On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Gin & Tonic
In October, we went to San Diego because of an event. We added on some time and did some sightseeing. Drove out to the Anza-Borrego Desert and all the way to Salton Sea, even though most jackals advised against it. It was weird, as I expected, but glad we went (although we didn’t get all the way around to Slab city and that area.)
The other sightseeing was mostly along the coast: Torrey Pines, Cabrillo National Monument, up the coast toward Oceanside, that sort of thing. Really regretted having to rely on a mediocre rental car for the drive out to the desert – my Miata would have been ideal for that, especially on something like Hwy 78 out of Julian toward Ocotillo, or S22 out of Borrego Springs.
Few shots here from the digital. I was also working with an old film camera shooting Ilford B/W, but that’s still out for processing.
Hwy 78 east of Ocotillo Wells, facing west.
I believe this is the Ocotillo cactus.
Desert Shores, CA. I suppose it has seen better times.
The Salton Sea. Frankly, I’ve been plenty of places on the Northeast coast that smelled worse at low tide. This was pretty benign. I did not go swimming, though.
Not real sure of the location. Maybe on S22 west of Ranchita, maybe on Hwy 79 toward Santa Ysabel.
The old lighthouse at the Cabrillo National Monument in Point Loma.
Going to the Cabrillo National Monument, you pass through a working Naval station, which also contains a pretty large military cemetery. I’m always fascinated, as at Arlington, by the regularity.
HinTN
That photograph of the cactus is fantastic / beautiful, as is the symmetry of the cemetery. Thanks
?BillinGlendaleCA
Nice shots.
Rusty
I am really taken with the picture at road level. From the graininess of the road to the distant horizon connected by the yellow stripes. It feels very American, as does the abandoned garage. Thank you for sharing.
raven
Nice
Van Buren
I like them all, but something about Ranchita, maybe really captures my eye.
raven
@Rusty: It reminds me of the last scene in Electra Glide in Blue
where Robert Blake gets blown off his Harley by the hippies (one of whom was a high school buddy!)
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Nice! Love the composition.
MattF
I have a good friend in the northern San Diego suburbs who loves to make this trip, I’ve visited him and gone out to the desert for a day-trip several times. There’s good Mexican food in the small town (whose name I forget) just before you head into Anza-Borrego.
WaterGirl
Except for the abandoned garage, i kept thinking each photo was my favorite until I got to the next one!
Anyway
Nice pictures, G&T! love me a good road trip …
susanna
Love how the travel pictures open up new spaces and places. Yours are especially dynamic with thoughtful angles on the road, cemetary and the lighting with the cacti. Lovely, thanks!
Gin & Tonic
Thanks for the comments, folks. I normally take photos just for my own enjoyment and am very hesitant about sharing.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: Hesitate no more!
Albatrossity
Great shots of a spectacular shot of the country! And yes, Salton Sea is weird, but worth seeing. Sorta like Vegas in that regard…
The cactus is not an ocotillo, however; it is some kind of cholla.
JanieM
These are great. I too am fascinated by the regularity of the cemetery rows; it’s hard to even imagine how they achieve it on a piece of sloping grassland. And I love the silhouette against a lowering sky in the lighthouse shot.
That first picture, of the road ahead, reminds me of traveling from Fullerton to Las Vegas with my aunt, uncle, and grandma when I was 11 years old. We got to the eastern side of the mountains, to a point where the road stretched straight ahead across the desert for as far as the eye could see. I was amazed.
Steve from Mendocino
Nice work on all of these.
J R in WV
I agree, great photos, each better than the previous. Thanks for sharing.
@Albatrossity: is correct, that isn’t an ocotillo, which sprout from a single rooted spot and can have from 1 or 2 limbs to dozens. In spring they have bright red blooms that remind me of bright red birds perched on the thorny branch. Our mountain camp is near the top of their range at 5,500 feet, there are a ton of them around Bisbee down on the Mexican border.
way2blue
Love the first photo! I’m always drawn to photos centered on paths. This one which captures a path from road grit to the distant mountains is quite special. Thanks for sharing. (In Baja, free range cattle often have cholla stuck to their heads. Eesh.)
C Stars
Really lovely photos, thanks for sharing
Nukular Biskits
A little late to the game … :>(
Driven this route hundreds (?) of times. Love taking Hwy 79 off I-8 into the mountains. Always stop in Julian for fresh apple pie ala mode and a cup of coffee and then down the backside into the desert. Usually run all the way to Ocotillo Wells, turn around, come back over the mountain through Julian again.
Sometimes head back to the coast via Hwy 78, stopping at several wineries. More often as not, though, head back south down Hwy 79 to Sunrise Hwy over Mount Laguna, then back to I-8.
The best trips were on Harleys.
StringOnAStick
The cholla cactus has a piece of the “skeleton” that remains once the skin and fresh die and fall away; it’s in the centre of the photo and looks like dark gray lattice.