Life in Virgin Upper Class
San Diego Seven: The Desert and the Dunes, Arizona and California, US - 22nd April
It's the seventh trip to San Diego and part of an almost-continuous trip over much of March and April and, on the first Saturday, Nosher takes the hire car for a 600-mile day trip (that's Cambridge to Plymouth and back) out along Interstate 8 to Yuma in Arizona, via the insane and unusual dunes just before the Arizona state line. The dunes seem to come out of nowhere, notwithstanding the fact that they're surrounded by desert, and form something of a playground for dune buggies, dirt bikes and the like. After the dunes, it's out into the desert wilderness of Arizona to have a quick explore. The next day, it's off to San Diego zoo for a look around.
next album: Maplewood and Little-League Baseball, New Jersey - 29th April 2006
previous album: California Snow: San Bernadino State Forest, California, US - 26th March 2006
A fancy glass of wine in the posh seats
Aerial view over the California desert
Another aerial desert vista
Up in the Rockies
A monster Freeway slices through South LA
Interstate 405 south, towards San Diego
A British Airways 747-400 taxis in at LAX
Runway lines at LAX
The Candy Cottage sign has seen some damage
Barbed wire and cactus
The other half of the missing sign
The hire care on a back road
An RV park in the Dunes
Interstate sign off I-8, at Dunes Recreation Area
A guy on a bike razzes down a huge dune
The road just ends
A gnarley tree, blown over
A cross dedicated to Gabino Munoz
Sahara-style sand dune
The end of the road
The Chrysler Sebring
The optimist 'Center of the World Drive' sign
An SUV pulls out onto State Route 34
Welcome to Picacho Recreation Lands
S34 towards Imperial Gables, Chocolate Mountain
Nosher and the Chrysler Sebring pause on S34
Bright green foliage
A solitary Ocotillo plant flowers in the desert
Shiny car in the desert heat on the side of S34
A massive Howitzer in the Yuma Proving Grounds
A bunch of Harleys ride around the desert
Howitzer, palm, palm, palm
An M103 combat tank with a 120mm gun
A missile of some sort at Yuma, Arizona
A tiny church near Blaisdell, Arizona
A collapsed grain silo near Blaisdell, Arizona
Another view of the grain silo
An old 50s Chevrolet pickup rusts away
Derelict farm
Inside the collapsed grain silo
A power line pole lies on the ground
An old Westinghouse transformer unit
A railroad crossing
Telegraph poles vanish to the horizon
Dunes in the sun near Gordon's Well
The hire car on the way back to El Centro
Quad bike on the sands near Gordon's Well
A real sand storm rolls across the road
Interstate 8
The next day, it's back at the Marriot Residence
Nosher's apartment, top left
A cassowary at San Diego zoo
Bright red flowers
An ape eats some foliage
An aligator lurks
A brightly-coloured member of the crow family
A panda lies back in a tree
Some sort of warthog
A family of meerkats
An elephant
San Diego zoo
Bright purple flowers
Pink flamingoes
A monitor lizard
A green lizard is shedding its skin
A coiled snake
A green mamba
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Life in Virgin Upper Class
Life in Virgin Upper Class
A fancy glass of wine in the posh seats
Aerial view over the California desert
Another aerial desert vista
Up in the Rockies
A monster Freeway slices through South LA
Interstate 405 south, towards San Diego
A British Airways 747-400 taxis in at LAX
Runway lines at LAX
The Candy Cottage sign has seen some damage
Barbed wire and cactus
The other half of the missing sign
The hire care on a back road
An RV park in the Dunes
Interstate sign off I-8, at Dunes Recreation Area
A guy on a bike razzes down a huge dune
The road just ends
A gnarley tree, blown over
A cross dedicated to Gabino Munoz
Sahara-style sand dune
The end of the road
The Chrysler Sebring
The optimist 'Center of the World Drive' sign
An SUV pulls out onto State Route 34
Welcome to Picacho Recreation Lands
S34 towards Imperial Gables, Chocolate Mountain
Nosher and the Chrysler Sebring pause on S34
Bright green foliage
A solitary Ocotillo plant flowers in the desert
Shiny car in the desert heat on the side of S34
A massive Howitzer in the Yuma Proving Grounds
A bunch of Harleys ride around the desert
Howitzer, palm, palm, palm
An M103 combat tank with a 120mm gun
A missile of some sort at Yuma, Arizona
A tiny church near Blaisdell, Arizona
A collapsed grain silo near Blaisdell, Arizona
Another view of the grain silo
An old 50s Chevrolet pickup rusts away
Derelict farm
Inside the collapsed grain silo
A power line pole lies on the ground
An old Westinghouse transformer unit
A railroad crossing
Telegraph poles vanish to the horizon
Dunes in the sun near Gordon's Well
The hire car on the way back to El Centro
Quad bike on the sands near Gordon's Well
A real sand storm rolls across the road
Interstate 8
The next day, it's back at the Marriot Residence
Nosher's apartment, top left
A cassowary at San Diego zoo
Bright red flowers
An ape eats some foliage
An aligator lurks
A brightly-coloured member of the crow family
A panda lies back in a tree
Some sort of warthog
A family of meerkats
An elephant
San Diego zoo
Bright purple flowers
Pink flamingoes
A monitor lizard
A green lizard is shedding its skin
A coiled snake
A green mamba