Track the Bloom! Superbloom 2017

Time for me to #TrackTheBloom!  That is the superbloom that is happening this year in the various Southern California deserts!  I didn't make it to my primo destination of Anza Borrega State Park, but had many, MANY adventures on my first day and the beginning of my second.  Click on the links below to catch up!

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!

In this post, I'll share some of my best photos of the flora and fauna I found in the Mojave Preserve off of historic Route 66.  I was there on March 19, 2017, so there could be different flowers blooming now.  

Fremont's Pincushion (white) and a yellow-centered Desert Dandelion (they also have red centers and can be seen in my previous post). 

And in this picture too!

Another of Fremont's Pincushion

Desert Chicory

Desert Sunflower

Not to be confused with the Desert Marigold! (Or did I confuse them?  I'm not sure really.  lol)

The Desert Marigold has more layers than the Desert Sunflower (as far as I can tell).

The next purple ones confuse me.  They're called Red Maids if I'm not mistaken.  But they're not RED!.  lol  And I think the white flowers with them are Popcorn Flower.

This is Slender Popcorn Flower

And here we have regular Popcorn Flower with beautiful purple Desert Sand Verbena.

Desert Sand Verbena

Desert Sand Verbena with Desert Evening Primrose, or Browneyed Primrose.

'Browneyes' closer up

These kind of blend into the desert floor, so I had to do the Sin City affect on them to make them stand out.  Fitting since Sin City is Las Vegas, just a ways down the road from here.

Desert Purple Mat

Yellow Cups.  They look similar to desert Poppies, but they have little red dots inside and are more yellow than orange.

I thought this was Desert Sage, but now I'm not sure.  I'll try to find out and update.

Beautiful desert landscape with White Fiddlenecks and possibly Desert Sage.

Another that I couldn't find a definitive name for.  May be a poppy, but again, seems too yellow.  

Desert Lupine

Gorgeous Beavertail cactus in flower!

I was lucky enough to see a very cool Desert Spider Beetle running along!

And then I saw three lizards!!  Woot woot!  Two I would call medium sized and the third was smaller.  I'm going to try to find out what species they are and update. 

The funny thing was I was photographing the dude on the right when I saw a quick flash of movement on the left.  I lowered my camera and then saw the second lizard on the left!  He had just ran up!

I didn't get the clearest pic of him. :-(

 Here you can see him further down.  lol  He was gone pretty quickly too.  Just running around in the desert.  I know how you feel buddy!

To finish up, just a couple wider views.  This one I thought was cool as there are about 7 different varieties of flowers in the photo.

And this is a lovely view of Amboy Crater, where I saw the beetle and lizards!  I need to go back and hike the entire trail since I didn't have time on this trip.  

So amazing and fun!  I'm so happy that I got to see so many gorgeous desert flowers and the lizards and beetle too!  Can't wait to go back!  My next stop (after checking out of my hotel) was going to be a Yucca filled area up Barstow Road that I had driven through the day before.

Until then!  TTFN!  

xoxo

Nikon D3300

The Long Road Home - Montesano WA to Sacramento CA

After a lot of fun in Grays Harbor and with the family at Tacoma's Point Defiance and the Satsop River, it was time to head back to California.  I left at night because it had taken me so long to make the drive up and I had to get ready for work the next day.

When I got about halfway through Oregon, it was time to make a "rest" stop and I couldn't resist trying to capture the amazing amount of stars in the sky.

It was so cold and I don't know how people get all the colors into their night sky photos, but I was pretty happy with how these turned out.  :-)  You can see Orion's belt!

I also tried my hand at capturing some of the traffic passing by on Interstate 5.  I really like this shot, but maybe it's one only a mother can love?  lol

My next stop was at the 7 Feathers Rest Stop when the sun was just getting ready to rise in the east. This first shot is the mountain range to the east.

And this is the range that the rest stop is in, just to my back.

And here's a story for ya...

I purposefully stopped here because Mt. McLoughlin (which you can see here from my drive up) was ringed with fog at the top and looked completely amazing, so I took the exit and drove up a hill to get a clear shot. I took several which would have been so awesome!  IF I hadn't forgot to check my damn metering in my excitement.  I've been trying to teach myself to shoot in manual mode at all times and I would say I succeed about 95% of the time.  But there are still many times when I see something I just HAVE to capture, and forget that my settings need to be adjusted.  D'oh!

 I only realized that I had shot completely white, overexposed photos when I stopped again a bit down the road to shoot this cool meadow with train tracks through it.  But by then I just didn't want to backtrack up the hill to try to get the mountain again.  Wah, wah, wah...

But I did get a great shot of the meadow with the contrails over the train tracks, which I thought was pretty cool.

I miraculously did not stop again until I entered California. By then it was full daylight so I stopped to walk around a bit by the Klamath River at the rest stop.  I don't know why, but I've always loved this little rest stop (can you tell I've made this drive often?).  But of course I love water so it's no surprise that I'm drawn to rest stops that have rivers running through them. 

This is I-5, the main North-South artery through the Pacific West states, going over the Klamath River.

I was lucky enough to see some wildlife while I was stretching my legs.  

Crow from below

Wood duck couple

Lizard

And some very cool looking wild grapes.

Alongside a curvy blackberry bracket.

This didn't turn out as clear as I had hoped, but I saw a little sheltered spot in the river that was home to a bunch of what we used to call "water skeeters".  It's so cool how they skate on top of the water, with only their feet touching.  That's why they create these crazy shadows with four circles.  

As I came down out of the Oregon, which had been so clear and bright, I was really shocked at how shrouded in haze and smoke California was!  This view from southbound I-5 Mt. Shasta overlook was so much worse than just a few days before! 

These last few pictures serve to emphasize that California was tinder dry and burning up from the ongoing five-year drought.

Mount Shasta near invisible in the smoke.

Black Butte

And next thing you know, I'm home.  Another fun trip in the books!

xoxo

Nikon D3300