Category Archives: Roadtrip

Carrizo Plain Flower Festival

You would have thought I’d gotten enough California wildflowers on our stops at Antelope Valley, Lake Elsinore, and Anza-Borrego in March of 2019. Nope. I needed more, so in early April I went on a solo trip south to check out Carrizo Plain National Monument.

Magical Moorten Botanical Garden and Cactarium

We’ve been to the wonderful Moorten Botanical Garden twice. Our first visit to Moorten was on our wildflowerpalooza trip. We left Lake Elsinore headed to Palm Springs for lunch, a picture with the Sonny Bono statue and a quick visit to see the cacti on our way to Borrego Springs. We had heard from otherContinue reading “Magical Moorten Botanical Garden and Cactarium”

Pt. Richmond Fairy Home and Garden Tour

We left Davis for the first time in forever to go visit friends Pat and Bob in Point Richmond before we head back to Wisconsin. Pat and my mom met about 44 years ago in Madison when they were both pregnant (my mom with me). Whenever we visit I always want to check out theContinue reading “Pt. Richmond Fairy Home and Garden Tour”

Rad Allen Centennial Rock Garden

I’ve been thinking about rock gardens lately, specifically The Allen Centennial Garden on UW-Madison’s campus. It’s pretty amazing in general, but their rock garden is so good that NARGS (North American Rock Garden Society) even had a meeting in Madison. In 2019 it even won the Frank Cabot Public Rock Garden Award. I’d never seenContinue reading “Rad Allen Centennial Rock Garden”

Carousing with Cacti in Anza-Borrego

I’ve been posting about the amazing desert sunflowers and dandelions we saw on our wildflowerpalooza trip to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park back in March 2019, but being a desert and all you may have wondered if we were just going to ignore our stabby friends the cacti. We could never do that. These first picsContinue reading “Carousing with Cacti in Anza-Borrego”

Salvation Mountain

Sometimes we take a break from plants and go visit other cool places. Matti and I both love roadside attractions and Salvation Mountain was one we’d been wanting to see for awhile. We watched a documentary on PBS called Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea (it’s narrated by John Waters and so good) whenContinue reading “Salvation Mountain”

Desert Dandelions in Anza-Borrego

Our second stop on the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park wildflowerpalooza trip after checking out the desert sunflowers was on Di Georgio Road to see the desert dandelions (Malacothrix glabrata) blooming all over the place. Two years earlier the famous desert super bloom happened, but we were still pretty darn impressed for our first visit. Zoe’sContinue reading “Desert Dandelions in Anza-Borrego”

California Carnivores, We’re Sad

We got the email that California Carnivores is shutting the doors to the public. It was twenty minutes after I discovered they have a newish TikTok account, which lessened the blow. They also have a YouTube channel with all kinds of excellent info about making your own bog garden and growing all kinds of carnies,Continue reading “California Carnivores, We’re Sad”