Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

dried ocotillo blooms

As promised, here are photos from our weekend camping trip in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (in Coyote Canyon, for those who might know the area).  I'm including a handful of my favorites and you can see more in the slideshow below.  I enjoyed the cacti and other plants, as they differ from what we are used to in the east Mojave desert.  I have always loved ocotillo, but this is the first time I've ever seen them up close.

ocotillo

As you can see, we had amazing weather; absolutely clear, mid-80s during the day and mid-50s at night, and an occasional,just-right light breeze.  The sky was an unbelievably deep blue.  We were serenaded by an owl as we lay in our cozy tent to go to sleep, and the desert was aglow all night from the light of the nearly-full moon.  I serendipitously awoke at 4:30am to witness it slip silently behind the hills.  Simply magical.

buckwheat

(not sure what this is?)

And more...



(I apologize if there are any issues with this slideshow - experimenting with Flickr)

People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh