The Travels of Two Sisters, continued

So we were off to the desert -- a week ago today. The weather was gorgeous and there was no wind. We visited the Anza Borrego Desert which can be quite windy -- but not today. I wanted to go down my favorite desert road: The Great Southern Stagecoach Route, more commonly known as S2. But first we had to stop at Dudley's to pick up some sandwiches and a pastry or two -- or three. This is a favorite stopping off place for people on their way to the very pretty mountain towns of Ramona and Julian. The desert is the other side of the mountains.

This is what we saw there -- and I thought "Oh Mrs. Nesbitt, you have got to see this!" They were all lined up and gleaming brightly in the sunshine. They very kindly let me take their photos -- just for you Mrs. Nesbitt!













Of course we had to take a photo of Kay actually in the desert:



















The Butterfield Ranch Stage Coach took this route. Down this gully, we are told, you can actually see scrapes and marks made by the coaches. We didn't explore the gully, it was warm enough for rattle snakes to be on the move. So we took their word for it. In this photo the gully is from the bottom left hand corner going up to about 1/3 of the right hand side of the photo. It doesn't look like much of a gully, but it was about a15 foot drop
















So now I have to educate you about the cacti we saw there.

First, chollas. Very prickly. Pieces seem to jump right out at you. That is how they propagate. Very pretty with the sun behind them. Looked like halos.
















Then yucca, with which most California folk are familiar.
















This is a beautiful barrel cactus. There were quite a few but this was the finest we saw.





















This is Indian paintbrush. Just look at that sky! I promise you I have not doctored the color!





















Finally, I liked the look of these two colors together so took this photo.
I think the bottom part is tumble weed.




















Then there was just desert!
















Perhaps you are wondering why we were so excited to see the desert. It's because we have nothing remotely like this in England where we grew up.

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Did you see Prince Charles on the TV news the other day? He was wearing a leek on his lapel, because he is the Prince of Wales. It was rather a spindly one -- more like a spring onion!