An Amazing Cactus Plant

We found this amazing cactus plant in the Cactus Garden of Balboa Park in San Diego, California. The Garden was full of remarkable cacti but sadly, was obviously neglected. It was full of weeds and many of the cactus plants had been vandalized. The trails through the Garden were mere dirt paths. It was an interesting experience because of the fabulous plants but sad because of the neglect. Right next door, there was a well-kept rose garden. It is apparent that San Diego has some rather obvious priorities when it comes to horticulture.

La Playa in Costa Rica

From the mountains to the deserts to the ocean beaches, I am impressed with the grandeur of the earth. I was almost the only person on this entire beach in Costa Rica even though I was only a few dozen yards from houses and roads. In the distance is an entire town but you would never know it from the view where I am standing. The water is warm and the temperature was probably in the low 90s. I can certainly see the attraction, but I am also certain that I prefer my own view of the mountains and forest outside my windows.

Back to Southern Utah

No matter where in the world I travel, I still come back to the Colorado Plateau. I can't imagine any other place that feels more like I belong than out here in the sandstone and rock formations of the high desert. However, I am sure you can have more than one home because I also feel at home in the low desert and in the high mountains. I even felt at home on our recent trip to the jungle of Central America. I am guessing that I just like to be outside enjoying the scenery where ever I happen to be.

A Jail Cell Wagon

When criminals had to be transported, they had appropriate conveyances. It should not be surprising that such wagons as this one were commonly used. We saw this wagon at the This is the Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Antique Grinding Wheel

When I was very young, itinerant workmen would come to town with grinding wheels like this one and offer to sharpen tools and knives. The wheel was turned by foot power on the lever at the bottom and kept going by inertia. I am beginning to realize that I lived in antique times.

Cascade Springs

Shortly after our visit to Cascade Springs in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, an ATV accident started a fire and the entire area was closed down. This area has been repeatedly the subject of man-caused fires over the years and we were just commenting on how the area had regenerated from a previous fire. Now, it has been closed for the time being and we will have to see the consequences of yet another fire. There are those of us who do not see that racing around the countryside on noisy ATVs is a positive activity.

The East Side of Timpanogos

The Wasatch Mountains are huge. Although most of the population of Utah is plastered along the western edge of the mountains, there are miles and miles of untouched wilderness waiting for the adventurous. There are only a few roads that penetrate this wilderness. We had a lovely view of the mountains from our camp in the Wasatch Mountains State Park this summer.

The Last of the Snow

During our recent camping trip into the Wasatch Mountains, the weather was very warm and the last bits of snow were rapidly melting. The beautiful weather was interrupted by a very nice and loud thunderstorm, but the clouds cleared away and we had lovely weather once again. This is about as green as you will ever see the mountains in Utah.

Overcome by Spring

This snow grooming machine looks like it was sent off to the pasture. It was hard to tell of the device was still operational and would be back at work when Winter rolled around again. I am used to seeing old cars abandoned in yards and fields, but this is the first snowplow groomer I have seen.

Snake Creek

Snake Creek is one of the tributaries of the Provo River above Deer Creek Reservoir. It is located primarily in the Wasatch Mountains State Park near Heber City. The first time we saw this creek, it was a slender trickle of water. But late Spring snow melt has turned it into a sizable stream.

Tiger Lilies

The name "tiger lily" is applied to a number of both related and unrelated flowers. These were growing in a park in Pleasant Grove, Utah. By the way, some of these plants are poisonous to both humans and animals especially cats.

Cactus Flowers

There are thousands of species of cactus and most of them have impressive flowers. This flower is from the genus Epiphyllum. Here is a short explanation of this genus from Wikipedia: Epiphyllum.

Epiphyllum (/ˌɛpᵻˈfɪləm/; "upon the leaf" in Greek) is a genus of 19 species of epiphytic plants in the cactus family (Cactaceae), native to Central America. Common names for these species include climbing cacti, orchid cacti and leaf cacti, though the latter also refers to the genus Pereskia.

Many of these lovely flowers have been created through hybridization.

Green Bananas

Bananas are really edible berries. There seem to be an almost endless variety of bananas. However, here in the United States, there are only a very limited number of varieties that are commonly sold. If you want to see what is really available, you need to travel to a tropical country. The forces of commerce severely limit the number and variety of types of bananas the will ever be available here. Here is an explanation from Wikipedia about how they grow.

The banana plant is the largest herbaceous flowering plant. All the above-ground parts of a banana plant grow from a structure usually called a "corm". Plants are normally tall and fairly sturdy, and are often mistaken for trees, but what appears to be a trunk is actually a "false stem" or pseudostem. Bananas grow in a wide variety of soils, as long as the soil is at least 60 cm deep, has good drainage and is not compacted. The leaves of banana plants are composed of a "stalk" (petiole) and a blade (lamina). The base of the petiole widens to form a sheath; the tightly packed sheaths make up the pseudostem, which is all that supports the plant. The edges of the sheath meet when it is first produced, making it tubular. As new growth occurs in the centre of the pseudostem the edges are forced apart. Cultivated banana plants vary in height depending on the variety and growing conditions. Most are around 5 m (16 ft) tall, with a range from 'Dwarf Cavendish' plants at around 3 m (10 ft) to 'Gros Michel' at 7 m (23 ft) or more. Leaves are spirally arranged and may grow 2.7 metres (8.9 ft) long and 60 cm (2.0 ft) wide. They are easily torn by the wind, resulting in the familiar frond look.

Old Oxcart

I guess that most oxcarts that are surviving today are probably old, but this one was particularly interesting sitting in its beautiful flower bed. This one happens to be a the Mission of San Juan Capistrano in California. We had a nice visit to the Mission and loved their beautiful flowers.

Taking A Rest

I guess even seagulls have to rest once and a while. This is a California Gull or Larus californicus. These birds are quite common here in Utah Valley, however, this one was sitting on the rocks near La Jolla, California. Quoting from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds:

Gulls are often thought of as coastal birds, but California Gulls are also common in inland areas in the West. These medium-sized gulls breed in colonies on islands and levees in lakes and rivers. You'll also spot them in pastures, scrublands, and garbage dumps as they often forage miles from the colony, eating everything they can find from mayflies to garbage. In the winter they head to the coast where they cruise up and down the shoreline with other gulls.

This particular bird is a breeding adult. I like to watch seagulls fly and I am still surprised to see them here in Utah.

Posing for a Photo

This basking sea lion seemed anxious for me to take a photo. His attentive audience consisted of a sole seagull but the sea lion seemed very anxious to be digitally preserved. I could not get him to sign a model release, however.

Asleep on the Beach

Look for twelve sea lions, two cormorants, and two seagulls.  This is one of those mystery pictures where you are supposed to find the hidden objects. None of these objects is actually hidden, but they may be hard to see. I like the colors in the image. I also like the daisies in the foreground even if they are out of focus.

Pelicans

These are brown pelicans or Pelecanus occidentalis. They are highly visible along the California coast and are marvelously graceful fliers. Here is an extended description of the birds from Wikipedia: Brown pelican.

The brown pelican is the smallest of the eight species of pelican, although it is large compared to most other shorebird families. It is 106–137 cm (42–54 in) in length, weighs from 2.75 to 5.5 kg (6.1 to 12.1 lb) and has a wingspan from 1.83 to 2.5 m (6.0 to 8.2 ft). Through most of its range, the brown pelican is an unmistakable bird. Like all pelicans, this species has a very large bill, 28 to 34.8 cm (11.0 to 13.7 in) long in this case, with a gular pouch on the bottom for draining water when it scoops out prey. The head is white but often gets a yellowish wash in adult birds. The bill is grayish overall in most birds, though breeding birds become reddish on the underside of the throat. The back, rump, and tail are streaked with gray and dark brown, sometimes with a rusty hue. In adult pelicans, the breast and belly are a blackish-brown and the legs and feet are black. The juvenile is similar but has a brownish-gray neck and white underparts. White pelicans are very small.

Crashing Wave

The trick is trying to figure out where I am. Usually, new locations show up when I am traveling. But, I also use photos from years in the past. This photo comes from a trip to Hawaii. You can tell that I do quite a bit of traveling. I love the ambiance of the beach, but I am not a fan of sunburns and salt rash. I would definitely like to live where I do now; in the mountains rather than the beach.

Tumbleweed

There are probably few things that have become more iconic of the Western United States than tumbleweeds. But interestingly, there is not just one plant that uses the wind to move the entire plant in order to propagate its seeds. According to the Wikipedia article "Tumbleweed." The following plant groups use the wind dispersal strategy of breaking off at the root and sending the whole plant tumbling.

• Amaranthaceae (now including Chenopodiaceae)
• Amaryllidaceae
• Asphodelaceae
• Asteraceae
• Brassicaceae
• Boraginaceae
• Caryophyllaceae
• Fabaceae
• Lamiacea
• Poaceae

The plants that we most commonly associate with the word "tumbleweed" is an invasive species from Eurasia in the Amaranthaceae family or Salsola tragus. The plant is commonly called "Russian thistle" and is said is said to have been imported in about 1870 with shipments of flax seeds to South Dakota. So when the pioneers crossed the plains back in the mid-1800s, they did not see tumbleweeds. 

One time when we were in Arches National Monument in Southern Utah, (now Arches National Park) we experienced a very windy day and the road we have driven into to an area we were exploring became covered with six to ten foot deep piles of tumbleweeds. The only way through was to ram our car into the weeds and smash them down. It was a very interesting experience. 

Four Blue Water Lilies

Water lilies are amazing plants. They grow wild but take a huge effort to cultivate in gardens due to the need for a certain type of water feature. There are 70 known species of Nymphaeaceae in the world. I have seen them growing in the Mississippi River and the grow in stagnate ponds all over the tropics and temperate parts of the world. There can also be too much of a good thing. Quoting from Wikipedia: Nymphaeaceae:

The Mexican water lily, native to the Gulf Coast of North America, is planted throughout the continent. It has escaped from cultivation and become invasive in some areas, such as California's San Joaquin Valley. It can infest slow-moving bodies of water and is difficult to eradicate. Populations can be controlled by cutting top growth. Herbicides can also be used to control populations using glyphosate and fluridone.

Backlight

We can see images like this around us every day. Our eyes and brains automatically compensate for the constantly changing levels of light and darkness (although those of us that are older find that this process is not quite so automatic). When our eyes and brain compensate, we lose the ability to see the dramatic differences in the level of lighting that naturally occurs. Photography used in this way is a window into the beauty that we ignore because our eyes and brain tell us to ignore it.

Pineapple from Hawaii

Pineapples or Ananas comosus are indigenous to the area between Paraguay and Brazil. the plant was domesticated long before European contact. The plant spread throughout the Americas and was cultivated by the Aztecs in Mexico. The Europeans spread the plant around the world. Quoting from the Wikipedia article Pineapple:

John Kidwell is credited with the introduction of the pineapple industry to Hawaii; large-scale pineapple cultivation by US companies began in the early 1900s. Among the most famous and influential pineapple industrialists was James Dole, who moved to Hawaii in 1899 and started a pineapple plantation in 1900. The companies Dole and Del Monte began growing pineapples on the island of Oahu in 1901 and 1917, respectively. Dole's pineapple company began with the acquisition of 60 acres (24 ha) of land in 1901, and grew into a major company, the Dole Food Company. Maui Pineapple Company began pineapple cultivation on the island of Maui in 1909. 

In the US, in 1986, the Pineapple Research Institute was dissolved and its assets divided between Del Monte and Maui Land and Pineapple. Del Monte took cultivar '73–114', dubbed 'MD-2', to its plantations in Costa Rica, found it to be well-suited to growing there, and launched it publicly in 1996 as 'Gold Extra Sweet', while Del Monte also began marketing '73–50', dubbed 'CO-2', as 'Del Monte Gold'. 

Dole ceased its cannery operations in Honolulu in 1991, and in 2008, Del Monte terminated its pineapple-growing operations in Hawaii. In 2009, the Maui Pineapple Company reduced its operations to supply pineapples only locally on Maui, and by 2013, only the Dole Plantation on Oahu grew pineapples in a volume of about 0.1 percent of the world's production

Bromiliad from Hawaii

The Bromeliaceae include the pineapple. There are 3475 known species. Quoting from the Wikipedia article Bromeliaceae:

They are among the basal families within the Poales and are unique because they are the only family within the order that has septal nectaries and inferior ovaries.[4] These inferior ovaries characterize the Bromelioideae, a subfamily of the Bromeliaceae.[5] The family includes both epiphytes, such as Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides), and terrestrial species, such as the pineapple (Ananas comosus). Many bromeliads are able to store water in a structure formed by their tightly-overlapping leaf bases. However, the family is diverse enough to include the tank bromeliads, grey-leaved epiphyte Tillandsia species that gather water only from leaf structures called trichomes, and a large number of desert-dwelling succulents.

I learn something every day.

Heliconia from Hawaii

A few of the species of Heliconia are native to the indigenous to certain islands of the Western Pacific. Their common name is Lobster Claws. Quoting from Wikipedia: Heliconia:

The Heliconia are a monophyletic genus in the family Heliconiaceae, but was formerly included in the family Musaceae, which includes the bananas (e.g., Musa, Ensete;[11]). However, the APG system of 1998, and its successor, the APG II system of 2003, confirm the Heliconiaceae as distinct and places them in the order Zingiberales, in the commelinid clade of monocots.

LDS Temple, Laie, Hawaii

The Lā'ie, Hawaii Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was dedicated on November 27, 1919, and rededicated on November 21, 2010. The town of Lā'ie also hosts the Brigham Young University -- Hawaii and the Polynesian Cultural Center. The Lā'ie Temple was the first Temple built outside of the Continental United States of America. Hawaii became a state on August 21, 1959.

Hawaiian Coast

Through the magic of photography, I can be instantly transported from the dry heat of Death Valley to the humid coastline of Hawaii. Both areas have their attraction, although I am certain that were I to take a poll of my readers, those wanting a trip to Hawaii would far outnumber those who would be content with a trip to Death Valley, especially in the summer.

Barren Rock

I have lived most of my life in the Arizona-Sonora Desert. But my desert experience includes a lot of plants and animals. Death Valley, California is one of the few places in the United States where there are almost no animals or plants. This image shows a section of Death Valley where I cannot see one plant and certainly no animals. Both plants and animals do live here, but they are not nearly as evident as they are in the Arizona-Sonora Desert.

Texture: Looking Into Death Valley

There are few places in the United States where the veneer of vegetation has been stripped away by the blast furnace heat of the desert sun to the extent that this exists in Death Valley, California. The remarkable effect of this bare bones desert environment is we are able to see texture and color of the earth. It may not be a welcoming place to live, but it certainly is a wonderful place to visit.

20 Mule Team Canyon Trail, Death Valley, California

Driving in our high clearance, all wheel drive vehicle, this road was fun to drive. It is actually passable by almost all passenger cars. This is part of the road used to access the borax mined by those who shipped their tons of minerals in huge wagons pulled by 18 mules and two horses. Despite the horses, they were called 20 mule team wagons. Here is a description of the wagons from Wikipedia.

In 1877, six years before twenty-mule teams had been introduced into Death Valley, Scientific American reported that Francis Marion Smith and his brother had shipped their company's borax in a 30-ton load using two large wagons, with a third wagon for food and water, drawn by a 24-mule team over a 160-mile stretch of desert between Teel's Marsh and Wadsworth, Nevada. 

The twenty-mule-team wagons were designed to carry 10 short tons (9 metric tons) of borax ore at a time. The rear wheels measured seven feet (2.1 m) high, with tires made of one-inch-thick (25 mm) iron. The wagon beds measured 16 feet long and were 6 feet deep (4.9 m long, 1.8 m deep); constructed of solid oak, they weighed 7,800 pounds (3,500 kg) empty; when loaded with ore, the total weight of the mule train was 73,200 pounds (33.2 metric tons or 36.6 short tons). 

The first wagon was the trailer, the second was "the tender" or the "back action", and the tank wagon brought up the rear. 

With the mules, the caravan stretched over 180 feet (55 m). No wagon ever broke down in transit on the desert due to their construction.

I remember this most because of the 452 television episodes of the program, Death Valley Days.

Volcán Arenal, Costa Rica

I loved living in the jungle. Actually, I love lots of places. Deserts have their attraction. High mountains, where I live now, have their attraction and I love the trees and hills of the eastern part of the U.S. I even love swamps and marshes. Each area has its own attraction. My recent trips to Death Valley and the Pacific Coast in California, to swamps in Florida and Georgia and to the jungle in Costa Rica as well as my continued visits to the high mountains of Utah, all have their ultimate attraction as being the outdoors. Our flowers here in Provo have been beautiful this spring but I still miss the beautiful desert cactus flowers in Arizona. But if I really think about it for a while, my real "home" is up on the windy Colorado Plateau.

At the Dock

There is a degree of adventure and romance associated with sailing ships of all kinds. However, for those of us who are frustrated with a few minute's delay on the freeway or standing in the TSA line at the airport, we can hardly romanticize a sailing voyage that took months to cross the oceans. All things old have their attraction, but sailing on an uncomfortable and slow sailing ship would take a huge cultural orientation for someone who is immersed in technology. I am sure that sailing on such a ship would lose its attraction about the time of the first storm at sea.

San Francisco from the Bay

Wandering around the docks on the San Francisco Bay, we visited the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park for a unique view of the city. Tucked away on one of the piers, the Park has several attractions including the Balclutha, a historic square-rigger. We enjoyed the cool breeze and the blue skies.

Mountain Treasures

The Wasatch Mountains are extremely rugged. Although along their western border, the mountains face the concentrated population area of Utah, once you leave the Valley through any of the paved or unpaved roads you are quickly transported into a vast mountain wilderness. If you look at a map or satellite view of the mountains, you will quickly see how little impact civilization has yet to have on this very accessible mountain range.

Hope and Beauty

If these little flowers were a bit larger they would be sought after as lovely garden flowers. But because they are common and considered to be weeds, their beauty is ignored and they are treated as undesirable trash plants. In the mountains, I don't have to consider them to be weeds. They grow like any other wildflower. There is a much deeper lesson in this somewhere.

Antique Hand Harrow or Cultivator

I recently visited the This Is The Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City, Utah. This is a wonderful place to deepen your understanding of the lives of the pioneers. One side benefit of the visit was finding out that I have lived long enough to have seen and used many of the "antique" farm implements and other objects when they were still current and being used every day. I guess that is one of the questionable benefits of being old.