(2023 Alaska Revisited Ep 7)
We travelled the southwest desert for more than three weeks. The weather was delightful, and the scenery was beautiful.
We saw delightful desert vistas.
Flowers
Rains in many areas resulted in eyepopping flower displays.Â
Amazing Desert Plants
Desert plants, especially the cactus, were unlike anything we have back home.
RabbiTRAIL Trek: Southern California and Vasquez Rocks
We knew the intense summer sun and heat in the desert was quickly coming.
Indeed, after a couple of very warm nights in Quartzite, AZ and Joshua Tree, CA, we departed from the desert. We braved Southern California freeways intending to camp for two nights in Simi Valley, located a few miles from the Pacific Ocean and Los Angeles. We arrived stressed and tired in need for some old-fashioned comfort food. Pizza it was!
The next day we trekked to Vasquez Rocks Natural Area, a geologic area a few miles away from our campground that was on James’ bucket list. You may not have heard of Vasquez Rocks, but you have probably seen them. Many times.
The rocks have been used as a setting for key scenes in more than 480 movies and television shows, including Blazing Saddles (1974), The Flintstones (1994), Joe Dirt (2001), Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1995), The Muppet Movie (1979), One Million BC (1940), Planet of the Apes (2001), The Ten Commandments (1956)… The list goes on and on!
Several Star Trek movies and television episodes also used the location. James found a boulder he thought might be from an original Star Trek TV episode that Captain Kirk pushed down on Gorn, the lizard man. I don’t follow Star Trek, but it sounded plausible to me!
Freeways and famous rocks behind us, we said goodbye to James after more than a week together. Pat and I were headed to the coast to follow the Pacific Coast Highway north and James was going to Alabama Hills, another famous movie location near Death Valley where many old time westerns were filmed.
Next Week:
We drive the Pacific Coast Highway, California Route 1.
Take the LONG Road... 
Absolutely magnificent photos. God’s creature is almost inconceivable . We saw some of this went we traveled from Ca to Jax, but not to the extent that you are sharing. Hope you are having a grand time.
Ann
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Hi Ann, Jim Clark had almost identical comments. With a little water the southwest is beautiful. We were blessed to see all the flowers and enjoy cooler temps.
Say hello to Bill for us.
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the desert landscape that you photographed was simply stunning! How amazing that in that hot and dry climate can come some of the most beautiful flowers. thanks for sharing
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Glad you enjoyed the pix, Maureen. As a FYI, we hope visit Falcon and Pearl/Ptarmigan at the end of next week. Then on to Alaska!
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WOW- your photos are terrific, Ed! Esp. liked your “desert sunset and colorful bitterweed flowers”. Awesome (devine) timing on the blooms, too! Really got a kick out of the Star Trek pic and locale info- and yeah, I’ve seen the episode(s) and movies : ) Thanks for sharing!
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Hi Norm, appreciate your gracious comments, as always. Pat took most of the good pix with her fancy camera!
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Wow, those were some beautiful flowers and cactuses. We also enjoy hunting down places were movies and TV shows have been filmed.
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Hi, thanks for the comments! Hope your travels are going well, including the balloon fiesta.
We returned home on 10/1 and it has taken a while to get caught up. I still have a few blog posts to wrap up our trip.
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