Anza Borrego................

Our new backyard is in Borrego Springs, California, right in the heart of Anza Borrego Desert State Park. It is the largest state park in California. After setting up the camper, our first stop was the Visitor Center! We always like to get expert advice on things to do...especially the hikes....especially in an environment that is new to us.

Unfortunately for us, the temperatures here are about 20 degrees warmer than normal, which means its in the low 90's. Its definitely not humid, but the sun feels like a blow torch! Yikes its hot
This park is enormous, and to start our exploration, we decided to take the "auto tour" of the Erosion Road, S22, through the badlands of the park, in our air-conditioned car. The ranger gave us a pamphlet for the auto tour, and we enjoyed learning about the geology of the area.

the stops are numbered along the side of the road

oh....boondockers!

the sand in the back is Clark's Dry Lake...and its not sand, but SALT

the dry lake is way back there...

its beautiful here...the colors are great

At one of the stops on the auto tour, a woman was painting the views in front of her. She waved us over frantically, and for a minute I thought she needed some kind of help. Turns out, she wanted to show us the desert lilies that were blooming right in front of her. We were very thankful, because I don't think we would have seen them otherwise.

the desert lilies are blooming!

quite a picture

and this lady is painting it

We continued on following the auto tour pamphlet, and it was pretty interesting. We were having fun, like a couple of kids on a scavenger hunt....hahaha. Anyway, besides learning a little bit about the geology before us, we were appreciating all of the blooms going on in the desert.

following the pamphlet and learning a lot, right Tom?

a branch of the San Jacinto fault zone...most seismically active in California (over 1000 earthquakes each year are measure here)

we just love these flowering ocotillos

the colors are striking in this environment

"alluvial fans"-some look painted-but its really desert varnish, bacteria that gives older rocks coatings of black, brown and red!  (Interesting microbiology everywhere!)

Hmmm....I know the marker should be around here for the Borrego Badlands Overlook

Yup....there it is

beautiful

The badlands looked like a particularly harsh environment. It was so hot....air temperature about 95....even hotter with the sun beating down. The environment looked unforgiving!

miles of badlands

it looks fake, doesn't it?

check that out

crazy!

amazing

its also pretty quiet out here....not too many people driving by

One of the last stops was the Calcite Mines, which were very important during WWII. The calcite was mined to make lens for spotting scopes on guns and bombing equipment. Polaroid was the company that manufactured the lens. Interesting. There is a dirt road for street vehicles to travel down and through the mining area but we were way too chicken to do something like that! The road was a one-laner down the side of the embankment and back up the other side to who knows where. No thank you. Don't want to get stuck in the desert in this heat.

spot of color

the Calcite Mines....important during WWII for the making of optical rings for gunners and bombers (by the Polaroid Company)

looks pretty now

info regarding the mines

there is a road down there but we were too chicken to try it

shooting???  here????   can we put the guns down now please

the remaining mines were really pretty

We enjoyed the views, and the flowers, on our little trip through the park. There were not too many other cars traveling through, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. A weird feeling, especially being from NJ!

happy spring

lots of colorful blooms

the fault line....the earth moves on either side of that lower ridge

heading back to Borrego Springs

its like an oasis...see the palm trees

almost home

After lunch, it was even more wickedly hot....so a good time to hop back in the car and check out some of the 130 sculptures positioned around the area. These sculptures were commissioned by a philanthropist who bought up land in Borrego Springs so it would never be developed, and called it Galleta Meadows. He wanted everyone to enjoy the sculptures too! For more information, click here. I took way more pics than I should have, so enjoy the art exhibit below!

farmers

more of the farmers' installation

want some bug spray Tom?

perfect spot for the scorpion

the art installations were set in perfect places....the backdrops were outstanding on most for most of them

some sculptures were in parking areas

we traveled down dirt roads to view some of them

nice

yikes

side view

the flowers were really blooming!

tiny flowers everywhere

a big deal in the desert

watch out Tom!

one of the coolest sculptures...its goes across the road

how cool is that?

very dramatic

lots of sculptures here in this area

4-wheelin'...

great views

so many sculptures

more tortoises

sabre tooth tigers

another

it was fun spotting all the sculptures

getting ready to pop

these are so sweet

primrose?

the lilies were really blooming all over....the locals were pretty excited about that

a carpet of blooms

another area of town with sculpture installations

again, great background

one more...

When we got back to the campground, we thought about going to the "hot dog" party at the campfire. Not a fan of hot dogs (Tom is though).....but I really was looking forward to s'mores! Hahahha. I sent him out to check out the scene before we actually went. He was so funny trying to be incognito. We had a good laugh about that! Anyway, it was fun!

doing recon on the hot dog and s'mores situation-hahahahahha