Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Striking Desert Sculptures Mix Realism, Fantasy

Published April 6, 2016 | By Clark Norton

This dragon’s head is one of sculptor Ricardo Breceda’s most riveting works. Photo by Catharine Norton.

During our recent visit to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in southern California, my wife, Catharine, and I and four of our closest friends went searching for spring wildflowers, cactus blooms, and palm oases, and hoped to spot some of the park’s iconic bighorn sheep on our hikes.

We were successful on all fronts except for catching a glimpse of the elusive bighorn sheep, which probably spotted us first and decided to retreat into the park’s rugged canyons and mountains.

But we did see something that I wasn’t expecting at all: one of the greatest displays of public art I’ve ever encountered in the U.S., occupying the desert flat lands outside the town of Borrego Springs, which lie adjacent to the most traveled areas of the park.

As our friends from California… Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Baby boomer travel, California, State parks | Tagged Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, California, public art, Ricardo Breceda, sculpture | Leave a comment

In Search of Desert Cacti, Blooms and Bighorns

Published April 4, 2016 | By Clark Norton

Flowering ocatillos add splashes of red to the desert landscape. Photo by Catharine Norton.

Though hardly a household name outside its region, southern California’s Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is the Golden State’s largest, spanning some 600,000 acres of the Colorado Desert about two hours’ drive northeast of San Diego.

Anza-Borrego has rugged canyons, badlands, mesas, nature trails, campgrounds, oases, cacti gardens, Native American rock art, and wildlife, all surrounded by rugged mountain ranges, the latter of which are virtually all road-free wilderness areas.

My wife, Catharine, and I just spent several days there with friends from California — hiking, rock scrambling, seeking out springtime blossoms, four-wheel driving over sandy, bumpy “roads” leading to remote outposts of desert boulders and vegetation, and searching in vain for signs of desert bighorn sheep, the elusive animals that take to Anza-Borrego’s mountainous, rocky terrain. (“Borrego”… Continue reading →

Posted in Baby boomer travel, California, Deserts, Hiking, State parks, Wildlife | Tagged Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, bighorn sheep, Borrego Springs, cacti, California, Colorado Desert, desert wildflowers, palm oases, spring blossoms | 2 Comments

According to government and private surveys:

Leading-edge baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1955) and seniors account for four out of every five dollars spent on luxury travel today.
Roughly half the consumer spending money in the U.S.--more than $2 trillion--is in the hands of leading-edge baby boomers and seniors.
Baby boomers (born 1946-1964) travel more than any other age group.
When asked what they would most like to spend their money on, baby boomers answered “travel” more than any other category, including improving their health or finances.