A Walk in the Desert

This weekend, Susan, the dogs and I headed for the Anza-Borrego desert wilderness to hike and explore. The wildflowers were expected to be blooming and with only a few weeks left here, we jumped on the opportunity. Anza-Borrego is one of the largest state parks in California and offers intrepid explorers like us a wonderful, panorama in the desert.

Growing up in the desert, I have always held the desert high on my list of favorite places to be. "The desert?" one may say, "How could anyone like its barren, desolate landscape?" Well let me be the first to tell you that the desert is as alive as any other wilderness. The diversity of flora and fauna is incredible. You just need to have the fortitude to go out there and find it. And now (winter) is one of the best times to do this. The sun isn't as oppressive and this alone makes the desert tolerable. The desert comes alive in the early spring as winter rains give the wildflowers the energy they need to sprout and to bloom.


Saturday was cool and cloudy, even stormy at times. We drove down past the Salton Sea where we turned left into the Santa Rosa mountains, and into the state park. We drove past groves of Ocotillo with their red blossoms. We made our way to Borrego Springs and stopped at the visitor's center. The center is a "must see" for anyone traveling to the area. It is an interactive and interpretive center and makes for a good base camp for planning a hike or two.



We took off from there and headed over Yaqui Pass to hike Plum Canyon. Plumb Canyon is fairly steep and just loaded with Cholla cacti. We had to keep the pups on their leashes and even then, all of us got pricked. Ouch! But it was SO worth it, because getting off the roadway took us to another world, that is the desert. We saw blooming barrel cacti, yucca and ocotillo.

Then we made our way to mine wash to an Indian village site. After our sack lunch of avocado and cheddar cheese sandwiches, we explored the area that the Kumeyaay People made their seasonal camp. It was awesome to be walking in their village, seeing where they slept and ate.

We completed our loop by heading back to Borrego Springs and to the mouth of Coyote Canyon. This was the area of the fullest blooming of the wildflowers. We hiked into the desert field in search of the wide variety of flowers and were able to capture many of them on film. Susan and I had so much fun searching them out and got some great pictures. Be on the lookout over the next few days as we will get a web album together for everyone to see.

At the end of the day we had driven almost 200 miles and hiked a few more. Everyone was tired and hungry, but content after such a day's road trip. A beer, a glass of wine and a chewie later, we all settled in for a good night's sleep.

A New Adventure

On this wild ride that we find ourselves on, Erik and I get the opportunity to see some pretty amazing places. And without the luxury of having some additional time to explore and really get to know them, I shudder to think of the gems we would have missed had our stay been just a quick weekend or a rushed week-long vacation. So, I'm really excited that I'm going to have the opportunity to share these places and events, along with some insider information on where to go and what to see, with our friends, family and the rest of the world as I've just signed on as the Missoula Road Trip Travel Examiner with Examiner.com. I'll do my best to organize the articles in a way so that if you find yourselves hitting some of the fabulous places we've been lucky enough to visit, you can look back and find the information to help make your own adventures grand!

I hope you enjoy them and if we find ourselves in one of your favorite corners of the world, I'd love your hints and suggestions on where to go and what to see!

Will you be mine?

With Valentine's Day come and gone, I thought that I would pay homage to the romance, the love and the commitment that we have in our lives. First, I have to say that I have the most lovely wife. She loves me so much and shows me on a daily basis. Hey, it takes a special woman to run 5K on V-Day then cheer on her husband's half marathon...all before breakfast. No sir, no breakfast in bed, no back rubs, just pounding the pavement. Like I said, my girl is special!

On Friday Susan baked cookies that were to die for. Have a look at her blog. They were absolutely the best cookies that I've ever had. Wow!

She is there to support my quest for 100+ mile bike rides, or for epic trail runs and is there to be my support at work too. So thank you baby for all you do for me. I hope I can at least make you smile and be there to support you, too.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Sunbathing

Chloe and Riley soaking up that California sun. Daisy, on the other hand, is convinced we're trying to cook her and stays as deep in the shadows as she can possibly get. Thus, she is not in the picture.

Vegas, Take 2

Ah, Vegas. Last time we saw you we were down on our luck and the wheels were definitely off the Happy Bus. Now, we might be a motley bunch in this here RV, but one thing we're not is quitters. We decided we needed one more crack at it to put the bad memories behind us (and, ok, the RV had some unfinished business with the repair shop) so back to Vegas we went. And this time we did it right!

After dropping RV Rin Tin Tin off at the shop, we all piled into the van and headed out to Red Rock Canyon. Wow!, pretty much sums it up. The sky was blue, the rocks were red and there was still snow on the ground which is like crack to Chloe. She can NOT get enough of snow! We hiked out to the Keystone Thrust and took a look back down the valley. Unbelievable that the Las Vegas Strip is less than 10 miles away. It seems like another planet!

If you haven't ever visited Red Rock Canyon and you're a nature lover, GO! Put the poker chips down, walk away from the cocktail waitress and get your butt out there. It really is worth losing a few hours of gambling to clear your lungs of the stale smoke and stretch your legs on some of these trails. And the good news is the lights, the action, the noise and excitement of Vegas proper will all be waiting there for you when you're done.

And of course, we then took full advantage of it. We ate at great restaurants, indulged in some retail therapy and even took in a show. Neither of us had seen a Cirque du Soleil event before so we checked with the discount ticket place and managed to get tickets for Mystere. Again, Wow! Who knew humans were even capable of some of the stunts they pulled? I guess a better question would be, And wouldn't you love to be there at the beginning when they think these things up? Like, who is the sucker who gets to be the first to try it? "Yo, Joe, I've got an idea. We'll dress you in some weird costume and then you can stand here and I'll jump on this thingy and shoot you into the air. Yea, yea, we'll work on the landing later." All I can say is better Joe than me!

With all the fun being had by the humans, the canine contingency decided they needed to get in on the action so off to the dog park we went. We just discovered this amazing dog park right around the corner from Sam's Town and it was all we could do to get the canines to come home. They would have stayed there the whole weekend if they could have. They made new friends, ate things they shouldn't have, peed on anything that stood still and ran, and ran, and ran.

And to make the weekend absolutely perfect......Chocolate Cake! Yum, yum, yum.... I'd say the wheels are definitely back on the Happy Bus.