Last of trip home 03-13-09

The almond orchards continued on both sides of I-5 for miles - in the background of this image are the hills between the central valley and the coastal valley.
Almond orchards on the east side of the highway with the Sierra in the distance. If you click you might be able to see more clearly, but w/o a polarizing filter distant features are hard to identify. With my sunglasses on I could detect the snow cap on the Sierra - amazingly clear weather.

Now that I am further south I begin to see cherry orchards in full bloom.

The bright pink is so startling in the bland landscape of the central valley.

A few miles further south I took an offramp to get closer to this orchard. I think these might be pistachios. Seen from the highway the tops of the trees were all this orange-red color and I wondered if they were blossoms.

No blossoms. Just many small orange-red leaves sprouting.

Almost home! I'm over the Ridge Route and along the foothills and only about 15 miles from my house. The highway overhead sign reads "Diamond Bar" and Placentia is just beyond the hills.

I have a couple short trips before I drive back up to Pacific Grove for my class w/Pamela Allen at Empty Spools Seminars/Asilomar. So, a few weeks into April I'll see how much the landscape has changed along I-5. Although I might drive up on Hwy 101 just for a change of scenery and then return via I-5. However, I-5 is okay, I haven't gotten tired of it yet and I have been driving it several times a year (at least!) since the central valley portion opened in the early 1970s. For the last few decades I have thought about making a quilt based on my I-5 travels, but all I have so far are sketches, photos, and daydreams.