Usery Park

I always get a chuckle out of the Ocotillos. They look like such dead brown ugly sticks all winter long. Then all of a sudden, after some rain, they start to green up sending out green leaves almost overnight --

Then the tips start showing orange and red --

The first time we saw them bloom was when we were in Dulzura, California working with Mennonite Disaster Service. I remember our coordinator laughing at us when we went for a drive on a Sunday afternoon to see the blooms. She couldn't believe we would waste gas to go see a "bunch of weeds!"

The Fiddlenecks are also beginning to bloom --

These are NOT the same as the edible fiddleneck ferns!

No matter which direction you look in the park, the view is always spectacular!

Ocotillos are in Bloom!

This morning Forry and I left camp and headed east towards the desert. When we had come through Arizona last month, we had seen some ocotillos in bloom in the mountains, but there was no place we could stop to take a close look or get a picture.

We took Highway 94 down towards Protero, then on over to the town of Ocotillo. The red flower shoots on the ends of the plants were all over that area! So I FINALLY got my pictures! But it's funny, we only saw them in the one area.

We came back via Old Highway 80. You almost have to see them to believe the incredible boulders in this area. Highway 80 takes you through the little town of Jacumba which is right along the Mexican border. At times we were less than 500 feet from the fence.
While we were gone from camp, a trucker came by and wanted to use one of our compressors to air up one of his duals. When he drove into camp, he hooked the power line with his trailer, disconnecting it. Ken, who had remained at camp, ended up having to get the electric company out to disconnect the power, but then they do not do anything from the transformer on in. So he had to get regular electricians in to repair the mast on the main building and reconnect the wire, then get the electric company back out to reconnect us! It turned out to be a VERY expensive day!

This evening we took all of the long termers (including our old cooks who are flying back to Pennsylvania in the morning and the new cooks who drove in today from Manitoba) out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant in La Mesa. We had to wait almost an hour and 1/2 to be seated -- the food was really good, but it was a
l-o-n-g wait.