Arizona and the Dunes of California (San Diego 7) - 22nd April
It's the seventh trip to San Diego (and part of an almost-continuous trip over much of March and April) and, on the first Saturday, Nosher takes the hire car for a 600-mile day trip (that's like nearly East Anglia to Plymouth and back) out along Interstate 8 to Yuma in Arizona, via the insane and unusual dunes just before the Arizona state line. The dunes seem to come out of nowhere (notwithstanding the fact that they're surrounded by desert), and form something of a playground for myriad dune buggies, dirt bikes and suchlike. After the dunes, it's out into the desert wilderness of Arizona to have a quick explore (really, just to say I'd been to Arizona at all :-). As usual, I was on the lookout for derelict buildings or quirky Americana whilst touring around. On the return leg, I stopped off again in the dunes to experience a real sandstorm, as the strong winds blew dust and sand everywhere, including all over the freeway.
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These are cropped thumbnails. Click on an image to view the full photograph.
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Life on a plane |
Aerial view over the California desert on the approach to Los Angeles |
Another aerial desert vista |
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Snow-capped mountains |
Interstate 405 (south, towards San Diego) in LA |
A British Airways 747-400 taxis in at LAX, surrounded by a carpet of spring flowers |
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Runway lines at LAX |
A roadside sign, which I'd visited before has suffered some wind damage in the interim |
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Artificial spiky nestles amongst natural spiky |
Interstate sign off I-8, at the Dunes Recreation Area |
A guy on a bike razzes down the face of a huge dune |
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Stunted, windswept tree in the desert |
In the middle of nowhere: a memorial cross, with fresh flowers |
A Sahara-style sand dune |
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The optimistically-named "Center of the World Drive" road sign |
An SUV pulls out onto State Route 34, leading north off I-8 |
Iconic vanishing-point road (yay!): S34 recedes in the distance towards Imperial Gables in Chocolate Mountain |
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Nosher and the Chrysler Sebring convertible pause in S34 |
A solitary Ocotillo plant flowers in the desert |
Shiny car in the desert heat on the side of S34 |
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Howitzer, palm, palm, palm. A nice sort of off-centre symmetry - Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona |
An M103 combat tank with a 120mm gun watches the desert - Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona |
A missile of some sort - Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona |
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Is this the cutest, smallest church in the world? Somewhere near Blaisdell, Arizona |
The tiny church (with about 3 rows of 2-and-2 pews plus pulpit) near Blaisdell, Arizona |
Also near Blaisdell, Arizona: a collapsed grain silo, with an amusing "oops" grafitto'd into it |
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An old 50s Chevrolet pickup rusts away near a railroad and farmyard |
Inside the collapsed grain silo, Blaisdell, Arizona |
An old Westinghouse transformer unit |
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The railroad crossing at Blaisdell, Arizona |
Taken through the (dirty) windscreen: on the way back through the dunes - a real sandstorm blasts across the freeway |
Dunes in the late-afternoon sun near Gordon's Well |
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Quad bike on the sands near Gordon's Well, California | ||
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