This was a big weekend for me, as I had a class scheduled for Saturday in the desert, and it was the start of the Southern California Renaissance Faire.
During the week, I stopped at he Los Angeles Botanical Garden. As usual, it was beautiful, with flowers blooming everywhere.
Click here for more pictures of the gardens.
Saturday's class was called "Butterflies of the desert", and it consisted of a hike in the Big Morongo Preserve. It was hot, dusty and a heck of a lot of fun.
As you can see from the picture above, the preserve is full of life. This little gal is a red wasp. I watched her for about 30 minutes before she held still enough for me to get this picture. She moved constantly, flying from flower to flower, then went to a hole in the ground and made a surprisingly loud noise as she shoved down whatever she gained from the flowers. Click here for more pictures.
Next, I went on a drive through Joshua Tree. Click here for pictures.
Finally, on Sunday it was time for the faire. I had been waiting for this for a year. This was a new location for the faire. San Bernardino county asked them to move "due to code violations", whatever that means. The faire moved to Irwindale's Santa Fe dam recreation area.
I liked this location much better than Glen Helen, where the faire has been located for over 15 years now. Glen Helen was a great scenic location, but in my mind it was ruined when they built the Blockbuster pavilion.
I wore a costume and got my face painted. I think I looked pretty cool, don't you?
There are more pictures (over 600 of them) here.
Next week: I am probably going to take advantage of the last of the cool weather and visit the Mojave preserve again (although I'm tempted to go back to Renaissance Faire instead). I've got a class on Sunday in Joshua Tree called "Survival in the Desert". That should be fun.
Sites to check out:
Unless otherwise noted, all photos and text is Copyright © Richard G Lowe, Jr.