April Blossoms in the Desert

I roamed the desert in Arizona, looking for a good shot of blooming saguaro flowers.  It's hard to get a closeup shot because the blooms mostly appear on the ends of saguaro arms which, of course, usually point upward a good distance above ground level.  To get a real closeup you have to find a saguaro with a droopy arm, close to ground level, that happens to be flowering.  Out in the bush, I never did...this was one of the best shots I found.

But, I finally did find saguaro flowers that I could shoot with a macro from close range.  They were on a cactus in the middle of Sun City, between 99th avenue and a rec center parking lot.  Late April is still a little early for peak saguaro flowers...they're most plentiful in May.  This flower is surrounded by buds...there will be a lot more blooms here in the coming weeks.

I moved on to Joshua Tree National Park.  I had read on the internet that the Mastodon Peak area, near Cottonwood campground in the southern part of the park, was a singularly good flower spot this spring.  Despite the overall dry winter in the desert southwest, this area had heavy rain in September, which closed the roads and did some damage.  The rain soaked in, and the result has been a great flower season, in just a small area.  This is a silver cholla flower.

Not sure of the name of this flower, but the bee likes it.

Fine beavertail cactus bloom.

Maybe an aster of some sort.

Very pretty blue flower.

Globemallows

Fine ocotillo macro.

Desert sunflowers?

Multiple blooms on a silver cholla.

The creosotes were blooming in profusion!

The lizards enjoyed the flowers.  Here they are with some mojave desert stars.

This silver cholla had dark brown flowers that I didn't see on any other plant.

At about 3200 feet, the hedgehogs were in full bloom on the Mastodon Peak trail.  They were almost all done flowering near Phoenix, at only half the elevation.  Except for the saguaro flowers in the first two pics here, all of these blooms were on the same 2 1/2 mile trail!  I can't recall ever seeing such a diversity of flowers in such a small area of the desert!  A ranger told me there were about 100 different species here.

A balanced rock...no, it wasn't placed here...freezing, thawing, and erosion sculpted the scene.

Here's a handsome lizard.  He had a fine black and brown tail, but I couldn't get a good shot of it.

A historic photo!  For the first time ever, my lizards met a non-bionic member of their species!  The lizard in the previous pic can be seen warily eyeing my saurians from the right edge of the picture.  Lizard and Verde were excited to meet a kindred spirit.

Fine rockpile in JTNP.

Teddy bear cholla flower.  Look but don't touch!

Late in the afternoon, clouds began moving in from the southwest.  These fine lenticular clouds were followed by showers the next day.

Cactus Flowers Et Al

I'm in the Arizona desert.  By mid April, the wildflowers are largely gone, especially this year when little rain has fallen since December.  But at 2500 feet in Saguaro National Park, the cactus are thriving.  These are rusty red buckhorn cholla flowers.

The insects love the prickly pear blooms. 

Buckhorn cholla come in several colors.  This magenta bloom is typical.

Ocotillos are also in full bloom.

A prickly pear in full bloom.

A fine buckhorn cholla on the north side of Tucson, near the Westward Look. 

Saguaro skyline in Tucson.

Some buckhorns produce yellow blooms...they're versatile!

On the way to Arizona I stopped in San Diego.  Visits here are always nostalgic, since I lived in the area off and on from 1973 to 1977 when I was in the Navy.  Didn't like the Navy, but I had a lot of fun on the beach.  La Jolla was one of my favorite hangouts then...still is.  A few things have changed in the last 35 years.  One of them is Children's Beach.  In the old days, this sheltered cove was a popular bathing spot for kids and their parents.  Now the sloats have taken over big time!

La Jolla has a wide variety of architectural styles.  Mediterranean is probably the most common, but there are still some old, rustic beach bungalows tucked away in the 'hood.

Just north of La Jolla cove, the rocks have been appropriated by cormorants and pelicans.  There are a lot of sloats here too, just not in this picture.

Classic La Jolla shot.  The pink edifice of La Valencia remains an icon.

I visited Petco Park for the first time today.  Nice place...it's right downtown.  Nice TCU too.  I have seen many Padres' games over the years at the old stadium, now occupied by only the Chargers.  The tarp in left field was down because there were rain showers in the morning. 

Exploring the City...and Environs

I was in San Francisco last Friday night to see an outstanding concert by Steven Wilson, a brilliant British guitarist/songwriter/sound engineer/singer...and probably more!  Suz and I stayed at the Hotel Tomo in Japantown, four blocks from the legendary Fillmore, the concert venue.  The hotel features anime murals in every room, friendly service, good food, and handy parking, all for a reasonable price.  Definitely a keeper!

The hotel is located in an old neighborhood that fortunately was not touched by the 1906 fire, which was contained a few blocks to the east along Franklin Street and Van Ness Avenue.  Thus, there are many classic Victorian homes within an easy walk.  From what I've read, the Victorians, though beautiful and ornate, were not as complicated to construct as it may seem.  Many of the homes, in fact, were basically built from kits, that came complete with fancy, but mass produced woodwork such as you can see around the windows of this home.  Blow up the pic for better detail.

In the 1890s the Queen Anne style came into vogue, featuring round towers and curved windows...I can only imagine how much these panes of glass cost nowadays.  I don't recall ever having been in one of these round towers, but they seem cozy to me.

A block of fine Victorians on Webster Street.  Being standard architecture, and built from kits, these were originally only middle class homes, priced comparatively modestly by 1870s/80s standards.  Now, any nicely renovated Victorian is worth over a million dollars.

These Vics are more elegant than the ones in the above pic.  They're on California Street, a bit west of Nob Hill.  Almost all the surviving Victorians in SF have now been nicely renovated.  Some people have made a living doing that.  They would perhaps buy a rundown house for, say, 300K, spend two years and another 300K renovating it, then sell it for a million.  Net result...400K profit for two years' hard work.  Not bad.

Before the concert I roamed the Marin headlands.  This was a favorite pastime 1990-94, when I lived in the Bay Area...don't get to do it nearly as often now, so whenever I have the opportunity I jump on it.  I got lucky and was able to get some pics of the GG Bridge with this large container ship passing underneath.

This is Tennessee Beach, a few miles north of the Golden Gate.  The beach is named after a ship that was wrecked here around 1850.  The red cliffs and sand remind me a little of Red Sand Beach in Maui.  This is a wilderness beach...you have to hike a mile and a half to reach it.  I first did the trek in 1977, shortly after the area had been saved from development.  Some real estate people wanted to build a huge community named Marincello here, with 16 story apartment towers and shopping malls.  Fortunately, the conservationists gained the upper hand and the region was added to the large swath of parkland in West Marin.  Marin and Sonoma counties have everything.  The 101 corridor is highly urbanized, with all the modcons.  Farther west the countryside is peaceful and pastoral, with lots of dairy cows.  There are plenty of wineries, and groves of redwoods.  And both counties have fine mountains with spectacular views.  All within an easy drive of San Francisco, one of the world's great cities!

This house is in Petaluma, which also features lots of fine Victorian architecture.  Like San Francisco, there are also plenty of Mediterranean and Craftsman homes.  This one is a hybrid...the basic design is Craftsman (early 20th century) but the round tower is Queen Anne style (late 19th).  Perhaps the buyer liked the old round tower feature but wanted a modern home overall.  Notice the fine front porch...perfect for reading, drinking wine, dozing, strumming the guitar, or watching the town pass by.  I could live here!

I also roamed the slopes of Mount Tamalpais, a favorite hangout since the 1980s.  Here's a shot of Stinson Beach from the lower slopes of the mountain.

Surf's Up at Carmel!

Had some of the biggest surf I've seen this winter today...22 feet at buoy 42 about the time this pic was taken.  Fine day at Carmel River Beach!