We keep moving forward, opening new doors and doing new things because we are curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.
Walt Disney
California is the place you ought to be, ♪♪ so we loaded up the truck and headed to Brawley ♪♪ (not Beverly). Yes, we did head to California.
Our first night was in Brawley, California nestled in the Imperial Valley. Here we stayed at a the “Desert Olive” olive farm. Cowboy Clyde was the host for this Harvest Host stay. Here we learned about olive farming, the trees, olives, and olive oil. We also learned about the water rights and irrigation practices in this area; as this is a huge agricultural area.
We tasted the difference between EVO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil), and others. We also, learned about how the grading system works. One of the most enlightening things was the supposed outside influence in the European olive oil industry.
I especially found it interesting the information about harvesting; how important the timing is, and how mechanical and automatic the olive farming business is.
Our next stop was the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. This park is the largest state park in California (1000 square miles). When you first view the park there is this incredible view of the vast desert floor surrounded by the jagged mountain peaks. Now, because of the rain that they have had in the area the Wild Flowers are in bloom (apparently a little early this year) The pop of color in the barren desert was beautiful. It is totally amazing how these beautiful flowers can bloom in the otherwise bare desert. This park is also in close proximity to the big cities of California, so it is the most populated/busy park that we have ever seen.
We wanted to take the Borrego Palm Canyon Hike. It is a 3-mile hike, unfortunately for us Winnie could not fit into the parking lot so we had to hike another mile each way. The trail meanders through the valley to a shady palm grove. We could not get really close the palm trees themselves as they are recovering from a fire that went through the area in January 2020. It was remarkable at how well they are recovering. Also there was actually water running in the creek (1st time in over three years).
Along the way we met this lovely couple from Washington State (Jim & Wendy). They were celebrating their 45th wedding Anniversary. They celebrated a few of their anniversaries in the Canadian Rockies; and their 40th, in Nova Scotia.
Well, by the end of the actual hike I was knackered. I would have paid someone to drive me back that last mile to Winnie’s parking spot. As we were having a snack at the trailhead; there were Jim and Wendy. Yep, you guessed it they drove us back the last mile and I didn’t have to pay them. I will always remember that act of kindness.