This week I finally had the chance to run away for a few hours and visit the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve in Lancaster, CA. The super-bloom has almost come to an end, with most of the wildflowers gone, and a few patches of poppies left gracing the earth with their warm orange glow. Thursday morning there wasn’t a large crowd of people to navigate through, and it was just all open fields. More images can be found on my Flickr!

The winds were extreme, it made it very challenging to enjoy a steady walk through the trails. I also had trouble reviewing my photos, and had to wait to peek at them until we got back to the car.

One of the reserve personnel was pointing out how the poppies were, “going to seed” If you look in the photos below, you can see the sort of pink base with a green stem shooting out. Hopefully we get enough rain again this year, so that they will all rise from their slumber and bloom again next spring.

Who doesn’t want to fall asleep in the poppies and dream like Dorothy?