All My Bags Are Packed ...

 

Tomorrow, we leave for San Pedro where we board a cruise ship to ... wait for it ... Cabo San Lucas! Hooray! But first, a little catching up.

We had even more rain the other day (March 2). Yup, that's a rainbow above.

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Pursuing the Desert X art installations, on March 3, we went to the Salton Sea. The fabulous blue "in the sky" above me is Nancy Baker Cahillane's virtual painting called Margin of Error. Lee Anne took this picture because her camera was able to download the app which was tied to this location and produced the "painting."

From Wikipedia, re the Salton Sea:

Location	Colorado Desert Imperial and RiversideCounties, California, U.S.
Coordinates	33°18′47″N 115°50′04″WCoordinates: 33°18′47″N 115°50′04″W
Type	Endorheic rift lake
Primary inflows	Alamo River New River Whitewater River
Primary outflows	None
Catchment area	8,360 square miles (21,700 km2)
Basin countries	United States, Mexico
Surface area	343 sq mi (889 km2)
Max. depth	43 ft (13 m)
Water volume	6,000,000 acre⋅ft (7.4 km3)
Surface elevation	−236 ft (−71.9 m) (below sea level)
Settlements	Bombay Beach, Desert Beach, Desert Shores, Salton City, Salton Sea Beach, North Shore
References	U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Salton Sea

The Salton Sea's salinity is increasing by 3% per year.



Here's Lee Anne proud of herself for reaching the top of these concrete stairs. I was proud too since I only made it up 4 stairs -- it's a lot higher than you think. Artist: Ivan Argote who named this A Point of View. Each stair has words, with English on the left and Spanish on the right. There were 5 sets of stairs built out in the middle of nowhere. (We had to take a dirt road to get to this site.)










Desert flowers blurred by breeze.




I got a picture of this cairn just before a carload of Latinos came and destroyed it by chucking rocks at it. They had scampered up the steps and were bored. After they knocked down the rocks, one started throwing rocks at his "friend." There were six, both boys and girls, about high school age.



Our next stop was at the Gas Station.







This was on the left of the red fabric you see above.



Next we go to Salton Sea (beach). This is approaching the water. The "sand" is a bazillion tiny pieces of shells! There was very little sand mixed in. It crunches when you walk on it. When you get closer to the water, even though it does not seem wet, it feels like it is wet about 8 inches down and it is very spongy.



As you can see, the water at water's edge is very brackish. It doesn't smell good, but I have smelled low tide at the salt marshes and that's what it is like. There were numerous birds playing in the shallows, talking to each other.



We couldn't see the installation that was on a barge because it had drifted away ...




But we could see this.


This work is by Cecelia Bengolea and is titled Mosquito Net.

Quoting from the Desert X guidebook:
"This piece also includes a freestanding sculptural work that synthesizes the animistic aspects of dance with her interest in the Salton Sea."  I guess she did a dance when we were not there. The explanation goes on and on and I'm too dense to figure it out. All in all, I liked the work better without explanation.


View from inside the North Shore Beach Club (bathroom break):

Yes, it was very hazy.

The beginning of this jaunt was at the Windmills.

And this is Nancy Baker Cahill's piece titled Revolutions. A woman with her dog took our photo. We took hers. The dog was not impressed. I was!!

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The over-baked peanut butter cookies taste as good as the paler ones. I froze some for when we get back.

It's a five day cruise and, of course, I have over packed. But it's because I need choices, you see. We leave tomorrow about 9 a.m. and it should be about a two hour ride. It's the Princess Ruby ship. Cheers!