From bouganvillea to icicles

After a six-hour meandering drive along the beautiful Colorado River, we arrived in the town of Williams at the junction to the Grand Canyon and found it deep in snow. There are huge icicles hanging from buildings and we've been warned to look out for black ice. It warms up in the day and freezes at night. There were three serious accidents on the highway we came in on but by the time we got here, our side was cleared although the other side was still backed up for miles. We had no idea Williams was so high. It has an altitude of over 6500 feet! No wonder we've found winter after leaving the warmth of the desert. We're heading out for the Grand Canyon in the morning once we know the roads are clear. I expect to see it decorated with white....

Flying buggies...

We are spending our last three days in Palm Desert taking it easy. We hope to make one more trip up to Joshua Tree but that will depend on the weather! There is a wind warning in effect and our place is rattled now and then by the gusts. It is very freaky to listen to it roar. We went out earlier to run a few errands and as we were about to get out of the car, we heard a huge bang then watched three buggies flying across the parking lot one of which had hit and cracked our bumper! So we are now in the Albertson's risk management system and waiting to hear what is next. We were glad to have been in the car when it happened because we never would have guessed that it was an errant buggy and not just another driver who did the damage.....

If it is 1:00, it must be Rubens!

One day, seven museums! Sounds crazy but that is what we did on our last day in San Diego. Balboa Park has within its borders fifteen museums as well as individual gardens, fine arts venues and the San Diego Zoo - all within walking distance. Well we were barely walking at the end of the day but were glad for our blitz from opening to closing time. Our first stop was the Mingei Museum, devoted to folk arts and crafts where we were introduced formally to 150 Meneki Neko, those iconic cats who raise a paw in greeting in most Japanese restaurants. From there we moved to the Timken Museum of Art and tried to aborb paintings by Van Dyck, Rubens and Toulous Lautrec but were captivated by a beautiful shepherd girl whose artist we'd never heard of. A haunting model of "Lucy" the prehistoric young link from tree dwelling primate to walking human gazed back at us in the Museum of Man and challenged us to consider the power of the exhibit on race we had just seen downstairs. The Spirit of St. Louis and lunar module of Apollo 9 demonstrated the drive for adventure in the Air and Space Museum while the Tucker, Packards and Ferrari's were featured in "The glitz and glam" exhibit in the Automotive Museum. We're not sure how much we'll remember in a month but had a lot of fun doing a taste test - although maybe not as much as had by the dozens of kids clamboring over the dinosaur models and pulling and pulling levers and knobs in the Science Museum on resident's free day.

Trolley rides, pandas and lion pee..

We've managed to pack in lots since we arrived late afternoon yesterday in San Diego. The weather is perfect - t-shirt weather but not too hot. After finding our hotel in the Gaslamp district, we strolled the two main avenues looking at the beautiful buildings from the late 1800's that were never torn down and are now restored and treasured. We had dinner at a table outside across from Wyatt Earp's former brothel and gambling house which, like all the other buildings in the red light district, is now live-work up and restaurant down.

Early this morning, we took the 'hop on, hop off' Trolley for a tour of the city. We didn't hop off but rather spent two hours on a guided tour of unique areas including the famous Coronado Hotel (you can see it in Some Like it Hot), San Diego harbour, Old Town (turn of the century Spanish area), Little Italy (originally populated by Italian tuna fishermen) and the modern convention centre and downtown area. Buildings there are surprisingly low for such a large city - the proximity of the airport accounts for that.

Then off to the zoo! We spent five hours there. Highlights included a six-day old giraffe turning her back to the audience but peaking back now and then, and pandas offering photo ops - sitting and eating bamboo for the adoring crowd. I had an encounter with a male lion in spite of a warning sign of spraying up to 6-7 feet. I was on the watch and stood away from the crowd who stood close to the fence but in spite of that, he still managed to catch the bottom of my pant leg as I dodged him - Bill estimates it was a direct hit at 10 feet! How many people do you know who have had a lion pee on their leg and live to tell about it?? I stayed behind the glass from then on!

Over the mountain, down in the valley

The results of the San Bernadino Mountains' rain shadow was made clear to us when we drove back home today. We drove up one side through barren desert that made us think of Death Valley. It was dotted with large motorhomes either in groups or sitting alone with the awnings up. This state park allows for "Open Camping" which means you can drive your motorhome out in the desert anywhere and stay for as long as you like. The 40 degree weather made it look pretty unappealing to us but lots of people obviously disagree.

Once over the top of the mountains and into the valley, the terrain changed dramatically. The green-clad hills were painted with tiny yellow flowers and dotted with cattle. We stopped and watched planes pull gliders up to the tops of the mountains to glide back down and land in silence.

Before long we were climbing up out of the valley and once at the top, we left the green behind and were back into the desert. The heat was with us all day but moderated by the climb. Back home, it was 38 degrees at 9:00 pm in Palm Desert.

Pelicans, stilts and avocets

We went to the Salton Sea two years ago and came away unimpressed but decided to give it another try. The artificial sea was formed in the early 1900's when a broken dyke allowed the Colorado River to flood the low-lying plain for two years! After a century of life it is now dying, the salt concentration so high that it can sustain very little life. However it continues to be a magnet for migrating birds and this visit we drove much further around the lake than we did last time in the hopes of seeing some. It takes perserverance to go birdwatching at the Sonny Bono Nature Preserve at the far end of the lake. We got up before the Palm Desert birds and drove 70 miles through industrial and struggling neighbourhoods. The camp sites which spot the lakeside are grim but we continued to drive and were eventually rewarded with a flock of white pelicans elegantly sunning themselves close to shore.

It turned out to be another scorcher so as we continued our exploration we would take a deep breath of air-conditioned air and plunge out into the unbelievable heat. We sat on the bank of one marsh for twenty dripping minutes watching lovely little shore birds including varieties I'd never heard of before: the Common (okay, okay!) Black-necked Stilt and the American Avocet. Check them out sometime, they are both delicate and gorgeous!

On our way to the preserve, we passed 10 ominous-looking geothermal plants taking advantage of the volcanic geology below the surface. These and large agricultural operations surround the preserves. We stopped and watched a glossy ibis mob helping themselves to one crop we couldn't identify. There are crops especially for the visiting birds in the preserve to avoid this clash but obviously the crop is greener on the other side of the fence...

Bill still finds himself amazed that he can spend a day binoculars and bird books in hand, driving more than 70 miles to see a Cinnamon Teal and actually like it!

It's hot!

Ocotillo and bouganvillea are blooming outside. I'm drooping....