Anza Borego

Last Sunday was a beautiful day for driving in southern California. I started out in San Diego and decided I wanted to go out to the Anza Borego desert, which is north east of San Diego.

I stopped in Julian on the way (the Apple Capital of California). There was a shop there called Cabbages and Kings Rustic Stuff Refined Things. I went inside just because I liked the name. In the front of the shop they had really large photo prints that were just beautiful - details of painted doors, front end of an old car, a snowy road. The photographer is Edward Thomas Masterson. His website is www.edmastersonphotography.com and well worth the look! There were some other wonderful pieces of art in there by other local artists - gourds, Native American paintings, jewelry. If you get the chance you should visit this wonderful little store. Oh, and I bought a couple of pies while I was in town too.

Traveling east from Julian I entered the Anza Borego desert. It's very different than the Mojave desert. They have very different kinds of cacti there. This picture is of Ocotillo, Fouquieria splendens var. splendens.

This cactus caught my attention because it has bright red flowers. I saw them while I was driving but when I got to a place where I could park and get out to walk around the plants nearby didn't really have many of the red blooms left on them. I really want to go back for the wildflowers this spring.  Also, there are very photogenic canyons that I would like to get to.

It was just a beautiful, relaxing day. It did take me 6 hours to get home from San Diego, but the detour was well worth the extra time.