New Year's Eve Part One

Our first New Year's Eve in our first home featured French Steamed Mussels in White Wine.  Our mussels came from the Carlsbad Aquafarm just down the hill.  We seasoned them with rockabilly dance moves, champagne, Cypress Grove Chevre goat cheese with truffles, and Incredible Cheese Cake with Baileys Irish Cream liqour.  While I tended the mussels, Gail did one of her spectacular table settings by the fireplace.  Life is GOOD!!!  In a while, it is off to the Belly Up to see and hear the Tiajuana Panthers with Jello Biafra, and Reverend Horton Heat.  Safety note - we have Blue prepped as a camper to spend the night in, somewhere in Encinitas.  More posts to follow!

 

          We wish you a rockin' Happy New Year!

Full Deck

Our Carlsbad Library's Cannon Art Gallery has been running an exhibit titled Full Deck: A Short History of Skate Art.  It is the final stop in a 3 year national tour.  As the brochure says, the images on the bottom of skateboard decks are one of the purest forms of self expression in the artworld today.  Enlarging the photos I snapped below may aid in your enjoyment.

Lizard Canyon

Yesterday, we left early, and drove 75 miles inland to the Anza Borrego Desert.  Our goal was to hike in solitude and enjoy the desert ecology and weather.  We scored on both counts.

Lizard Wash has a jeep trail, which we hiked up for about a mile.  Then we veered off up the trail-less Lizard Canyon for another 2 miles or so.

Despite our reading that all plants in the desert are armed and dangerous, Gail had to touch this barrel cactus, or maybe it was the cholla (or jumping) cactus at its base.

 We almost had to Medevac her out due to massive blood loss!

The little bit of rain last week started some plants to blossum.

Ocotillo cactus loses its little leaves by summer, but here, new ones are emerging. 

This cholla cactus is developing its "fruit".

As the canyon narrowed, we examined a shallow cave.  There were deer or mountain sheep droppings under the overhang.

We also found this old jar in nearby cactus that was sealed by its old rusty lid.  We could see matchbooks, old underwear, and hand rolled smoking materials inside.  We brought it home, but haven't gotten the willpower (or rubber gloves) yet to open it up.  Could it be from border crossers?

The canyon became narrower and often forced us closely against the devilish cacti.

If you look closely, you can see Gail peering out of another cave higher up the cliff.  She is displaying owl pellets.

Coming back down was a slip and slide affair!

The cacti were extracting their toll.  We both had our share of scratches and pokes.

Gail spotted a mortero, or Indian grinding hole, which we cleaned out and photographed.

A little hard to see, but interesting to us.  This is a packrat nest under two boulders.  The packrat has strategically placed small cholla cactus on the nest and around the base of it for protection.  We wondered how many packrats lost an eye moving these vicious little balls around!

The fish hook barrel cacti were quite pretty.  Some were waist high.

 

Some areas were like planned cactus gardens.

A large agave plant with its deadly spears.

Here is the view heading back down Lizard Canyon to Lizard Wash.  We didn't see a soul on the whole hike and the silence was awesome! 

On the drive back up and over the 4,000 ft. mountain pass towards the west, we were in for more treats.  We saw a bobcat twice, and were able to get good looks at them stalking around for dinner.  And...  in Julian, we stopped and bought one of the town's very famous products - a home made apple pie!  Life is good!

Volcan Mountain

Yesterday, Gail and I had a very pleasant hike in the mountains about 60 miles inland.  We figured that Thanksgiving Day would be a crowd free day in the boonies.  Our choice was Volcan Mountain, not too far from the little hamlet of Julian.

The trailhead had an opening through this sculpture by James Hubble. 

 

You have to look pretty hard to find signs of autumn in San Diego County.  The black oaks provided some swaths of yellow, though.

 

The views were fine as we headed up the trail.

 

Near the top there were many deer tracks, coyote tracks,  and what we believed to be these mountain lion tracks.

 

We found beauty in the colors of this little bush against the dry grass.  We are nearing the peak, here, at 5,722 feet elevation.

 

At the top was this old, mysterious tower.  I was surprised to learn what it was used for as I read the plaque below.

 

 

This is the view looking east with the Anzo Borrego Desert barely visible in the distance.

 

Also on the top was an old grove of oaks that had probably root sprouted after a fire many years ago.  The trunks were contorted like monsters from the deep.

 

Just one of the wild old oaks in the grove.

 

At the edge of the oaks was this beautifully done memorial bench.  It was covered in carvings of native animals and plants.

 

The armrest.

 

Passing back out the trailhead entry we paused to look at the moon above the metal sculpture.