San Rafael Spring

Due to a wet and cool month of May, desert trips have been limited.  But we did get to spend a couple days at our favorite secluded camping site.  All our favorite features were still there (of course) offering some wonderful scenic beauty along with the quiet solitude only found in the desert.

A nice breeze kept the bugs off us as we enjoyed the twilight.

The next day we drove down to the end of the Mexican Mountain road to begin a hike into the canyons surrounding the mountain.  On the way, we found some cactus blooming.

On our hike, we found an interesting side canyon.  Somewhere down in that area is an arch, so we headed up the canyon in hopes of finding it.  Didn't happen, but the canyon was wonderful anyway.

One loud shout from me and our intrepid photographer was buried beneath tons of red rock.  I'll look for him next year.  Here's a lower rez final shot from the world's greatest photographer.

Happy Mother's Day

RIGHT ON!

60's Rock Stars

Recently I watched a PBS program on Janis Joplin.  Other than censoring the swear words and fuzzing the occasional bare breast, the show was a very good overview of the life, career, and sad death of Janis.  One thing bothered me some, however.  The program seemed to imply that Janis was the only female singer at the time worth mentioning.  This is, of course, quite untrue.  There were several excellent female singers in the 60's, and in San Francisco, in particular Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane who certainly was no vocal slouch.  Anyway, I found this picture which says so much about the time, people, and music of San Francisco during the 1960's psychedelic scene.

Photo by Jim Marshall