Monday, October 17, 2011

Wynola, Buffalo Burgers, Pears, & Borrego Springs

Although we didn't get to visit the camel dairy, we did pass it on our way out of Ramona.


We made a quick turn around when we passed a roadside shop in Santa Ysabel that said Weaving Works Fiber Art Gallery—a small shop packed with handspun yarn, delicately woven scarves, shawls, stunning horse blankets, and several floor looms. Owner Beryl Warnes invited us in and told us that just up the road in Wynola we'd find a shop selling local llama fiber.


What she hadn't told us was that we'd find this shop nearby as well.


We left Wynola with some beads, a bag of llama fiber, and directions to Buffalo Bill's where we ate local grass fed bison burgers.

Great burgers!

I set our GPS for O'Dells Organic Orchards so we could stop on our way out of Julian to pick a bag of pears. It's pretty much the end of pear picking time but we found a colorful variety of really sweet juicy pears that had recently fallen to the ground. So delicious!


Then on to the Anza Borrego desert. The geologic landscape here is fascinating.


This is the start of their tourist season. We're just a little ahead of the crowd. Summer is the off-season here because it gets up to 124 degrees.


Spring is the peak season, when the desert comes alive with colorful wildflowers.

Coming into Borrego Springs was a little surreal. Can you create an oasis in the middle of a desert?


We passed this building on the way to the palm-lined entrance to the spa resort where we are staying. The population is pretty sparse right now and a night at the spa resort is really reasonable. At the visitor center they told us that the population swells when the weather in Canada and the Eastern US gets really cold.

Today we'll visit the Badlands on our way to Phoenix or possibly Sedona. I'm be checking Edible Phoenix to look for food destinations in that area. Tempe looks interesting too.

No comments: