pumpkin adventure. We had read in some blogs and in our guide book to California Baackroads and 4-Wheel Drive Trails about a curious geologic feature. Just over the "border" from Anza Borrego State Park into Ocotillo Wells is a small patch of land covered with spherically shaped rocks the size of pumpkins. To get there we took the road we took previously to get to 17 Palms, traveling on the S22 to Arroyo Salada Wash. We passed the sign for 17 Palms, continuing on and passed the turn for 5 Palms.

 

We made a turn to Tule Wash with a sign that directed us to the Pumpkin Patch and we crossed into Ocotillo Wells. At one point we weren't sure we were headed right but soon saw the rocks which are fenced in. It looks like they are building a rest room and some picnic tables but they are fenced in at the moment. It must be getting to be a popular spot but we were the only ones here. I read the following that explains about these interesting rock formations.

“This unique landscape is the result of wind and water continuously eroding the surface soil and revealing these globular sandstone concretions. Such concretions are believed to be formed by the natural cementing of sand particles to a small object such as a piece of shell, a grain of sand, or even an insect.”

 

 

You can see different shapes in the rocks. The one below looked like a turtle to us. I think even Savannah thought so as she sniffed it's "nose"

 

Hey, this one looks more like a mushroom than a pumpkin.

 

A very interesting place. As we travel around, nature continues to amaze me. Who would think rocks would be interesting, but we sure have found it to be so.

On our way back we took a different road, Basin Wash. On the map it didn't look much longer than the way we came in from the start of the Tule Wash. It probably wasn't but it was much slower and more of a 4 wheel drive trail.

 

 

We had to climb over the rocks and through narrow spots. It wasn't really too bad but at times we weren't sure we were on the right trail and as it was after 3:00, we were a little worried in case we had to turn around and go back and it would be close to being dark. We finally saw Una Palma which we knew was near the 5 Palms and so we knew we were soon going to be back on the Arroyo Salada Wash.

Another fine day in the desert.

 

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Another Drive in Anza Borrego

We have another warm day , great for some more sight seeing. Wind and cold weather is suppose to be on the way and so we want to take advantage of the good weather while we can, We headed back out to the state park and found the road to Font's Point. The drive is through a sandy wash but was an easy drive, with tires aired down and in four wheel drive.

The Badlands in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, consists of soft, waterborne sediments that have been deeply carved by water and wind over many thousands of years. Because the area’s clay soils are weak and plant life is sparse, flash floods and other erosive forces have shaped the landscape into a bewildering maze of sinuous channels, razorback ridges, and mud hills. Once you have driven the 4 1/2 miles to a parking area, you can then take a short walk to the Point. What awesome views. We hear later that many people come at sunset where the views and picture taking is even more spectacular.

We then drove back to the main road, the S22, and drove a little farther until we came to the sign for the primitive campground, Arroyo Salado. We turned here and drove around 3 1/2 miles on another wash until we got to 17 Palms Oasis.. This area, which also includes 5 Palms Oasis and Una Palma is a well known watering hole for the regional wildlife of the Borrego Badlands. The palms at both Oases are often green and brilliant compared to the stark and barren desert that surrounds them.

We decided to call it a day and headed back to our campsite with plans to take another day trip on Wednesday. Well, best laid plans and all of that. We got our usual late morning start. As we were finishing packing the car with our lunch, camera etc. , started talking with our neighbors, Bruce and Pat, who are from Astoria, Oregon. About an hour later, we drove off. Then as we were driving down the road headed towards Borrego Springs, we got a phone call. We follow the RV Dreams blog and have been to one of Howard and Linda's rallies. It was in 2009, the year after we sold our house but were still working full time and so this was on a vacation. Their rallies, besides just being fun, are very informative, especially for those just thinking about full timing or just starting out. They have been a great help as we first started out. They both had successful careers but decided they wanted to try a different life style and have been full timing for about 7 years now. They started in their early 40's and so have managed to spent some time working on the roads, work camping in the early days, and weighing motor homes and doing seminars at different rallies across the country among other things. Well, we had put our card and a note on their truck when we read that they were staying at the same area where we boondocked right outside of Borrego Springs a few weeks ago. As we were driving, Linda called as they just found the card(they also have a jeep and so didn' t see it right away) and we arranged to meet them at the Visitor Center as they had just moved over to the State Park for a few days to wait out the big wind storms expected on Thursday. We had a nice time talking and sharing stories of our mutual life style. We will be attending their first boondocking rally in Quartzsize after we come back from our Mexico and look forward to seeing them again. By this time, it was getting later in the afternoon and so we decided to postpone our exploring for another day. This area is just full of things to do and even when we leave on Sunday we will still have plenty of new things to see and do when we return in the future.

Posted with Blogsy

There will be Dancing

We have spent the last few weeks here at Oasis Palms in Thermal, Ca near the Salton Sea. We spent a nice Christmas at my sister and brother in law. Unfortunately Kristi had been suffering from a virus and wasn't feeling her best. Brock took over some of the cooking and made a great corn with cheese casserole dish which was great. Hey Kristi, maybe you have a new cook in the family. We went to a New Year's party here at the park which was fun. Everyone brought appetizers and drinks and we enjoyed talking to everyone. Then as the New Year began, we all started dancing. We don't go dancing like we use to in our younger days and so this was a great treat. It is a pretty park with good rates. It is a Passport America park and so we only pay $111 a week which includes full hookups. There are also orange, tangerine, lemons and grapefruit trees and everyone can pick as much as you want. I have had half a grapefruit every day and used lemons for a lemon blueberry bread I took for XMAS and a fish dish.

Savannah loves her grass. She does her business right away when we take her out versus in the desert where she wanders all over trying to find the perfect spot.

Above is the view across the road. You can get a small view of the Salton Sea behind the trees. Last time we were in this desert area, we visited Salvation Mountain, the Slabs and the sculptures that are all over the Borrego Springs area among other things. We haven't done too much this time, other than a few trips into La Quinta for shopping at Trader Joe's and Walmart for food, Petco for Savannah food and Home Depot and Bed Bath and Beyond for some projects and upgrades we wanted to do. And of course laundry which we normally wait to do when we are at a commercial campground rather than find one in town. We did take a hike to Palm Slot, which is off the S22, the road to Borrego Springs. You can drive down to the entrance to the Slot Canyons if you have 4 wheel drive. We mostly saw people walking which is about a mile. We first drove up a 4 wheel drive only section to get a nice view of the area. We stopped at a pull off site for lunch and then decided to go back down to the Palm Slot entrance. Luckily we didn't run into any other cars coming the other way as it is a narrow road. You aren't allow to take dogs on trails in the Anza Borrego Park, but I had read several blogs where people did take their dogs on this particular trail and we saw several people while we were there with dogs. Savannah had a good time as we did in this. There are several slot canyons in the Badlands area of the Park, which contain numerous canyons and washes which are mostly shallow except when they cut through resistant sandstone layers and create slow canyons up to 100 feet deep and very narrow in spots. The curving landscape and different rock structures are very interesting.

We went under a natural bridge above and walked through open and then narrow spaces, some of which we had to do a little climbing or bending down to get under the rocks above.

How do these trees manage to grow among these rocks?

Savannah had no problem climbing around the rocks.

A fun hike and hopefully we will do a few more as we signed up for another week here at Oasis Palm. We were going to just stay through next Saturday but will leave Sunday so we can stay for the chili cookoff on Saturday night. I guess we will be making another shopping trip to get the ingredients for the chili we will be making. Yum, can't wait to try all the different ones.

Posted with Blogsy