Took the family out this weekend for a quick visit to the desert. We’d been hearing that it is just amazingly in bloom.

The part we went to though, not that much in bloom. We found some very lovely blooms, but not near what the news had been talking about. I told my husband they probably go to a different part of the desert than the one he prefers, especially since the same thing happened 3 years ago when we’d also heard about the bloom.

That’s not to say it wasn’t pretty, of course. The kids had a blast, and would have cheerfully taken home about half of the quartz rocks they saw lying around. We had a nice talk about why you don’t take lots of stuff away like that.

Not a lot of animals around; the day was nice and I assume they were pretty much sleeping or staying in the shade. We got hit by some pretty good winds, though, and that kept it from being hot out. I did see some deer in the mountains on the way back, though.
My daughter was a bit disappointed. Her notion of desert comes from television, so she assumed it would all just be sand. Maybe another time we’ll head all the way out to the sand dunes… trying to stay away from all the people who have their “toys” to drive around in. I find the dunes plenty impressive just walking on them, personally. And jumping off them is lots of fun.

But the kids were plenty impressed by this part of the desert, and by our explanation that much of our area would be like that without water. More precise comparisons happen in local canyons, of course, but seeing so much dry all around explains a lot at a child’s level.

Still, the desert was lovely, and we could see how many plants were getting ready to bloom. Give the area we went to a bit more time, and it probably will be stunning.

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