A few pictures taken while crossing Anza Borrego State park on the way home. If you come out to California and want to see the desert, this is where you want to go. Much more beautiful and diverse than the larger Mojave Desert east of Los Angeles. This is a "cactus desert" with a LOT of cactus. It's about an hour and a half drive east of San Diego, just across the mountains.

I went here for a while when I lived in San Diego. This was my first expierence with the desert and it was very cool, if not somewhat scary. The sheer remoteness is enough to make any city dweller feel freaked out. The scenery is spectacular. The drive is fun and tasking. It is also very surreal to drive through a forest that is all ash on account of the wildfires. I do suggest this trip for anyone looking to rock out some desert action.The park is located on the eastern side of San Diego County.It is about a two-hour drive from San Diego.

Eleven months of the year the Anza Borrego Desert is beautiful, but dry and bleak.

With the first thunderstorms of the spring areas of the desert that you would never guess could bloom come to life! Sand dunes, barren flats, dry lakes... all put on a spectacular show.

It lasts only a week or two, which is what makes it special, you never know when it's going to happen so it's something to look forward to, a surprise from nature.

This was March of 2005, the last time it rained in the desert. We headed out to Borrego Springs (borrego is a bighorn sheep), about an hour east of San Diego. We went out during the second storm, so shower after shower followed us across the desert from tiny, isolated thunderstorms.

In 2006 and 2007 we waited (along with the desert creatures...) but rains never came. Maybe 2008.

This is only an hour east of San Diego, a nice trip across the mountains. If you're in the area during one of these blooms, make sure you see it!

Here's a resource for tracking the blooms around the southwestern US. It's only as accurate as the people who send in reports, but good for getting there the right week... http://www.desertusa.com/wildflo/ca.html#anchor306242