Rambling in the Southwest

I'm on the road, currently in Arizona.  I always try to leave...and return to...Monterey on Highway 1, going down the Big Sur coast.  Last week I had a fine, top down day for the trip.

Cruising through the Cuyama Valley the next day, I was impressed by the stark beauty of the landscape. 

Here I'm hiking in Saguaro National Park West.  Blow up the pic and you can see petroglyphs on the rocks.  Archaeologists aren't sure whether the pictures have some religious or symbolic value, or whether the Hohokams were just doin' a bit of tagging.

As one might expect from the name, Saguaro West has many fine saguaros.  The one in the back of this pic has an especially complex array of arms.

Classic Arizona...a stately saguaro rises into a crystalline sky dappled with high clouds. 

This saguaro serves as a bird condo.  Blow the pic up for a better view of all the holes in the cactus.

A chain fruit cholla backlit by the sun appears almost impressionistic in its variety of lighting and shade.

The Lizards, of course, love the desert.  Here they're hangin' on a barrel cactus.

The woody skeleton of a cholla has an elegant design.

A closeup of a saguaro.  The cacti in the park are nice and plump...when they're filled with moisture the arms fatten and expand like a bellows.  There's been decent rain around Tucson in the latter part of this year, and a few days after this pic was taken the area was soaked with another inch of moisture.  A good wildflower season lies ahead!