March 6-7, 2019 Joshua Tree National Park to Anza Borrego State Park, California

70's and partly sunny day.

Purple Mat, ocotillo, Joshua tree official sign, white crypanthia , red chuparosa, phacilia. Big field of desert dandelions.  

Hillside of poppies, brittle bush with red ocotillo blooms. Cool rocks. 

Canterbury bells in front of cool rocks and flowers. Cool rocks with different blossoms-lupine and poppies.  

Twisty tree and lots of flowers. Chia, desert dandelions, white crypanthia and lupine

Chia in the foreground, lupines, desert dandelion and poppies. In the far back ground is another rare red flower... Our car buried in the flowers.  

Another beautiful flowery vista. Pencil cholla,  desert dandelion,  tiny desert stars  underneath all the bigger flowers, chia flowers. 

Chia flower, bladderpod bush and nettle. We drove into Palm Springs to visit our friends Ginny and Steve. Steve BBQ'd us a wonderful dinner. Great to see them. 

Finished this basket on our way here. 6 x 2 inches. I made the piece of glass in the center. The bus parked at Oasis Inn and RV park in Borrego Springs, California 

Red chuparosa bush, blue phacilia and cholla.  

Cholla with blue phacilia, cholla with blue phacilia and Chuparosa. Welcome to Borrego Springs, a white pincushion. Last light on the peak above Borrego Springs. 

 Cool looking clouds over a big fat rainstorm peaks. We were at Anza Borrego desert state park, blue phacilia and red chuparosa, a dove and barrel cactus with phacilia. 

Evening light across the valley. The hillsides are extremely green.  

Sunset tonight.

March 3-5, 2019 Death Valley, California

We went to Badwater to greet the hikers at the end of their 170 mile, 2 week hike.

John with binoculars watching for them. At the very bottom of the photo I added the view through the binocs-- a white heat wavy line, almost impossible to see the figures. Bec, Judy D and Judy P gasping in the heat at the Badwater sign. Badwater is 282 feet below sea level. 

Badwater is a very popular tourist stop. People want to see the lowest place in the western hemisphere and walk out to the salt flats. You can see reflected in the water Telescope peak which is the highest place in Death Valley at around 11,000 feet. Phyllis dressed as a Harvey Girl bringing cold water to the hikers. She is driving them up to Furnace Creek Inn. Judy D, Phyllis, Bec and Judy P. 

This is Furnace Creek Inn. It is where they will spend the last night of their trip. We are joining them for dinner. John dressed up in his sports coat having a Manhattan in the bar at Furnace Creek Inn waiting for dinner. He dressed up since he is escorting 7 women to dinner.

We had before dinner drinks on the veranda near their room. Donna,Susan and John. Donna and Susan drove down to celebrate with the group. The warm spring fed pool at Furnace Creek Inn as seen from the veranda.

Dinner at the Inn. Bec, Judy D, John and Donna at one table and Phyllis, Judy P and Susan at the other. At a ceremony after dinner Judy presented Bec with the award for finishing the B2B. It is a piece the Tonepah to Tidewater railroad that says Beatty to Badwater on it. John, Donna, Judy P, Bec and Judy D.

We are heading south. The worlds tallest thermometer in Baker , Ca says it is 77 degrees. Gas is really high in Baker, but the famous Bun boy sign is in the background, On the way to Joshua Tree there was this sign saying a road was closed. Didn't say if we could still get to Joshua Tree or not. So we went, and we got through. We drove on part of Route 66 to Amboy where the Amboy Crater is. We were going to camp there but it was still early so we kept going. And a shrine of trash in Amboy. We drove through the Mohave Preserve past Kelso Dunes, where we camped last time through and Granite Mountains. 

Amboy has a populations of 4 people. Historic Roy's Motel and Cafe are still standing. They were a big stop when people were traveling Route 66, before highway 40 went in and then the town died. We are camped in the BLM free dispersed camping just east of Joshua Tree National Park. The flowers are incredible. 

A short rainstorm blew through and then we had a rainbow over the bus and all around it. Not sure what these flowers are but they are really pretty. 

John photographing poppies. Evening light on the bus and flowers. 

There are fields of lupines here. The smell is heavenly. 

Sunset. A field of poppies and lupines. 

Phacelia, evening primrose, poppies and lupines. My friend Susan made these pottery bases for me to build pots on. 

March 1-2, 2019 Death Valley

We drove down to Ashford, hiked in and camped with the hikers. The road was wavy. Our tent and below is dinner. We all cooked our own. 

Judy D in her tent, below is Judy P's tent and Judy in her rain gear the next morning with Bec and her tent in the background. Sunset from camp.

It was raining when we woke up. Judy D, Judy P and Bec packed up ready to go. Sue and John in our rain gear. The clouds cleared and it was a lovely day. 

John packed up ready to go with the empty cache cans he is hauling out. There are millions of tiny plants getting ready to bloom any day now.

We hiked into a couple of short slot canyons beside the road. John in one and looking up at the end of the canyon. 

Salt deposited on a red rock as the water receded, blossoms on a bush, desert mushroom, forget me not flowers, and tiny plants. Creosote bloom, tiny forget me nots, dried mud, plants coming up in the cracks in the mud, bird tracks by a pool of water and a holly leaf on a rock. 

An artifact, cool salt formations on the salt flats and a huge bird nest on a cliff. Light and shadow on the valley floor below a rainstorm in the mountains.

The vast surreal salt flats of Badwater Basin. Salt crystals expand pushing the crust of salt into rough chaotic forms. Newly formed salt crystals ooze between the mud cracks stretching strange patterns. John walking on the salt flats. Farther into the valley there is more salt than dirt.  I love it in here.  

Looking back at the canyon walls from the salt flats. Some of the weird salt formations. 

A colorful canyon on the Artist Drive. Artist Palette along the Artist drive.  

More cool colors in the Artist Drive. The Furnace Creek Golf course is 214  feet below sea level.  

We had lunch at the 19th hole restaurant. John with his IPA and lunch.