Gray whales Baja bound

The girls and I spent yesterday at the desert and today whale watching.  This is the first time that I have been whale watching since I worked as a volunteer on a Birch aquarium affiliated whale watching boat.  It has been about ten years, way too long.  

Within the first 5 minutes we spotted our first gray whale.  What impeccable timing.  Every year gray whales migrate 10,000 miles from Canada to Mexico, and then back to Canada.  It is the longest known mammal migration.  

They mate on the way south and the following year, thirteen and a half months later, they will give birth in Mexico.  

Goodbye FIVE, Ruby is almost SIX!

Three whales made this mark with their tales 'playing' for moment as the men courted a female.  

We saw five whales on our two hour tour.  We booked with Dana Wharf.  Captain Tom's love of gray whales spilled out of the microphone.  He has been doing whale watching tours since the 70's.  He respects the legal space of gray whales, but is able to predict their path to give guests the best views possible.  I have been on probably twenty gray whale trips, and I still learned a lot on this tour.  

Little Blair Valley, Anza Borrego State Park

The mission of today is to see Kumiai pictographs.  Pictographs are images and icons painted onto rocks, versus petroglyphs which are engraved into rocks. 

Jessica joined the girls and I to search for evidence of Kumiai, left hundreds or possibly thousands of years ago in Little Blair Valley within Anza Borrego Desert State Park.  

We started the day with a delicious and healthy picnic; hummus, fresh mozzarella, cut veggies, crackers, egg salad, fruit, and salami (Ruby's favorite).

I love the desert.  If a species wants to survive it must acquire beneficial traits to do so.  Every organism is a piece of art, millions or more years in the making.  

We made it.  The condition of the pictographs is incredible.  

It is a little less than a mile to the site, but most of the hike is in the wash which takes much more energy to walk in.  It was a little much for Ruby at times.  

We continued on the trail through Smugglers Canyon another half a mile to a spectacular view of Vallecito Valley.  (A redundant name considering vallecito is valley in Spanish.) 

In wet winters this area has flowing water, which is why the Kumiai were here.  

It is amazing to me that the girls played in an area where Kumiai children once played.  

Every time I go to Anza Borrego I am planning a return trip. The girls are addicted too.  As soon as we got into the car Elle asked when we would be coming back.  I am thinking camping...

Anza Borrego Desert, prehistoric creatures and concretions

Three day weekends need to include some sort of road trip, it just doesn't seem right otherwise.  Marla, the girls, and I set out for an adventure in Anza Borrego Desert.  Anza Borrego is so close, and there is so much to do (if you find beauty in the desert like I do).

We first examined the metal sculptures on Galleta Meadows Estates in Borrego Springs.  In 2008, the owner of the property, Dennis Avery, commissioned a Perris artist, Ricardo Breceda, to construct life size prehistoric creatures (some of them abstract) on his 3 square miles of undeveloped land.  There are 129 creations in total.  I have seen maybe a third of them which makes me want to return to find the rest.  

The 350 foot serpent, whose body extends under the road, is the most popular piece of artwork.  It cost $40,000 and took 4 months to create.  

With just enough light in the day we head out on a dirt road to find what is known as the Pumpkin Patch.  It is only accessible by four wheel drive.

It felt like I was playing Mario Cart.  I wish the whole way was like this but most of it was in a wash so it was extremely sandy and uneven.  It was nothing the Subaru couldn't handle.  

The pumpkins that make up the Pumpkin Patch are concretions, a spherical mass of mineral matter embedded in a rock of different composition.  Because the minerals are more firmly cemented together the surrounding sedimentary rock erodes and leaves behind the concretions.  Wind and water erosion continue to shape the round rocks.  

Geologically speaking, the Pumpkin Patch is one of the most interesting things I have ever seen.  

Nature is incredible.