Wind, Flower, Snow and Moon(风花雪月) 1-Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve

H and I drove all night from the Bay area to Gorman, CA where we spent the night. Our destination is Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve.

Even with a record dry March and April, 2008 had a fair amount of rain. About a week ago, I peeked at the current photos section on the reserve's website, and the California poppies were fully bloomed! We decided to make this trip.

From Gorman, it was a short 20 minutes drive to the poppy reserve. The reserve is located amongst flat farm land, so we started seeing the large patches of golden poppies as we approached the entrance.

Unfortunately, the wind was unusually strong. The poppies did not open fully. The wind also kicked up a lot of dust and the flowers did not have their usual silk like shine.

We walked around the reserve a little and came to a patch of poppies which was behind a small hill. The hill blocked the wind, so the flowers open a little more here and it was not as dusty. We sat down inside the patches. The flowers were all around us as far as the eye can see. As the wind blew, the sea of golden poppies sway in the wind, like waves in the ocean. H and I tried very had to think of ways to describe the scenery, but both gave up after a while.

The weather made it very uncomfortable to stay in the reserve, and we figured we will get some comfort food.

H suggested Din Tai Fung in Arcadia. I had heard my Taiwanese friends talked about this restaurant and eagerly agreed. We arrive at about 1:30pm and we seated almost immediate. We shared a chicken soup, 2 orders of the famous xiao long bao, vegetable dumplings and fish dumplings. The food was comforting and homey. After a cold and windy morning, the food really hit the spot. I will be yelping about this place soon!

After lunch, we started our drive back to the Bay area, stopping at Casa de Fruta for nuts and dried corn. H will be going on a back country ski trip and needed ration.

It was a full moon weekend, and being a cold spring day, there was no a cloud in the sky. The moon looked especially bright as we drove along 152, crossing Pacheco Pass back onto 101.