Blooming Mojave
Mar. 26th, 2010 10:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
summer_jackelSo this week ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
madmanatw and I took a fun little road trip to Vegas (!) to see Cirque du Soleil and the Mojave in bloom. Here are some of my favorite photos to come out of the desert part of the trip.
I'll add more information later, when I'm not so tired. I haven't looked up what any of these things are and don't know Mojave biotia at all, so if you can ID anything positively, please tell me. For now, there are photos. And a really amazing wildlife encounter.
Joshua tree
In bloom. So rare and huge, creamy and luscious for such a sharp, spiky desert thing. The Joshua yields its only softness.
Don't touch me.
You don't want to.
Trust me.
The flowers are mostly tiny and delicate
A young Joshua tries to raise itself from dry soil
By the way, don't touch me, either.
Tenderness in this terrifying place
On the road coming in, we saw a sign that said 'watch for tortoises.' I joked about how yeah, I really was, but didn't actually have much hope of seeing any. Better odds in Vegas, right? Of course I was hoping, but I hope for a lot of improbable things.
We parked near a lava flow and walked perhaps half a mile out into the desert...and sure enough, I was fortunate enough to spot a wild tortoise.
I sat down very carefully about 2 or 3 feet from the tortoise, not wanting to disturb her. She froze when I approached and got the camera out, but started walking again.
She'd been cropping the light frosting of green grass that had come up in the shade of the desert scrub. her mouth was wet with it.
She turned away
and then turned back around
And started walking towards me.
She lay down in the shade of my left side. I was completely stunned.
She didn't box up until I moved my shoulder and startled her.
I found her here.
The lava floes are very hard to grow in
There weren't many of these, and they were stunning.
The white area is a dry soda lake.
Don't touch me, either.
Because I am very sharp.
spring moths
What can will try to bloom in stony soil
The beauty here is deadly and touching, the silence deep
madmanatw and I took a fun little road trip to Vegas (!) to see Cirque du Soleil and the Mojave in bloom. Here are some of my favorite photos to come out of the desert part of the trip.I'll add more information later, when I'm not so tired. I haven't looked up what any of these things are and don't know Mojave biotia at all, so if you can ID anything positively, please tell me. For now, there are photos. And a really amazing wildlife encounter.
Joshua tree
In bloom. So rare and huge, creamy and luscious for such a sharp, spiky desert thing. The Joshua yields its only softness.
Don't touch me.
You don't want to.
Trust me.
The flowers are mostly tiny and delicate
A young Joshua tries to raise itself from dry soil
By the way, don't touch me, either.
Tenderness in this terrifying place
On the road coming in, we saw a sign that said 'watch for tortoises.' I joked about how yeah, I really was, but didn't actually have much hope of seeing any. Better odds in Vegas, right? Of course I was hoping, but I hope for a lot of improbable things.
We parked near a lava flow and walked perhaps half a mile out into the desert...and sure enough, I was fortunate enough to spot a wild tortoise.
I sat down very carefully about 2 or 3 feet from the tortoise, not wanting to disturb her. She froze when I approached and got the camera out, but started walking again.
She'd been cropping the light frosting of green grass that had come up in the shade of the desert scrub. her mouth was wet with it.
She turned away
and then turned back around
And started walking towards me.
She lay down in the shade of my left side. I was completely stunned.
She didn't box up until I moved my shoulder and startled her.
I found her here.
The lava floes are very hard to grow in
There weren't many of these, and they were stunning.
The white area is a dry soda lake.
Don't touch me, either.
Because I am very sharp.
spring moths
What can will try to bloom in stony soil
The beauty here is deadly and touching, the silence deep
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Date: 2010-03-27 02:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-29 05:39 am (UTC)