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| Angelika/Mike Schilli |
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Angelika The heavy rain also brought some positives with it. The natural water reservoirs in California had not been full in a long time. We therefore hope for a less destructive fire season this year, as the soil and landscape have been well drenched. Also because of the heavy rain, nature is currently pulling out all the stops.
Not only are the California hills finally lush and green again instead of gray-beige, but wildflowers are also sprouting from the ground and seem to be competing to see who can conjure up the most beautiful orange, yellow, or purple. Whole stretches of land are currently covered with these flowers, coloring the hills yellow and orange. This phenomenon of an abundant bloom after a stronger rainy season is called "Superbloom", a visual spectacle that is hardly captured by photos.
During my Easter holidays at work, we drove down to Los Angeles. Along the highway, we enjoyed the green hills and the abundance of flowers. Then we took a trip from Los Angeles into the interior of the country near the city of Lancaster and drove to the "Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve Park". We didn't get into the park because there was already a long line of cars waiting. But the adjacent fields, meadows and hills around the park offered a similar spectacle. As the name of the park suggests, there is an abundance of California poppies there.
The bright orange California poppy, known to botanists as Eschscholzia Californica, has been the state flower of California since 1903. Quite fitting, I think, as the California poppy not only shimmers orange-gold in homage to the gold found in California a long time ago, but the plant is also a real survivor. The seeds can sustain long periods of drought in the soil and patiently wait for their big moment. When it rains, they quickly bloom and those impressive fields of flowers appear. The plant is also poisonous, so it's probably best not to eat the flowers in large quantities. In any case, I couldn't get enough of this color show. By the way, you shouldn't behave like a nature barbarian and sit in the middle of the flower field to take pictures or trample on the plants, but take your souvenir photos from the walking path.
After experiencing this natural phenomenon, we were hungry, and I found a restaurant nearby with good reviews. We drove about 15 minutes on straight roads through a deserted area that reminded us more of the outskirts of Las Vegas than California, and reached the small town of "Antelope Acres". And lo and behold, in this population 2800 town there is a restaurant named "Iron Cactus". At first, however, we had to find the entrance behind the not very inviting tinted windows. But inside it was all cozy with the typically American padded "booths". We ate delicious juicy burgers with the best fried onion rings I've ever had.
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