Recently, Gourmet Pigs and I went to the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve because I've lived in California too long not to have done this.
I know it's California's state flower, but the California poppy is just a "meh" flower for me. But field after field and hill after hill of them and the California poppy is really something else!
It was super crowded though so I had to be strategic with my photos so they weren't full of people.
See the lizard?
What I hated was seeing people stomping all over the flowers to take photos. The park service doesn't plant or water the poppies, they just let nature do its work. So don't go off the path! We took plenty of nice pictures crouched low but ON the path. Grrr! I don't understand why people come out to see nature if they can't respect it.
Afterward, we had a quick picnic overlooking the California poppies. I brewed some genmaicha (Japanese brown rice green tea) and baked some biscuits and scones, sprinkled with orange dust from Lan of Angry Asian Creations. We ate them with some maple butter my brother's wife brought back from Montreal and acai berry jam Gourmet Pigs brought back from Brazil. I took along strawberry jam that Tony of SinoSoul had made and Marionberry jam from Oregon, but we couldn't open the jars. Ha! And we had some pandan cream cookies lil' sis brought back from Vietnam.
Other things to do can be found in Explore SoCal.
Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve
15101 Lancaster Rd.
Lancaster, CA 93534
Open from sunrise to sunset
Poppy Reserve Wildflower Hotline
661-724-1180
Parking $8 per vehicle for a day pass
*****
1 year ago today, pink night-blooming cereus.
2 years ago today, Ga Hap Xi Dau (Vietnamese Soy Sauce-Steamed Chicken).
3 years ago today, May flowers - Double Delight roses, Lady Fairbanks roses climbing a trellis, cupflowers, leeks, strawberries, cereus, and a blue vase of sweet peas and roses.
Bummer that we couldn't open those jars, I still want to try marionberry jam! But that maple butter was yummy ..
ReplyDeleteI love Californian poppies - I have a tiny little stand of them growing out of the side of my driveway! Seeing them in this amazing quantity is fantastic. Look at all that orange!
ReplyDeleteAnd what a lovely picnic :-)
That field of orange is just gorgeous~
ReplyDeleteI hope to see this field someday, though I'm in NorCal instead , haha.
Your picnic sounded delicious~
Hi WC,
ReplyDeleteJust walked in the door after a lovely long weekend up north in Burgundy. Stayed with friends, whose garden you would really enjoy, I think. But these gorgeous poppy pictures make me think of the trip I took last September to South Africa, to see the desert in bloom. Did you ever see those photos? (By the way, you guys know how to picnic in style...)
Love the poppies and the scones! Nice pics! (Can I come next time?)
ReplyDeleteBurumun,
ReplyDeleteBut I gave you a jar of Marionberry jam!
Oanh,
California poppies grow in England?!
Misha,
Just come during April and May when the poppies are blooming and you can see for yourself!
Tammy,
Ooh, I love visiting others' gardens. The best picnics are the ones with banh mi. ;)
Anna,
Come down and we'll go next year!