I went on a quest for wildflowers in the desert...

and i was sucessful! I read about a place called Amboy Crater in California (which i have never heard of before) at 10:30am on saturday and decided to head out for the 188 mile journey by 11:30am. Equipped with a case of water and some pistachios and teriyaki beef jerky (and of course my camera gear) i was off. About 3 hours later off of I-40 on Route 66 i approached this magnificent view... a dormant volcano that first erupted over 6000 years ago and has erupted as recently as 500 years ago. All around the ground was lava rock and ... TONS of wildflowers! It was an incredible sight and well worth the drive. There were fields full of beautiful yellow blooms and patches of purple clusters along the lava hills. I took the full tour, hiking to the top rim of the volcano to discover the crater that was deep and jagged with a base of of lava rock. I sat on the rim for about an hour and a half, just looking down at the fields of gold and lavender and deep in thought. Finally i descended the side of the dormant tower and walked through the fields of flowers taking in their intense aromas and beauty as the sun took it's final bow in the western sky. While on this journey, i found a few precious moments of clarity and felt so fulfilled on my way back to Las Vegas driving down a desolate stretch of route 66 with just the sliver of moonlight and an occasional car passing in the other direction... thinking to myself, WOW! Another great expierience chalked up to spontaniety! I am going to be in Death Valley for the first weekend in April, and hope the blooms there are just as magnificent! more on that trip and a BIG trip to Oregon and Alaska for 18-20 days... coming soon!!!