White Sands

About 12 years ago, I first visited the other-worldly landscape of White Sands National Monument. I left vowing to myself that I'd return again someday to spend more time and camp out in the sands under the pristine desert sky.

I have finally returned, though camping was still not in the cards. (The adjacent missile testing zone for the military causes occasional closures of the park, and camping happened to be forbidden the night I showed up.) But the white dunes are as surreal as I remember. And I left vowing to myself, once again, that I will return someday to spend more time and camp out in the sands under the pristine desert sky. 

In the meantime, some snapshots of this particular brand of amazingness. This is sand, not snow, folks!

Chiricahua

SH is one busy bee, trying to manage both work and school in Tucson--so unfortunately she couldn't come with me out to Chiricahua National Monument, where she used to work. But after hearing so much about it while she was out there, I had to check it out for myself, and boy was it worth the trip. Gorgeous hoodoos and amazing views on the hike I took. And (not pictured) I even got to see a coatimundi (they survive isolated on the "sky island" of Chiricahua, which is at a far higher elevation than the surrounding desert) scamper across the road as a drove out of the park at dusk! Just beautiful.

Tucson & Saguaro

Those of you who have been following along may remember my great friend SH, who joined me for two weeks in the Yukon and Alaska in August. So soon, I've made it all the way down to her current place of residence: Tucson, AZ! She is in grad school at U of A, a campus I remember first seeing and finding very beautiful back when I was in high school. At that point I had only ever lived in WI, and I vividly remember my mind being blown by the wide-open, non-cold-or-rain-proof style of the campus buildings and set up. It's still gorgeous!

SH took me into the university's amazing tree ring research lab, where they have this completely incredible cross-section of a sequoia that lived for 1704 years before falling in 1915. This thing predates the founding of Istanbul (was Constantinople)!

No visit with SH is complete without hiking, and that we did in the western (Sonoran Desert) section of Saguaro National Park.

In addition to the (of course) saguaros, this part of the park also has some interesting preserved pictographs:

We ate very, very well while I was there, and I'm now going to think of Tucson in part as a city of great restaurants. But what might have made the biggest impression on me was the Native Seeds/SEARCH store, with all of its Southwest-specific offerings, including these fingernail-sized ordoño peppers…

…Agua Chiltepin, a germ-busting concoction made of water, apple cider vinegar, sea salt, garlic, chiltepin peppers, japans, thai and serrano peppers, ginger, lime juice, and natural spices--which I was not brave enough to try and which made even SH's Southwestern native eyes water…

…and the very yummy (I can personally attest) snack of parched corn: kernels baked in hot sand and then sifted out and sprayed with salted water. Mmmmm.

Borderlands

From Joshua Tree, I steered south along the east side of the Salton Sea into what has to be one of the most apocalyptic-feeling areas of this country. Border patrol SUVs, agents, and helicopters crawling all over the place. A smell so horrible I thought my car might be on fire, until a mile or so later I drove past an enormous CAFO--the first time I've ever seen one so up-close, I think. I was tempted to stop to take a picture to remind myself why I should never, ever eat meat that's not of the highest, most responsibly-raised quality, but I was afraid I was going to start retching any minute from the stench, and had to drive on. Vast fields of unidentified crops growing, big-ag style, supported by all the immigrants the border patrol was trying to monitor. Once I hit I-8, I went past an area of sand dunes, dotted with daredevil ATVers, that looked almost as out of place as Great Dunes in CO always does.

With a stop in Yuma, things started to feel a bit more comfortable, and the drive through the Gila Mountains was so beautiful I barely registered the drug-sniffing dogs employed at the border patrol checkpoint leading up to the pass. Down on the Sonoran Desert side, though, a nefarious column of dark smoke was rising up from the flats and creating dark cloud that made the mid-day sky seem like twilight. Back to apocalypse!

The reward for this strange journey was a trip to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, which sits right on the border with Mexico in southwestern AZ. Spectacular in the sunset.

There were actually a lot more saguaro and accordion cacti than there were organ pipe cacti, but it was never too long between spectacular specimens of the species that gives the monument its name.

Though the park service discourages solo hiking or wilderness wandering at dusk or after dark due to the area being an acknowledged border crossing that is intensely monitored by the border patrol, in my too-short time there I got to take two spectacular scenic drives and a short hike near a set of amazing natural arches, plus camp for a night under a dark sky brilliant with stars and the distinctive sounds of the desert. Not bad, not bad at all….

Southern CA Part II

Back in L.A. after my trip to Wisconsin, I braved the traffic along with all the hearty souls who were commuting home to the San Bernardino valley. My aim was Colton, CA, and a visit with my Peace Corps Madagascar friend, M!

Though the last time we saw each other was nine years ago in a land far, far away, she has been a faithful correspondent all these years and we picked up right where we left off with great conversations and walks around her neighborhood, Redlands, and Camp Seeley near Crestline. When we were trying to decide what to have for lunch one day, M recalled that I'd once written her a letter from my village in southern Mada telling her that I'd made a lunch of yam, what I was pretty sure were lima beans, and wild tomatoes (probably the only things I had available, and everything tastes good when you're hungry and the local market only happens once per week, five miles away!). Apparently after I wrote that to her, she went on a kick of eating sweet potatoes, white beans, and tomato sauce. Giddily, we decided on that for lunch. Don't knock it till you try it!

From Colton, I headed east (strange now to be heading east for the first time since June, when I got as far east as one can on this continent and so turned west) through hazy mountains and windmill colonies…

…and a quick look-see around Palm Springs…

…before heading into the wilds of beautiful Joshua Tree National Park.

I took up my umbrella as defense against the relentless sun and walked and walked and walked through   miles of the quiet of the desert. Check out the clear view of the San Andreas fault in this pic!--the dark ridge heading horizontally across the center of the picture.

When the sun was lower in the morning and evening, the shadows against the crazy rock formations were just amazing.

As was it to drive past a tarantula.

Maybe my favorite part of the park was the cholla cactus garden. And not just because I got to explore it as the relentless sun was finally dipping behind a mountainside.

Home sweet home (An interlude)

I took a little long-weekend vacation from my vacation, leaving my car in Santa Monica and jetting from the mighty Pacific to the more gentle shores of Lake Michigan...

…and my hometown, to celebrate my younger nephew E's 3rd birthday. It was crazy and so sweet to see my nieces and older nephew board the school bus that takes them to the same elementary school my brother and sister and I attended 30 (ahem) years ago.

And it was a brilliant, sunny Saturday, perfect for a visit to the pumpkin patch in anticipation of Halloween. (Geology buffs might also appreciate that oh-so-Wisconsin glacial drumlin forming the backdrop of this pic!)

My nieces and nephews just keep getting cuter and cuter. Pictured here after a face-painting session, obviously.

And it was a total joy to be around for E's birthday. Here pictured with my mom, AKA "Nana," at his birthday lunch:

And then that evening for the family party, complete with presents and cupcakes.

Fun. Fun. Fun. Fun. Fun. My sister and this great brood!

Southern CA part 1

I could happily have spent another two weeks in the Bay Area hanging out with friends and family. (Apparently a 9-month road trip is not long enough.) But it was time to continue on south, for equally exciting onward plans. I took Hwy 1 through Big Sur, which was as gorgeous as I remember it being the first time I drove down the West Coast, 12 years ago.

My magic, dorky document where I keep lists of places on each continent and in each country that I should be sure to visit had at some point had, in the meantime, acquired a shout-out for the small oceanfront town of Cayucos. Can't remember who recommended it to me or when, but it was definitely worth a stop and a walk on its cozy beach. Wish--as I wish for almost everywhere I've gone on this trip--that I could have stayed a bit longer.

Down in Santa Barbara, I had dinner on the waterfront with family friends who love to go there for clam chowder and salad. Yum. And not a bad view from the restaurant's outdoor seating.

Fishermen unloading a haul of sea urchins:

And then it was on to Los Angeles. I know L.A. gets a bad rap and the traffic and smog suck. But to be honest, I really like L.A. When I visit a big city, I like to be there visiting a friend and to focus on exploring just one or two parts of the city. My friend C just moved here from Chicago, so we focused on her new neighborhood of Santa Monica, plus Koreatown.

In between trips to Santa Monica Yoga, we took a hike in Temescal Park, enjoying the eternal sunshine of the City of Angels (and the resulting view of it)...

...and hung out at C's awesome new place, a rental house attached to her landlord's home, in a veritable secret garden that you would never know is hidden behind the fence facing the sidewalk.

C and her fiancé, J, at Blue Plate Taco!

So, then, the Koreatown part. C and her friend R took me to a Korean day spa (Natura Sports Health Club--I recommend!) that was so fantastic we stayed for FIVE HOURS--soaking in the various hot tubs; lounging in the sauna rooms; getting vigorously scrubbed free of all our dead skin cells by strong, enthusiastic Korean women; sprawling on the heated floor watching Korean soap operas. It was AWESOME. Then, so relaxed we could barely form complete thoughts, much less sentences, the obvious next step was to go to a Korean grocery store to look for dinner.

The content of those jars, picturesque as they may be, wasn't it. But we did find way-too-good treats in the bakery section and take home some red snappers to bake up.

And we topped off what I will always remember as a darn near perfect day with a walk to Treats for frozen yogurt. We were happy.