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!
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.
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
