Flower? I Hardly Know Her! - Goodbye Desert, For Now.

Oh no!  This is my last excursion in a wonderful weekend full of wonderful adventures!  Don't dispair, click on the links below to see the glorious Salton Sea and Mojave desert sights!

1)  The Sonny Bono National Wildlife Refuge and the too-cute Burrowing Owls and Desert Cottontail Rabbits that live in the area.

2)  The hot yet cool Mud Volcanoes and still more adorable Owls and Birds.

3)  The wacky and yet inspiring artistry of Salvation Mountain and Slab City.

4)  Death and Beauty at the Bombay Beach Ruins.

5) Get your kicks on Route 66 and in the gorgeous Mojave Desert!

6) See the gorgeous flowers, lizards, and beetle (yes, singular) that I found as I #TrackedTheBloom.

The time had come to head for home, but I knew there was one more stop that I had to make.  

The day before, when I was beelining to Barstow from the Salton Sea due to an almost blinding migraine, I had crossed a lot of beautiful desert; each area had a very distinct look to it.  I confess that I would not have guessed that prior to this trip.  The desert is as varied as any other terrain based on altitude and location and there were several areas that I knew I was going to revisit some time in the not too distant future.  Read:  After Summer.  lol

But one area that I COULD revisit on this trip was just up Barstow Road.  As I said, I had driven through this area on my way to the hotel the day before.  As I blazed down the road, the passing foliage had a distinctly blue-purple sheen as it flashed by.  I mistakenly (not knowing anything about deserts) assumed that the area around Amboy Crater would have the same profusion of beautiful color, but it did not.  

I did find some flowers of this color there, but not in the same number as I had seen up Barstow Road.  So there I headed. I found a good spot to pull off the road, directly across from the off-road vehicle recreation area across the street and hiked up the hill.  The purple-blue Fiddlenecks were all around and under nearly every Yucca that I saw.

These flowers are simply brilliant.  I mean, I dare you to look at the closeup below and disagree!

If you still disagree, you've got a cold, COLD heart.  Or maybe no heart at all!  :-)

To illustrate how different the desert can be just down the road, the desert surrounding Barstow Road is filled with Yucca plants where there were none or very few off of my path down Route 66 the day before.

And, this being Spring, they were all filled with flowers of one stage of bloom or another.

And like I mentioned before, they had the beautiful Fiddlenecks growing all around them. 

And as I walked around, I saw several types of cacti.  None of the ones I saw up here were blooming like the brilliant, fuschia-flowered Beavertail cactus that I saw near the Crater. But Cactus are always so cool-looking that I had to snap some shots when I could.   

Needles and blooms!

And I also found some stunning purple flowers that were also spiky like a cactus!  I have no idea what these are.  But...

I absolutely...

Love them.

And then, when I was walking back to my car, I saw it.  The perfect rock.  lol  As you may know, my very artistic sister-in-law paints rocks as part of the Grays Harbor Rocks campaign.  So when I saw this rock, I knew it was meant for me to take it make a Barstow Rocks rock.  lol 

On that note, I got into my car and headed back down Barstow Road towards Route 66 for the last time this weekend. 

But, closer to Barstow the purple flowers give way to Yellow Cups, so I had to stop and take a couple more photos.  Including this red bug (beetle?) that I found walking on a nearby plant.  

Is it a ladybug of some type?

Yellow Cups 

Then, I remembered that I wanted to check out one more thing before I left.  The Harvey House museum and train depot. But as it was really getting late, I contented myself with just a few photos from the outside of this magnificent structure that was rebuilt in 1911. 

Truly I didn't even get most of its best angles. 

  

And then I headed back and got on Highway 58 where it joins Route 66. 

Just a few more photos!  This one was taken while I was stopped in a long line of traffic that is stop and go where Highway 14 crosses 58 with a four-way stop.  Please!  Someone build a damn interchange, or at least a light!

And the rest are up near the Tehachapi Pass which is filled with windmills and power lines. 

And Joshua Trees.  I pulled off the highway to take some photos and video of the mesmerizing windmills and was startled to find a bucket in the desert.  I didn't look inside...I was afraid. 

The clouds were just amazing.  It actually rained a bit on my drive home!  I went from 95 and sunny to 75 and raining in just a couple hours. 

If you don't believe me that these are freaking mesmerizing, just check out the brief (like 5 seconds long!) video below.  You can also hear how windy it was so be sure to have your sound on low.

And then it started to rain, and I started to get a little tired, so I put the pedal to the medal and breezed on home. Pun intended!

xoxo

Nikon D3300

Mission Travelogue: Mission San Juan Bautista

I was out for a drive on a sunny weekend morning with a break between these ferocious storms California has been seeing when I decided to take a hopefully slight detour to visit Mission San Juan Batista.

My original destination was the amazing Monarch Sanctuary in Pacific Grove, California and, of course, the Pacific Ocean.  Can't be that close to the ocean and not spend some time there!

Anyhoo, as I was driving down Highway 101 I saw the sign for the mission pointing down Highway 156 East, so I decided to take it.  It has been awhile since I had a mission trip!

To see my other Mission adventure travelogues, click on the links below:

San Jose Mission (Plus San Jose Sharks hockey & cemeteries!)

San Gabriel Mission in SoCal (and Sights of SoCal!)

Mission San Rafael Arcangel (And toilets on highways!)

The AMAZING Santa Barbara Mission

It's SO AMAZING it needs two posts! Santa Barbara Mission and Rose Garden

And now, to the current mission travelogue, the equally amazing and possibly even more historic than any of the others:  Mission San Juan Bautista!

In the next three photos, you will see a pretty unique statue.  In researching, I found that many sites report this statue as being of a Native American, which is reasonable because it is mostly naked and also because this mission once housed a large population of Native Americans of the Ohlone and Yokuts tribes. 

There are some sites which report this as being a statue of John the Baptist, for whom the mission and town surrounding it were named - En español, Juan el Bautista.

Although I haven't found any definitive statements on the statue, I think the bible verses that are engraved into the base of the statue do indicate that it is John the Baptist as three of the four refer directly to him. 

Luke 1: 78-79
Because of the tender mercy of our God, with which Sunrise from on high will visit us,
To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.

Matthew 3: 1-3

Now in those days, John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand." 

For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight."

John 1: 6-9

There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John.  He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.  He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.  There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.

Mark 1: 4-5

John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. 

This next photo is really cool.  

I was standing on the actual El Camino Real AND the San Andreas Fault when I took it!  

Turns out, the old "King's Highway" is still in it's natural form right beside the mission.  The mission actually sits on a low plateau, created by the San Andreas Fault, and the road is still used (mostly by joggers and walkers).  I walked a short way along it, but I want to go back and walk further.   

The next photo shows the obligatory statue of Father Junipero Serra along with the outside entrance and sign to the cemetery.  This gate is now locked and the only way to view the cemetery is to go through the church.

The ghost of Father Junipero Serra was watching me...

This is the view of the cemetery from the front gate.  I assume by the chain that this gate is opened sometimes.

I asked if it was okay to go inside and someone said "Sure!" so I did.  But, as I was walking around looking at the alters, suddenly a priest stood up and began speaking. He then called a couple to the front and began a wedding service!  

Yes, I am a wedding crasher!  But I didn't crash the reception.  Haha!

As I previously mentioned, the only way into the cemetery when I visited was through a door inside the church.  But it, too, was chained so that you could only walk out about 5 feet.  The cemetery looks out over the Camino Real and the San Benito River flood plain.

There are at least 30 ancient olive trees shading the cemetery. 

Among the 4,000 Native Americans buried here is Ascension Solorsano, the last full-blood Mutsun Indian.  She was a historian and worked to preserve the language and stories of her people.  This is a really fascinating story of an opera made about her.

The entire church is very brightly colored in keeping with the Native communities who lived and worked there.

Like most missions, there is beauty outside as well.  Mission San Juan Bautista has a very large, beautiful garden filled with cacti and statuary.

This bust is of the founding Friar Fermin Lasuen.

San Juan Bautista has a history of feral chickens. I found this one in the mission garden. 

The museum was very comprehensive and had a lot of old artifacts, many used at the mission in the 1800s.  These are some vestments from around the world that were used there are one time. 

The mission became known as the "Mission of Music" after Padre Esteban Tapis, who was the president of the Spanish missions in California, retired to San Juan Bautista.

The Spaniards and Native Americans shared a love of music and Father Esteban formed a boys choir that was renowned.  Some of his original music books are in the museum.

Such a beautiful and fascinating mission!  I really need to go back to see some of the things I missed.  

The mission has an original Spanish-era plaza, surrounded by more original 1800s buildings, some of which now comprise the San Juan Bautista Plaza Historic District.  

I snapped some quick photos of the buildings...

...but will definitely include time in my future visit for some serious exploration.  

Maybe I'll see you there!

xoxo

Nikon D3300