Relief in the Desert

A few days ago, we decided we needed a break to relax, exercise, and enjoy some solitude surrounded by nature.  Friday night, we loaded up Blue with our car camping gear and headed to the desert in the morning, returning Sunday evening.

To get to the desert, we drove through snow - what irony!  The town of Julian is at about 4,200 feet, and received about 6 inches of snow last Tuesday.

Only if Nick was here, I would have gotten him good!

 Snow!

The murals around the tops of these walls were painted by Marshall South in the late 1940's.  Followers of  this blog might recall my description of  Marshall South's experiment in living on the top of Ghost Mountain.  This little building was the town library, but is now a real estate office. 

 Well, we said goodbye to Julian, and headed down the other side of the mountains to the desert - about a 20 minute drive.

Here I am doing manly road clearing as we drove the few miles of dirt road through the Little Blair Valley Cultural Preserve.

We found a little wayside area to make our camp.  Lunch time!

 Nearby, Gail found this cantaloupe size rock.  We thought it might be a geode, so we split it open with a screwdriver and some pounding.

Whoa!  It sure looked like a fossil of a fish inside, complete with scale patterns.



After lunch, we hiked cross country up to the top of a ridge.  You can just see Blue in the middle of the picture.



 

 A small barrel cactus starting to flower.

 The view looking over the other side of the ridge.

 Could you design a more elegant cactus / rock garden?

 Past a Kumeyaay seasonal village site, we spotted this ancient pictograph.

 The black dye the Kumeyaay used was made from charcoal and wild cucumber seed oil.  It sure is durable!

 We headed down this ravine a ways, and decided to come back in the morning for a longer day hike.  The sides of the ravine were basically boulders resting at the angle of repose.  We felt like ants in gravel.  It would be incredible to see an earthquake here!

 The sinking sun backlit the cholla cactus making them look soft and fuzzy. Hah!

 Setting up for dinner, it started getting colder.  The full moon was spectacular, though.  We tried some night photography, but gave up early, as the wind and cold air were too much.

The next morning, we headed over to hike down the ravine for some exploration.

Gail modeling a cactus spine in her thumb.  Practically all the desert plants are armed and dangerous it seems! 

 

 This canyon was so peaceful, and without any signs of humans. 

 Just like a 1,000 years ago!

 We thought this boulder looked like a Smurf!

Rocks anyone?

We discovered a mortero on this massive flat rock.  Coyotes apparently think it is a toilet bowl!

 



A few plants were flowering in this warmer, sheltered ravine.

 

 



That is snow on that distant mountain.

 

 





 My Lawrence of Arabia pose.

 The required hand held self photo.

 This barrel cactus seems to be doing just fine growing out of  granite.

 The baby cholla cactus had no trouble sticking into our hiking boots.

 That is a bird nest in the middle of  a cholla cactus.  You wonder how many animals lose eyes to these and other cacti!

 These seed pods on an agave stalk look to be bitten into - some critter's supermarket?

 We drove out on a different road - a bit challenging in spots.   We stopped for pizza on the way home for one last little hurrah.  The desert weekend was just what we needed. 



The Visit Part Two

The following are some random shots of the past four days.  Missing, are photos of our daily "soccer" tournaments in the backyard, in which we tried to kick a large exercise ball past opposing teams.  The kids really enjoyed romping on the grass in the backyard - actually it was fun for all!

 While mom and dad were out checking potential living areas, Nora, Soren, and I ventured down to the Oceanside Pier.

 We also went to the Surf Museum in Oceanside.  This is the board that Bethany Hamilton was on when a tiger shark bit off her arm at the shoulder.  You can see the size of its mouth by the chunk of missing board.  She is still competing competitively with only one arm  -  amazing!

Nora relaxing in her shire.

 We took a little outing to the Leo Carrillo Ranch, which is now a city park in Carlsbad. 

 The remaining ranch is beautifully restored and maintained.

 You can reserve the ranch for weddings and other functions - not too shabby!

 Andria appreciated how well these flowers were doing.

 The roving peacocks added an exotic element.

 

 Susanna meditating about life as she sucks on her hat tie.

 Gail's 1950's portable picnic table made a geat Lego table, too.

 Susanna and I enjoyed much quality rug time.  She was pulling herself up to a standing position without much difficulty, as long as she had something to hold onto.

 All three kids converging on Baba.

 Baba was fascinated by Soren's Lego camera.

 A fashion find by Gail for Susanna.

 Nora doing her best Gandalf imitation.

 Wheeeee, "Airplane!"

This picture is mainly to prove that Dave was here also.  He seems to disappear when the cameras come out.  Is this possibly part of his stealth training?

A great visit had by all!!!

The Hobbits Gather

 

We are delighted to have Andria's family come stay with us this week.  They are scoping out the San Diego area in preparation for their move down in May.  Gail and I have had fun preparing for the visit, and turned our guest room into a Hobbit shire, with each little Hobbit (Nora and Soren) having their own tent sleeping area behind their Hobbit door.

We made the shire wall out of a cardboard box that our bed came in.

It's kind of hard to take pictures of because of the narrow space.

Of course, Penelope thought this was all created for her.

 

Gollum watches over the shire.  We did remove him shortly, so as not to scare the youngest Hobbit.

 

Nora modeling her sword "Sting", gold belt, and crown.

 

Gail and I were quite full of ourselves after making this dragon cake.  He is disappearing quickly, though.

 

The Hobbits and I discovered a wood rat nest at a nearby park.

 

Crossing a little stream between the park and and the hiking area.  It has been fun hanging with the kids while Andria and Dave explore the San Diego area with little Susanna. 



Secret Nighttime Deployment

Last night, we unloaded our bikes, and cycled on the Camp Pendleton Marine Base, to do photo recon of the area.  There had been reports of mysterious apparitions in the area.  We used bicycles for their stealthiness, and also to cover the several miles.  There is no civilian car access to this area.  We saw no other humans, but did finally manage to capture images that will rock the science, military, and spiritual worlds.  These photos are straight out of the camera, and have not been manipulated or changed in any way.
The photos are best viewed by clicking on each one.

 We saw lights converging on a potential apparition hot zone.  After taking a picture, we coasted down the hill towards this juncture.

 We came to a tunnel that led to an opening.  Strangely, as we peddled, the opening never appeared to get closer.  We knew this must be the spot, so we hustled to set up the camera gear.  Long exposure photography was the logical method for apparition capture.

The first photo revealed that we were not alone.

We sensed more activity going on around us.  We were right.  A great horned owl was also drawn to the zone, and called steadily throughout our mission as we captured more evidence.

We felt chills, so much so that Gail was wishing she had worn a down jacket.  We knew something was about to pop.

And then it happened. Our first apparition capture did not disappoint.  After it faded we held our ground for more.

The next ghostly apparition was emitting a radical new form of energy.

Finally, after this emerged on the camera, we knew it was time to scram.  There was something unsettling about what we were discovering.  The world is strange in a tunnel under I-5, with its window to the sea.  Is it something to do with the nearby nuke plant?  Hmmn... there is more work to be done.  Later.

As the World Turns

Sunday, I reconnected with two of my childhood pals, Tarry and Brian Nelson.  They lived next door on Calle Rosales Street, in Santa Barbara, from the time I was about three, until I was about ten.  Brian and I continued to occasionally surf together through high school.  I last saw Brian in about 1971, and Tarry a few years before that.  It was great catching up with them in San Clemente, about 23 miles up the coast, where they were having a brothers weekend at Tarry's in-laws.  My how time flies!

 Me, Tarry, and Brian, December, 1950.

Tarry, Brian, and me, last Sunday.

Minus Tides

We had late afternoon minus tides a few days ago.  Below are some random photos from this past Monday, around sunset, at Carlsbad State Beach.

                                                      My soul bird