Heading East
Tuesday morning Holly and I went to breakfast with the dogs before she left for Arizona to spend thanksgiving with her family. It was pretty foggy when we went to breakfast, but it burned off pretty quickly, and it was nice and sunny.
I wanted to see some of the desert so I headed east... not really knowing what to expect. I went due east of San Diego through the Cleveland Forest. I met this neat guy at one of the viewpoints soon after I left San Diego, and he told me he stopped there everytime he was in that area. He said a handful of days you can see through the ridge, over the city all the way to the ocean. That day was not one of them sadly. He gave me some good advice as to where to go. I followed his advice and cut through the Cleveland forest on my way to the desert. It was about 75 degrees so I put down all the windows and opened the sunroof - it was wonderful. Of course that makes for a nice uneven sunburn, a really dusty car inside and out, and dirt in my eyes and hair.
The Cleveland Forest was cool, and kinda creepy at the same time. The trees were scorched from fires and the underbrush was coming back. You know when I think of a forest I always think of eastern forests - lush, densely packed trees, laurel, ferns, moss... but out west they define forest much differently.
I transitioned pretty rapidly from the Cleveland Forest to the Anza-Borrego Desert. The Anza-Borrego Desert is the second largest state park - after the Adirondacks. That was very cool. The ridges got further and further apart and the grass gave way to sand. The colors were subtle but very nice. Bucky said it was amazing in the spring when everything bloomed. I thought it was really neat that you can see the Santa Rosa mountains on the north horizon. Part of the desert is an all-terrain vehicle park. It was like a completely different world. There were rv's and tents scattered all over the desert floor. I could see SUVs, dune buggies, 4-wheelers, and dirt bikes crawling over the sand like ants. It was surreal driving down a road partially covered by sand that had blown over the road, and driving past bikes and 4-wheelers jumping sand piles along the side of the road. I was passing through the area for SUVs and I could not keep it on the road. I thought "sure... I'm trading in my car soon..." Famous last words. Picture me in a bright red infiniti with all the windows open pulling off into the sand, sliding around and going over the sandy piles. The dust was intense but it didn't make me close up the car. I decided to get back on the road when it got really rough, and when I was passed by a range rover. I was kinda embarrassed, but at the same time I kinda felt like a badass for trying. Hahaha!
With my desert fun behind me I headed to the Salton Sea. Okay... this place was creepy. The salton sea is california's largest inland body of water - 13x15 miles. It is really shallow and its bottom is only 5 feet above the lowest point in Death Valley. And as its name suggests - it is a salt water lake. It is actually saltier than the Pacific Ocean. I'm glad Bucky warned me about it. Apparently it has had some problems. There was some sort of bacteria problem with the fish, and it affected the birds that fed on them. The little community around the beach looked like it used to have little beach houses, but now it was deserted except for the few dilapidated trailers where the people still lived that couldn't get out. It was very much like a ghost town. I parked near the beach, and a little old couple from Arizona parked next to me, and they asked me if I knew anything about it. As we climbed over the dune and went down towards the beach the intense smell hit us. The couple sort of gagged and stayed for just a few minutes. There was a crust on the rocks and the old dock posts, and there were birds EVERYWHERE. I walked down the shore and over to a little jetty. The beach wasn't sand, but larger particles and really crunchy. The water was INTENSELY blue, and as it rolled back from the shore the underlayer was motor oil colored. The smell was gnarly - gaggingly so. I looked down to investigate the "sand". I realized I was standing on fish skeletons. Not just a few, but a ton of them. I kept stepping backwards expecting to step on sand again, but I never did. When I bent down and looked it was a mixture of bone and shell. I freaked me out almost as much as the color of the water. I finally felt kinda sick and headed to the car.
When I left the "sea" I realized I had not seen a gas station in some time. I kept topping off my gas along the way whenever I saw a gas station, but it had been awhile. I drove a few miles and came across an area where they were building hundreds of tract homes. It was in the middle of nowhere. Literally. Really. There was one gas station. It was fantastic. It was new and had a great bathroom and good potato chips. The bathrooms had showers - which always creeps me out. With a full tank of gas I decided I was going to try to make it to Joshua Tree National Park. I had always wanted to go there. I headed towards I-10 and began climbing out of the desert valley. As I did I came into a crazy orchard area. There was a distinct line... sand then green green green... fruit, flowers and lots of irrigation. I even saw a massive palm tree farm. Oh my! They had hundreds of full grown palm trees in perfect rows. Crazy!
I fought my way a short distance up I-10 towards Joshua Tree. Climbing out of the valley it was one long steep steep grade. There were tons of signs like those going through Angeles Forest telling motorists to turn off their air conditioners, and there were water stations set up at regular intervals to refill radiators. I made it to Joshua Tree late in the afternoon. It was really cool, but I didn't really enjoy it as much as the Anza-Borrego Desert. The neatest part to me was not the cacti, but the large piles of boulders. They looked like little piles of rocks, but then you realize just how big they are. It was kind of cool too stopping at the educational exhibits and reading about how some of the geography was formed.
So I was beat, and I knew I wasn't going to make it back to San Diego before dark. I headed pretty much straight over from Joshua Tree towards LA. I went forever driving through basically nothing, and then I was dumped into Indian Wells which is a golf resort town. Again it was a distinct line... sand then green green green. Suddenly there were really nice cars, gated communities and strip malls. After Indian Wells I went through Palm Desert. It was the same only nicer and bigger. Palm Springs was pushed up against some mountains. I hit them right as the sun was setting, and it was gorgeous. I think it was one of the best sunsets I have ever seen.
The road through the mountains was sooo much fun to drive, but I swear I could hear the sand sloshing around in my car as I went through the curves! I managed to make it to LA right before rush hour, and that put me in San Diego at rush hour. It was really weird to have 6 lanes of solid traffic going 65 miles per hour. I got back to the condo about 7ish, and Bucky and I went to dinner. He drove me around downtown and down by the harbor. It was really weird seeing the large military ships. I keep forgetting San Diego is a military town. The downtown was really small, and Bucky said that 15-20 years ago San Diego was actually a MUCH smaller town. Man, look at it now!
I wanted to see some of the desert so I headed east... not really knowing what to expect. I went due east of San Diego through the Cleveland Forest. I met this neat guy at one of the viewpoints soon after I left San Diego, and he told me he stopped there everytime he was in that area. He said a handful of days you can see through the ridge, over the city all the way to the ocean. That day was not one of them sadly. He gave me some good advice as to where to go. I followed his advice and cut through the Cleveland forest on my way to the desert. It was about 75 degrees so I put down all the windows and opened the sunroof - it was wonderful. Of course that makes for a nice uneven sunburn, a really dusty car inside and out, and dirt in my eyes and hair.
The Cleveland Forest was cool, and kinda creepy at the same time. The trees were scorched from fires and the underbrush was coming back. You know when I think of a forest I always think of eastern forests - lush, densely packed trees, laurel, ferns, moss... but out west they define forest much differently.
I transitioned pretty rapidly from the Cleveland Forest to the Anza-Borrego Desert. The Anza-Borrego Desert is the second largest state park - after the Adirondacks. That was very cool. The ridges got further and further apart and the grass gave way to sand. The colors were subtle but very nice. Bucky said it was amazing in the spring when everything bloomed. I thought it was really neat that you can see the Santa Rosa mountains on the north horizon. Part of the desert is an all-terrain vehicle park. It was like a completely different world. There were rv's and tents scattered all over the desert floor. I could see SUVs, dune buggies, 4-wheelers, and dirt bikes crawling over the sand like ants. It was surreal driving down a road partially covered by sand that had blown over the road, and driving past bikes and 4-wheelers jumping sand piles along the side of the road. I was passing through the area for SUVs and I could not keep it on the road. I thought "sure... I'm trading in my car soon..." Famous last words. Picture me in a bright red infiniti with all the windows open pulling off into the sand, sliding around and going over the sandy piles. The dust was intense but it didn't make me close up the car. I decided to get back on the road when it got really rough, and when I was passed by a range rover. I was kinda embarrassed, but at the same time I kinda felt like a badass for trying. Hahaha!
With my desert fun behind me I headed to the Salton Sea. Okay... this place was creepy. The salton sea is california's largest inland body of water - 13x15 miles. It is really shallow and its bottom is only 5 feet above the lowest point in Death Valley. And as its name suggests - it is a salt water lake. It is actually saltier than the Pacific Ocean. I'm glad Bucky warned me about it. Apparently it has had some problems. There was some sort of bacteria problem with the fish, and it affected the birds that fed on them. The little community around the beach looked like it used to have little beach houses, but now it was deserted except for the few dilapidated trailers where the people still lived that couldn't get out. It was very much like a ghost town. I parked near the beach, and a little old couple from Arizona parked next to me, and they asked me if I knew anything about it. As we climbed over the dune and went down towards the beach the intense smell hit us. The couple sort of gagged and stayed for just a few minutes. There was a crust on the rocks and the old dock posts, and there were birds EVERYWHERE. I walked down the shore and over to a little jetty. The beach wasn't sand, but larger particles and really crunchy. The water was INTENSELY blue, and as it rolled back from the shore the underlayer was motor oil colored. The smell was gnarly - gaggingly so. I looked down to investigate the "sand". I realized I was standing on fish skeletons. Not just a few, but a ton of them. I kept stepping backwards expecting to step on sand again, but I never did. When I bent down and looked it was a mixture of bone and shell. I freaked me out almost as much as the color of the water. I finally felt kinda sick and headed to the car.
When I left the "sea" I realized I had not seen a gas station in some time. I kept topping off my gas along the way whenever I saw a gas station, but it had been awhile. I drove a few miles and came across an area where they were building hundreds of tract homes. It was in the middle of nowhere. Literally. Really. There was one gas station. It was fantastic. It was new and had a great bathroom and good potato chips. The bathrooms had showers - which always creeps me out. With a full tank of gas I decided I was going to try to make it to Joshua Tree National Park. I had always wanted to go there. I headed towards I-10 and began climbing out of the desert valley. As I did I came into a crazy orchard area. There was a distinct line... sand then green green green... fruit, flowers and lots of irrigation. I even saw a massive palm tree farm. Oh my! They had hundreds of full grown palm trees in perfect rows. Crazy!
I fought my way a short distance up I-10 towards Joshua Tree. Climbing out of the valley it was one long steep steep grade. There were tons of signs like those going through Angeles Forest telling motorists to turn off their air conditioners, and there were water stations set up at regular intervals to refill radiators. I made it to Joshua Tree late in the afternoon. It was really cool, but I didn't really enjoy it as much as the Anza-Borrego Desert. The neatest part to me was not the cacti, but the large piles of boulders. They looked like little piles of rocks, but then you realize just how big they are. It was kind of cool too stopping at the educational exhibits and reading about how some of the geography was formed.
So I was beat, and I knew I wasn't going to make it back to San Diego before dark. I headed pretty much straight over from Joshua Tree towards LA. I went forever driving through basically nothing, and then I was dumped into Indian Wells which is a golf resort town. Again it was a distinct line... sand then green green green. Suddenly there were really nice cars, gated communities and strip malls. After Indian Wells I went through Palm Desert. It was the same only nicer and bigger. Palm Springs was pushed up against some mountains. I hit them right as the sun was setting, and it was gorgeous. I think it was one of the best sunsets I have ever seen.
The road through the mountains was sooo much fun to drive, but I swear I could hear the sand sloshing around in my car as I went through the curves! I managed to make it to LA right before rush hour, and that put me in San Diego at rush hour. It was really weird to have 6 lanes of solid traffic going 65 miles per hour. I got back to the condo about 7ish, and Bucky and I went to dinner. He drove me around downtown and down by the harbor. It was really weird seeing the large military ships. I keep forgetting San Diego is a military town. The downtown was really small, and Bucky said that 15-20 years ago San Diego was actually a MUCH smaller town. Man, look at it now!
posted by Jill at 10:00 PM
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