Category: Going Places

After the family wedding on the Queen Mary, I headed down to Sandy Eggo. San Diego. (When I lived there during college, I saw an occasional bumper sticker that read, “I go to Sandy Eggo State University”.)

First, a stop at my mural. I didn’t paint it, but it seems that someone must have painted it for me.

My sister and I love to walk through neighborhoods. Look at the name of this one:

I saw a business there called “Abnormal” something-or-other. 

We walked several miles looking at houses and yards. Because it costs so much to live there, even the most modest homes are very well maintained, landscaped, and just doggone cute. I really love the attention to detail, especially in tile work.

This corner with all sorts of blue treasures in the dirt grabbed me. I am used to looking for treasures, an occasional blue sparkly something to take home. But these clearly belonged at this address. (Why would someone sprinkle blue sparkly things in his yard this way??)
We found a monastery. A real monastery! It is so very beautiful, a large piece of property with gardens galore, high walls and hedges to keep the mystery in and the gawkers out. (Tulare County could use some nice architecture like this.) 

There were several Little Free Libraries, but this was the first one I’ve seen with succulents growing on the roof.

This citrus tree had 5 varieties budded onto it. I think this type of tree is called “tutti-fruiti”.

So much variety in the plant life. This upside-down morning glory is on a shrub.

Then, we went to the beach. Of course we went to the beach – we were in Sandy Eggo!! We Central California natives are always happy to walk along the Pacific Ocean.

Monday will be the post about things I learned in February, and then I hope to return to our regularly scheduled broadcast on Tuesday. 

This means I will stop diverting your attention away from my art and get back to the business of being your Central California artist.

Yesterday I promised photos of the Queen Mary, a beautiful ship docked in the Long Beach, California harbor. One of my dearest cousins got married on this fantastic boat last weekend. I’ll keep the family photos private, but am happy to share with you some of the photos of the ship.

My first view – wow.

I went early so I could wander around and take in the sights.

The day had rain, clouds, sunshine, and rainbows.

Tomorrow I’ll show you where I went next.

After Sidewinder Canyon in Death Valley, we took the long drive to Dante’s View. Dante was an Italian poet in the 1200s who wrote something called “The Inferno”, an appropriate sort of name for anything associated with Death Valley. Many places there refer to death and other unpleasant sorts of things, which is fitting when one considers that most things in the desert are designed to stab, kill, or poison the visitor. And almost everything in Death Valley National Park is a long drive.

I found a very pretty rock, but experience tells me that rocks turn meh when they get home, so it was a Leverite – “Leave ‘er right where you found ‘er”.

After Dante’s View, our hostess/tour guide/dear friend showed us a magical place, appropriately called The Inn at Death Valley. It was opened in 1927, and it was truly beautiful.

There was a burned out building that got turned into a beautiful garden, ponds surrounded by palms, stone steps and paths, classic architecture, and a mysterious palm orchard, for which I can find no explanation. These aren’t date palms. 

I have questions. Always.

And maybe you have a question for me. Ask away!

Okay, just two more photos.

And thus we conclude another road trip with the Central California artist, with the hopes that some seed of new creativity lodged in her inquiring mind.

After our Salt Creek adventure in Death Valley, we headed to a place called Sidewinder Canyon.

This is the view looking back across the valley before we headed on foot up the canyon. The Valley. Death Valley.

That crack in the wall is our destination.

Looking ahead.Looking back.

Trail Guy helped me up the steep steps.

Then we reached a wall. Time to head back.

To be continued. . .

We were able to pack many sights and sites into a short visit to Death Valley.

When our friend got off work, we headed to a place called Salt Creek. Someone told us that it gets really interesting if you go beyond the boardwalk.

This place is just so weird.

We walked across the salt fields, which were wet in some places.

So wet in surprising places that sometimes one sinks in and must crawl out, while trying to stand up but laughing too much to find a foothold. (And my friend was laughing too, but she took photos instead of helping me out!)

And this is why people are advised to stay on the boardwalks.

No worries – I just scrubbed up in the salty creek (and then rinsed the salt out of my shoes later). It was worth the hearty laugh.

We visited a mine next. I forgot the name but remember that it was in operation from 1904-1917 and produced a pile of gold.

It had a tramline like the one in Mineral King, but I didn’t feel like climbing up to it. (My shoes were wet.)

To be continued. .

The first morning we were in Death Valley, our friend was working, so we took a walk to one of the many abandoned cabins, this one about a mile above her house. We saw it a year ago and found it interesting enough to visit again.

Our friend told us there are probably 100 or more such cabins in Death Valley. I find that fascinating (but no, there won’t be a book by me about this.)

As usual, my attention went right to the shiny and colorful object among all the variations of browns and grays on the rocky ground.

The cabin was located near a water source. We headed down to see it because we spotted some wildflowers, called Bitter Brush.

Of course we went off trail, which makes me a bit nervous in the desert where everything is designed to kill or poison you. 

There are an infinite number of places where people used to fling their trash, now called “can dumps”, which got me thinking that the entire park is now a Can’t Dump kind of place.

To be continued. . .

Oh boy, there she goes again, rambling on about another trip instead of showing us what it is to be an artist in Central California. Well, artists have to take field trips for new sights and locations; it fuels creativity (so I’ve read).

We went to Death Valley to visit a dear friend. The desert doesn’t really appeal to me with all its dry brownness, but this is a very dear friend and visiting her makes this weirdly wonderful place appealing. Because of her, we got to see all sorts of things that we would not have experienced otherwise.

This is the view from the road in front of our friend’s house.

To be continued. . .