Desert Images

We are now back from our 6 days road trip into the desert regions of California, Utah and Arizona, and I must say we had a wonderful time. The desert has its many interesting features, showing a deep beauty that has survived the harshest tests of time. However, aside from the inspiring beauty of the desert, it is the extreme peacefulness and serenity that invites us to explore it whenever we get the chance. Though we had thousands of pictures, but I decided to post 2 pictures a day from our trip.

Day 1 @ Death Valley National Park, CA

Badlands Creatively Carved by Nature, Zabriskie Point

Little Boy Enjoying His ATV, Dumont Dunes

( this is not part of Death Valley National Park, we just saw this recreational park on our way to Death Valley )

Day 2 @ Death Valley National Park, CA

Mesquite Sand Dunes, Early Morning

Dante's View

Day 3 @ Zion National Park and Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, Utah

Hiking @ Hidden Canyon, Zion National Park

Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, Utah

(the desert is more than just sands and cactus, this picture shows the immense pine forest next to the sand dunes)

Day 4 @ North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park and Page, Arizona

Tourists Sitting on the Cliff Enjoying the View of Grand Canyon 

Glen Canyon Dam, Page, Arizona

Day 5 @ Page, AZ and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, Utah

Horseshoe Bend, Page, Arizona

@ Toadstool Trail, Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, Utah

Day 6 @ Mojave National Preserve, California

Kelso Dunes from a Distance and Joshua Tree

Kids Enjoying the Booming Sound of Kelso Dunes as they slide down

( this is a 600+ ft tall sand dune, and after sliding down, the only way up is to climb one step up and gravity slides you 1/2 step down)

A Belated Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, and hope you are having a great weekend.

A Quick Post from Death Valley

A few of our pictures from yesterday at Death Valley National Park. When we get back home, I will write more and will have a chance to choose for my favorite pics to post. I do not have time even to put signature in my pics :)

Common question about the desert is, "is it hot?" When it is summer, definitely, Death Valley is one of the hottest if not the hottest place on Earth. However, this hot place cools down after summer, and how cool does it get? Let me answer with the picture below.

Hiker in the dunes, sunrise ( at low 30s F, or close to 0 C )

 In the vastness of things, we are just but a dot on the Earth.

Can you find the hiker in the picture above?

Is there life in Death Valley?

Arroweed, Surviving the Harsh Environment in the Desert

Salty Meadow

( yes, saw tiny creatures swimming in these creek, will post next time about wildlife at Death Valley captured by our lens)

Saturday, we were at 282 ft below sea level at Badwater Basin, Sunday, we were gazing at it at more than 5000 ft above sea level.

Dante's Ridge, Death Valley National Park, CA

Revisiting Death Valley National Park

Badwater Basin, Death Valley National Park, CA

@ 282 ft below sea level, is the lowest elevation in North America

Hiking Golden Canyon, Death Valley National Park, CA

Hiking Golden Canyon, Death Valley National Park, CA

( Red Cathedral @ Golden Canyon )

Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park

A few pictures from our today's trip to Death Valley National Park. We are looking forward to have fun with the sand dunes tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone for wishing me the best of health. Thankfully, I am all well now, and presently enjoying the quietness here in the desert and the amazing dark skies and sparkling stars.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Time for tee

I am not a sport oriented person. The only sport i played when i was younger - many moons and summers ago - was badminton. Every now and again whenever i am home, i see to it that i do have time spare to throw a few handful of games. Wouldn't it be perfect to be spending your holiday doing a sport or game you love best.

Myrtlle Golf Beach Vacations offers you the best place to enjoy that much needed holidays. For those who wants to hit the tee - they have have a fabulous offer of Myrtle Beach Golf Package. Don't worry if you havent played the sport before. They do have instructor at hand to give you the basic and few tips to start with. It won't be long and you'll be hook to it! Who knows, in few years time you'll be playing the sport professionaly. Tiger Wood watch out!!

photo credit: www.ttimesonly

Give yourself that much wanted holiday to enjoy the Myrtle Beach Golf. Enjoy the beach and pamper yourself in a luxurious accommodation. Prepare to be impressed with how elegant the golf courses are and feel the excitement of Golf Packages Myrtle Beach.

by Eng

Getting Better

Once again, my one day late entry for our Blogging for fun Friday. The theme for this week was anything that starts with "G". At first I thought of "geocaching", then, I thought maybe I'll feature "Grand Canyon", or "Gray Whales" or "Gorillas", but then, since I am actually one day late, I decided for "Getting Better".

"Me and My Signature Back Pose " :)

I am really very thankful for "getting better", after waking up my husband at 1:00 am in Friday, him driving me to the Emergency Room in the nearby hospital, and us leaving the ER with hopes of feeling better at 3:30 am. I was out from school Friday, and just simply slept, rested, and followed up with my doctor in the afternoon. And since I can not do strenuous hiking yet, I spent part of my day experiencing the healing powers of the ocean.

The ocean has shared my failures and triumphs since childhood, since this is the place where I would ran whenever I felt crying or celebrating.

The sound of its waves seems like a soothing music that brings healing for me. For some couples, maybe a walk by the beach at sunset seems to be magical since I always see a lot of couples walking on the shore when it is close to sunset.

And since there is no hiking picture for me this weekend, I instead shifted the lense to focus on the city where I live.

Though maybe I had shared here a lot of pictures from San Diego, but they were mostly pictures from the trails, mostly nature photos from the ocean bluffs, canyons, mesas, valleys, and mountains. So, here are something different, the city instead of the trails.

Though this may be not as peaceful as nature photos, but am very thankful I am able to take all these pictures today, a sign, of really "getting better" and hopefully, next weekend, we'll be really better for "hiking"!

Flowers at Fall

This is my entry for Blogging For Fun Friday, however, as always, I am late. But am glad I am able to take some pictures today for this week's theme, "F". Last week, I had double E ( Excited Earth), this time, I have double F, that is Flowers at Fall.

Backyard's Blossom

In some parts of the country, where the flowers may have been maybe frozen to hibernation, here in San Diego, the bloom is year round :). Since we live in a region with mild weather, there are always flowers around. Here are some more flowers from our yard which blooms almost year round.

Fuschia

( thanks Liss, Diane, Carmen for helping me name this flower )

Euphorbia Milli ( thanks Pacey for helping me name this flower )

Oleander ( thanks to Pacey for the name)

Because it is already a November and we can now park at Lake Poway without paying for entrance ( non Poway residents pay entrance fee from April to October ), we went to nearby Lake Poway for a hike. I was planning to take some sunset pictures by the lake surrounded with layers of hills. However, we started hiking early enough :( that we were done before sunset, therefore, we were not on the side of the lake that will have both water and hills at sunset. But thankfully, despite having no sunset reflection on water, I was still happy with my sunset picture for today.

Sunset from Lake Poway

Where is the lake? Here is Lake Poway, also taken at sunset, but this one looks East. I planned to be at the East side of the lake at sunset so I could take picture of the lake with hills at sunset, but then, we finished the hike earlier than planned. Last time, we were here, we were still hidden in the canyon and missed the sunset when we reached the top of the hill :( .

Lake Poway

Because I took this picture at sunset, the color of the water reflects some colors from the reflected hills. Just imagine me standing in between this lake and the sunset picture above. Looking West was the sunset pictures above, and looking East is the lake.

Lake Poway

Picnic Area At Lake Poway

Alone But Not Lonely

PS....since this is a Saturday already, and I do not know when I would be able to update this site again :), let me deviate from "Flowers at Fall" post. During our hike today, we saw a lot of birds, it is an excitement for me...the first one that surprised me is this bird which was my first time to see at the lake.

you can click on the image to enlarge

This is not very clear since this bird is far from me and I did not bring my zoom lens :(

Then, saw a hawk with his taunting eyes ( again, sorry for low quality since I did not bring my zooming lens).

And of course, what else but egrets and waterfowls? They are a common sight at the lake though. I can't wait for spring to see white pelicans here again.

Have a happy weekend everyone.

Another Beautiful Day

My Weekend's Pleasant Surprise

Right in front of our school, there is a canyon that has hiking trails. The canyon does not look very special, it is nested between hills and there is a railway that passes beside it.

Rose Canyon, San Diego

What stopped me before from hiking or walking here is that this canyon is just two blocks away from one of San Diego's bigger malls, and around it are many restaurants serving the many biotech, high tech and many other Science research firms. In short, this walk is very much within an earshot of civilization's noise. However, what made me take this trail is because of the fact that it is right in front of our school, where I can walk/and or run to get my dose of daily exercise after a day's work. What made the walk special is that, once we (my husband and I) entered the canyon, the civilization around us disappeared and was now blocked by plants and trees in this chaparral environment.

The Trail 

Oak 

Some Colors At the Trail

Plants that live in a chaparral environment are oaks (these are what provide some fall colors), but mostly are evergreen pines and mahoganies, and many other low lying bushes.

Low Lying Bushes Found in the Trail

Now that I discovered this place, I can't wait for spring when I am imagining the hills around this canyon would burst with color from a diverse display of wildflowers. Right now however, this chaparral environment looks very dry and brown. Don't get me wrong, brown has its unique beauty too. Even though the flowers are already dried up and brown, but they still hold their beauty like this one.

Dried Wildflower @ The Trail

One of the many things that made the walk special in an otherwise very ordinary place was the presence of tiny creatures and a lot of birds and bunnies around. I however did not get lucky enough to catch any singing birds and jumping and running bunnies, but I sure loved seeing them. There were still some wildflowers on the ground, and I was happy to see some busy bees, butterfly and moth.

Busy Moth

( you can click on this picture to enlarge to better see how happy this moth is )

And the moth looked so happy sucking out sweet nectar of the flower.

Busy Bee
( we may not see the hairs of the bees when we look at them, but thankfully, the lens could. you can click on this picture to enlarge )

Alone But Not Lonely

( was surprised to see this one poppy in the trail, thought all poppies were all gone summer, so this is another pleasant surprise)

This Is My Husband's Find

Now that I have discovered this place, I know this is one of the places I can go to if I have the time to stop and simply enjoy the small creatures around. Hopefully, someday, I will get lucky enough to picture some of the birds that frequent this place. This is a place that looks very ordinary and nothing special from the outside, yet, it abounds with life inside.

After exploring this canyon, we went to the nearby ocean cliff to watch sunset.

Torrey Pine Cliffs

Torrey Pine Cliffs

Though I may live close to the ocean where we may be able to see sunset year round, but each time I see the sun disappearing in the horizon, it always makes me thankful that I see its promise of a beauitful tomorrow.