I proposed the idea to my other half earlier in the week to look for and photograph wildflowers in the Anza Borrega State Park. No response. When I asked vocally, he said sure…
Come Saturday morning, I was getting ready to go, packing snacks and water for a long trip. I emailed Tom the Google map route. So by the time I am ready to head out the door now; it finally dawned on him he needed to look at the map.
My other half asked, “Sweetie, you know this place is far away, about 3 hours each way, right?”
I answered, “Yes, I know, we better start now if we want to come home tonight.”
He said, “Are you sure you want to go there?”
I said, “Yes. We have two options; we can do this as a day trip, or an overnight trip. And if you want to go to a casino afterward, we should probably stay down south overnight.”
We started to look for accommodation for the night, being last minutes and in a somewhat remote area from the “city”, obviously there wasn’t going to be too many choices…
I said, “Oh, we can stay at the Warner Spring Ranch for about $100/night.”
He said, “What, a ranch near no where, how about at the casino hotel?” We looked and nothing under $250/night. I know Tom wanted to play cards while I don’t. So if we stayed at a casino hotel, at least he can self entertain himself at night while I get some “me” time. Regardless, the cost is a bit on the high side for a one-night stay. I wasn’t really convinced. And then Tom said, “Well, it wouldn’t be $250, we just chop chop…”
I smiled innocently to him and said, “What do you mean chop chop? Who are you chopping with? We are married now, no more chop chop. The net amount is still the same, dud! If we are staying at the ranch, I pay. If we are staying at the casino hotel, you pay.”
An hour later, we finally headed out the door, settling on the idea of “playing by ears” for the night.
The drive was really nice. It was a beautiful day. We took I-5 and then cutover inland at Oceanside. Cars and people quickly disappeared. The landscape changed. In the valley, there are ranches after ranches, with cattle. For a city girl, this is a very enjoyable change of scenery. At times, you wouldn’t think you are in SoCal, but more like in the English country side, especially when the low clouds set in and a bit drizzling started.
After another hour, we finally started to enter the state park. The sun came out again; big boulders scatter around the rocky dessert landscape. Well, we were not the only crazy people there in search of wildflowers, there are many cars. We actually encountered a bit of traffic jam at the visitor center entrance.
It was good to stretch our legs after a long drive. I was very happy to see flowers. We thought we followed the correct signet. But apparently not, we took the wrong foot path and got a good walk out of it. One of the main reasons for this outing is for me to practice my photo shooting skill. I was reading up on Aperture setting previous week. I dug out my old G3 with me on this trip, as it allows manual control than my handy PowerShot. My dear hubby was indulging me (and laughing at me simultaneously on taking photos of every little speck of flowers). I got some nice ones that day.
As for the wildflowers, it is after all a very dry desert. I didn’t set a high expectation, so I wasn’t disappointed with the numbers and variety of wildflowers. Sometimes the media can be a bit over reporting. Of course, each year is different, and highly dependent on the amount of rain we have here. You learn to appreciate and accept the cycle. It is all relative!!! Would I do it again, probably. I think the drive is more eye candy rewarding than the wildflowers.
We did spend the night down south. We were able to negotiate to a lower rate at Harrah’s. We took a leisure pace coming back the next day, with stops at local fruit stands and jerky truck stop. Both the avocados and the venison jerky are gone now.
We made a stop at Oceanside at mid day, just checking out the small seaside town, near camp Pendleton. At one point, I considered buying a place here due to its location and low key charms. But I was told it isn’t a nice neighborhood to live. From what I can see, the beach and the pier are beautiful. We found a row of beachfront cottages. So cute! I was thinking how about a weekend home, even just a studio or one-bedroom place, maybe $200K?? Well, after a bit of online investigation, these little charmers are called Roberts Cottages. And each one is priced around half of million dollars, so much for my idea of weekend home!!! What do you mean real estate crash??
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