August 10, 2018 • 71

Wild, Weird and Spiritual: California’s Desert

“Ancient Scrub” (Sonoran Desert, California)

Hello Friends! It has been a couple of months since my last post. Sorry about that! I’ve certainly missed interacting with everyone. 🙂

My family and I recently took a road trip through California’s two southernmost counties – San Diego County and Imperial County. I took a lot of photos, but today I wanted to share with you – some of the oddest ones. We spent a lot of time exploring the Sonoran Desert, which spans through California, Arizona and the nation of Mexico. And man, we saw some wild things.

Hope you enjoy the images!! Have a fantastic day! 🙂

“Big Elephant, Little Dude” (Sonoran Desert, California)

“Salvation Mountain” (Sonoran Desert, California)

“Creepy Grasshopper” (Sonoran Desert, California)

“Prehistoric Turtle” (Sonoran Desert, California)

“Nature’s Symmetry” (Sonoran Desert, California)

“The Sting of Reality” (Sonoran Desert, California)

 

Categories: Inspiration, Photography

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71 replies »

    • No worries! Thank you too! 😎👍🏻Yeah, I know the place to which you’re referring. I’ve been to Joshua Tree NP but not the sculptures…definitely next time. The sculptures in my photos are located about 70 miles from Joshua Tree National Park. (Which is a hop, skip and jump in California distances). 😁

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  8. Hi Kevin! 🙂 Wow, those sculptures and Salvation Mountain are weird but fascinating to look at! Do you know why the artists decided to put the sculptures out there in the desert? I enjoyed seeing them. And I hope you and your family are doing well. 🙂

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    • Hi Arlene! Thanks for the comment. As for your question – from what I’ve heard… the late landowner of the area wanted to have prehistoric sculptures spread across his property as a representation of the type of creatures that roamed freely in that area during prehistoric times. Great to hear from you!

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      • You are welcome, Kevin. Thanks for answering my question. I did not think about the possibility that someone owned that desert area. It must be great to have the money to spend on prehistoric sculptures. 😀 I enjoyed hearing from you again too. 🙂 I am just so busy these days that I don’t have much time for blogging.

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  14. Wow Kevin! Fabulous pictures! How did you manage to capture those magical moments I wonder. Loved the contrast between the Big Elefant and Little Dude, and the mysterious atmosphere left on Salvation Mountain. Outstanding work as always! 😊🌟

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    • Hey Isabelle, great to hear from you! My wife and I were just talking about the elephant photo with my son. Totally true – the size contrast really adds to to the coolness of the photo. Salvation Mountain was wild. We took a lot of photos there, but for some reason the oddness of the place was very difficult to truly capture. It was one of those places that you just have to see with your own eyes. It was sooo hot there too, so all the photos of my family are funny – we all look hot, tired and sweaty. I remember longing for an iced coffee from Starbucks, but no Starbucks anywhere near that place. haha We were really “off the grid.” Thanks for the kind words!

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      • Great to know the stories behind the photos Kevin! Thank you! I think I understand what you meant when you mentioned the oddness of the Salvation Mountain. The image surprises me as it doesn’t resemble anything I normally associate with a desert. I enlarged the photo and studied the details, to me it looks like various images are pieced together to create a theme, and there’s a hidden meaning behind it, something religious or philosophical. The colour combination was vivid and random but harmonious in a strange way. The cross becomes somehow symbolic, wished I could work out the meaning of the texts/words but it remained an attempt. This photo is open to multiple interpretations. I’m hooked.
        It’s funny but also great that your little son played an important role in providing that striking contrast.
        And I know what heat can do to us human beings. Santorini was hot! All my family surrendered and withdrew from the heat except me. I kept climbing up an enormous rock, pouring of sweat. It was 35-36 degrees Celsius. I didn’t realise that I was so brave, determined, disciplined and strong willed until then 😁 Thanks for the chat Kevin! Lovely! 😊

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      • Hey Isabelle – that’s so great about climbing that rock! Good for you. Sometimes it is nice to push yourself beyond your normal boundaries. I’d like to chat more about Salvation Mountain. I will reply to your email soon, and give more info about the mountain. Let’s just say it was a decades long passion project of a now-deceased artist. 🙂

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  19. Great to see you back Kevin! everyone of the photographs is an artwork.
    My favourites would be ” Ancient Shrub”. Sonoran – beautiful name of the desert.

    It does seem from the cother comments that you and your family had quite a fantastic time.

    Miriam

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    • Hi Miriam! Thank you! Yes, we had a great time. These photos were taken earlier in the day, before everyone got cranky haha. It was fun – we like to go exploring with the kids…try to show them that the world is big place, with all sorts of beautiful things. 😊

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  23. Some of these look like default desktop backgrounds! “Creepy Grasshopper” is appropriately named. I often wonder how people vacation in the desert, but it looks like you were able to have fun!

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    • Haha, I like that! Maybe I need to sell these photos to Microsoft! lol Yeah. it was definitely fun. But, we didn’t lodge in the desert. CA has crazy geography. About 25 miles west of our ‘gateway’ to the desert, there is a small town called Julian – which is pretty much located in a pine forest. We stayed there at an old hotel from the gold mining days. Very cool and rustic place. Then, another 35 miles west, you are at the coast hanging out in the city of San Diego. So, we bounced all over, including the beach. Way too hot in the desert to spend a lot of time there in the summer. So, you’re instinct was right. How do people spend a lot of time in the desert! haha Thanks for the comment, Shayne!

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