There are few sights equal to flowers in a desert. Make those flowers a brilliant orange and throw down a veritable carpet of them and things get downright breathtake-y. In Southern California, we're fortunate enough to live close to several major desert blooms, and one of the most celebrated are the poppies of the Antelope Valley area. Word is, however, that the usual poppy bloom, expected to peak each year around the middle of April, is wrapping up early (and fast). In other words, if a poppy-themed outing was something you were planning on doing in the next couple of weeks, better make for the area asap.
There are trails to hike through the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, and photo opportunities aplenty. But the flowers aren't the only thing on show; animal life abounds, including hawks, side-bloched lizards (we're not entirely sure we know what side-bloching is but it sounds like we may need to take a snapshot of it), and the occasional snake.
Every fourth article these days talks about not stressing over money and finding the simple pleasures in life. We can say with some confidence that an outing to the poppy fields probably falls squarely in the "simple pleasures" category. Poppies don't give a fig about checking accounts, and they haven't once asked us how our IRAs are performing. Thank you, poppies.
