There is no better time than to head for the deserts of Southern California. This is the time when, if there was any rain at all during the winter, the desert flora springs alive with greens and vivid colors of the annual spring blooms. We are hoping that this will be a superbloom year, with the particularly heavy precipitation we’ve seen. We pick our route....
4/2/23. It’s Palm Sunday. With tribute to this Holy Week ahead of us, we attend church in the morning, and then, all loaded up from the night before, we hit the road and head south. I had this notion to start our trip at the ocean before heading to the desert, so we head down CA-101 toward Paso Robles, to cut over to Highway 1. Just north of Paso Robles, we stop for the night at San Miguel at a Harvest Host site, the Hambly Lavender farm.
We met Milton and Gina, who run their family farm while Milton also teaches History at the King City High School. They also keep goats, chickens and a pig. The goats are pets, but the others are part of their food supply.
Milton just acquired an antique copper still from Portugal, to extract and produce lavender oil. He can’t wait 'til harvest time to fire this baby up.
We shared our hilltop perch over the lavendar fields with one other Class B camper couple, Rick and LuAnne from Orange County. We were speechless, watching in awe as the sunset presented this spectacular show.
On the way to the coast on Route 46, we stopped at Niner Winery, as they have a fabulous Chef's Garden I wanted to check out. The winery was owned by the Niner family, and they have expanded to run an upscale restaurant as well. The menu was exquisite!
But, alas we were not ready to imbibe in either the luncheon menu or wine tasting. As much as we consider ourselves foodies, we are just slowing down, and can't eat at every option that presents itself, or drink like we used to. It's time to lighten up! So, we paid respect to the fineness of the restaurant and the winery, we went directly to the garden grounds.
We arrive at the beach in San Simeon and take in the ocean breeze.
I have never visited Hearst Castle, so we planned an extra day to take in a tour or two, plus absorb some of those negative ions emitted off the surf on the coast.
We make it in time for a tour of the Grand Rooms at Hearst Castle. If you’ve never been to Hearst Castle, you’d be in for a treat. It is the most decadent and opulent residential building I have ever seen.
Mr. William Randolph Hearst was quite the art enthusiast, as he filled his abode with treasures of antiquity, including paintings, sculptures, anything that he liked that came on the auction market from Europe Asia, Egypt, Africa, or anywhere else in the world that was a source of ancient treasures.
His styles ranged from classical Spanish and Moorish sculptures and wall designs to Egyptian stones and headpieces. He spared no expense, and some of the pieces on display are as much as 2000 years old! He also lined the walls of every room with huge tapestries, and this is now known to be the largest collection of tapestries on display in the US.
There were numerous religious paintings, sculptures and other artifacts that made you feel like someone pilfered from old churches to sell these pieces to the ever-eager American art enthusiast. It's known that Mr. Hearst was not a religious person, but he certainly liked owning religious icons. Here is a bed that was designed for a bishop, plus an altar icon of Jesus and disciples perched on the fireplace.
How would you like to stay in a guest room like these?
Of course, there were two pools at the estate, one indoors and one outdoors. The indoor pool has gold leaf in the decorative glass tiles that line the pool. The outdoor pool has a pavilion that was brought from Greece.
It's dinnertime! Where is my seat? Also, let's check out the wine cellar!
I do feel that Hearst Castle is a must-see if you are ever in the Central Coastal area. W.R.Hearst was a notable businessman and his mark on the development of newspapers and broadcast media is unequivocal. We did enjoy the historical references that were displayed at the estate. But I did feel that his decorating taste at the castle was a bit over-the-top, with too many styles all mashed together. I have to imagine that, if Mr. Hearst ever went to a Frozen Yogurt shop, that he would most likely put some of every flavor in the bowl, and load every topping on top. Then, you can't taste anything because the clashing flavors overwhelm the palette. Yep, that's how it felt. But it was fun and enjoyable all the same.
We spent a few hours checking out the coastline. It was WINDY! But delightful.
There were sea lions basking in the sun on the warm sand.
It's good to arrive in Ramona! Phil and Rath share a moment overlooking the trees and creek on their property, and "The Dell", their delightful airb&b right next door.
Rath had just had his Harley restored, in fact he went to pick it up while we were there.
The great Colorado Desert is intense, and you either love it and embrace the starkness, or you hate it, wincing under the weight of its physical oppression. Fortunately for us, it is only April, so we get to experience the desert at its loveliest of times, as it takes out all its jewelry and adorns itself with scatterings of wildflowers, blooming cactii and ocatillo patches.
We stayed at the state campground near the beach in San Simeon. But most of the time here, we spent at a road pull-out on the Pacific Coast Highway, gazing out at the ocean.
Time to head inland. Let's go see some flowers! The drive on Highway 41 and 58 inland to Atascadero, and then on to the Carizzo Plain was absolutely gorgeous. The luminescent green dominated the hills along Hwy 41. Once on Hwy 58 past Creston, the other colors started coming out.
If you have ever been to the Carizzo Plain, you'll know that this area is pretty brown for ten months of the year. Then, it's a dull green for six weeks after the rains. And, for just a few weeks, you might see some color. We got to feast our eyes during these special two weeks of color. Wow.
We stayed at the Selby campground, up in the hills. We had lots of company; it's flower-peeper season in the Carizzo Plain! We were part of the overflow crowd, parked in the perimeter of the campground area. No worries! It's all BLM land, and everyone we met in the campground were interesting and nice people. We sure enjoyed sharing stories, sharing and comparing camper van layouts, and comparing travel itineraries.
Continuing south-eastward, we drove the length of the Carizzo Plain valley on a dirt road. We pulled over to have some lunch on a jeep trail to a cattle trough.
Wanting to avoid interstate highways when possible, we took the lesser-traveled route 95 toward Grapevine, which winds every which way, climbing steep hills, turning sharp corners. Finally I realized we were in the Transverse Range, the Tehachapi Mountains. The long and winding road went on for about two hours before we were out of the hills. It would have been a blast if we were driving a sports car!
Crossing Interstate 5, we set our sights for the Antelope Valley California Poppy Preserve, just west of Lancaster. We arrived around 3pm, after the L.A. crowd had come and gone for the day, so we had lots of elbow room to hike and enjoy the scenery.
We stayed in Lake Hughes at a Harvest Host site called Quail Run, which was an Ostrich Farm. How's that for different! We met Jessica, the manager of the farm, and her dad who was a zoologist specializing in exotic birds. No kidding! Dad raises and cares for the ostriches. He said it's a hard job, as they can be pretty nasty if they want to be! He said that they can kill a lion with their kick. Yowsers!
Jessica sold me some ostrich oil and a lotion she calls "Cool Heat", which is similar to the commercial product "Icy Hot", but it's all natural and the base is ostrich oil. We indulged in using the Cool Heat on all our aching joints, and yahoo, it works great! And, I'm not sure, but I think the little wrinkles around my eyes are fading away, after a few applications of the ostrich oil. Jessica called it "Cleopatra's Secret". Now we know!
Moving onward, we drove southward from Lancaster, and watched the flora on the hills change from wildflowers to Joshua trees.
We headed east on I-10, to stay at a KOA in Banning. It was time to spend a night with all the amenities of water and electrical hookups. Our campervan Lexy takes us everywhere, but she does best when she gets a luxurious night plugged in every fourth day or so on the road. And, KOA campgrounds usually have really nice showers, so maybe we were ready for some indulgences too.
As we entered the pass between San Gorgonio Mountain to the north and San Jacinto Mountain to the south, you would never know that we were in southern California. There are snow-covered peaks majestically rising above the rolling hills. I had never seen this before, and it was awesome!
Heading still southward, we decide to visit Rath and James in Ramona. We always love seeing them.
Heading south on I-15 past Temecula, we love this bridge!
It's good to arrive in Ramona! Phil and Rath share a moment overlooking the trees and creek on their property, and "The Dell", their delightful airb&b right next door.
Rath had just had his Harley restored, in fact he went to pick it up while we were there.
We went for a drive in the hills just west of Ramona. The weather was cool and the sky beautiful. It was truly remarkable seeing so much green, so late in the spring.
Onward to Anza Borrego, to see what's blooming there!
As you drive eastward from Ramona on route 78, you pass through Julian, then through the Cuyamaca and Laguna Mountain ranges, and then the road drops into the desert basin where Anza Borrego is located. As our van crested the last summit, the expansive green in the hills transitioned to a polka-dotted pattern. We continued the descent into the desert floor where the predominant terrain was brown rock and sand with occasional sagebrush.
The great Colorado Desert is intense, and you either love it and embrace the starkness, or you hate it, wincing under the weight of its physical oppression. Fortunately for us, it is only April, so we get to experience the desert at its loveliest of times, as it takes out all its jewelry and adorns itself with scatterings of wildflowers, blooming cactii and ocatillo patches.
You cannot visit this desert without noticing how aggressively invasive the environment becomes in your perspective of the here-and-now. You notice every thorn on every cactus that you avoid brushing against; you feel the heat of the sun on your skin, and make effort to turn around, just to give your face a break from the exposure. When we arrived in town, the temperature had been 80 degrees just a few hours before, but a high-pressure system moved into the basin and we were now facing a freakish three-day heat wave, with temperatures holding at 97 degrees. We opted for a camping spot that offered electricity, now bracing for our need to use the air conditioner in the van for the first time in all our travels.
As we drove toward the town of Borrego Springs, we admired the metal sculptures that lined the roadway into town. Dennis Avery, the owner of a large plot of land surrounding the town of Borrego Springs, commissioned the sculptor Ricardo Breceda to build free-standing sculptures to adorn the landscape. Most of the sculptures are of animal forms, whether they be true to life, or pre-historic, or perhaps even a little fantasy-like. This sculpture garden is called Galleta Meadows, and spans over ten square miles surrounding Borrego Springs. There are now over 130 sculptures included in the collection, and although Mr. Breceda might claim he has created his last piece, there have been new ones popping up over the last few years.
This figure struck me the most; a Spanish Padre walking through the desert with his dog. As you walk toward him, he comes more alive.
Arriving at Borrego Springs, we ducked into the National Park Visitor Center for a break from the heat. What a spectacular building! It is built into the hillside and has a desert garden on the "sod" rooftop.
At the center of Borrego Springs is a huge traffic circle, locally known as the Christmas Circle. We stopped and made lunch on the grass in the middle of the circle, in the shade of the palm trees.
Although this picture doesn't show it well, the leaves just sparkled in the sun rays. It was hypnotizing to watch.
It was really getting hot, so we checked in to our campsite at the national park campground, plugged in, and retreated into the cocoon of our van, with the air conditioner on full blast and the windows all covered to keep the intimidating sun rays at bay. With our unfortunate timing of this heat wave, all our hiking will need to be done in the early hours of the morning while we're visiting Anza Borrego.
Day 2 in the desert: We want to hike The Slot, located twelve miles southeast of Borrego Springs, toward Ocatillo Wells, off Route 78. So, off we go as early as we can get up. The last stretch of road to get to the Slot (Borrego Mountain Wash Rd) was unpaved, but in decent enough shape where we could navigate well enough. We parked and then hiked around above the south end of the Slot before descending into the canyon. The view was spectacular. I felt like I could walk for miles on this ridge trail.
Looking back toward the slot canyon, it was hard to imagine that we were going to make our way down into that big crack in the ground!
But, here we go!
The way was not exactly an easy stroll, as we clung to the rock ledges, lowering ourselves down, climbing up, and wiggling through tight spots. After we had made our way about a mile into the slot, we realized that the shade of the steep rock walls was not giving us that much relief from the heat; the day was advancing on us, and the heat was building up. Time to turn back. Unfortunately most of the return trek was uphill, so we were pretty relieved to finally get to Lexy and enjoy a cold drink from the fridge after that strenuous hike! Time to retreat back to our campsite and plug in the AC for the rest of the day.
Day 3: Rising again early in the morning, We take the trailhead right from our campground up to Palm Canyon. This is a beautiful trail, with a few stream crossings that remind you that you are not in Disneyland; no guard-rails or ropes to hold onto!! The only thing I could cling to was my true grit, thankful that I realized I still had it, hopping from rock to rock without taking a dunking. And, oh my, this was gorgeous!
A mile or so into the hike, we came across the cluster of palm trees, the namesake of this canyon. This is as far as the trail will take us; the trail further up was washed out. The stream we were following was a rushing river at this point!
The hike back down the canyon almost seemed to be a completely different place than the hike up the canyon. With the light at the different angle and different vantagepoints, we saw different flora than on the way up. Beautiful!
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