Delicate Orchids, A Big Rock and Snow... All In One Day

On Tuesday, we started out at 9 am and hit the donut shop in Yucca Valley before heading to the Orchid Nursery in Landers, CA. Mike and I discovered this place a few years back; it was just as great the second time around.

In each of these bottles is a man made solution nurturing little orchid plants. From the time the powdery seeds are put in the solution, the bottle is not opened, just watered.
It is Minnesota's State Plant that is currently being bottle grown, the delicate lady slipper. It takes two years from pollen seed to time a plant is able to live outside the bottle.
All the colors of these delicate beauties created a need to take multiple pictures! You can really see the "lip" of the orchid in the next three pictures.

Isn't this "dyed" face fabulous. The gal who gave us the tour told us that she got sick of dying plain white orchids so experimented - I like the result.

These orchids looked like acrobats to me.

Mike loved these yellow "dancers". If you look closely, you see the dancing girl in the big yellow skirt.

I love all nurseries! There is just something about the new growth and the colors.

After spending the better part of an hour admiring orchids, we bought a "butterwart" plant which is suppose to capture all those pesky fruit flies. Sure enuf, by yesterday morning there was already a little fly attached to the sticky plant.

Next stop, a big rock... This driver and this car took on this "off road" adventure... three miles of bumpy path.

Yikes, it really is a great big rock - those little specks are the guys admiring it from below.

That is Mike and I posing by the front of the world's largest boulder. Yes, this really is the WORLD's Largest Rock. This boulder is 5 stories high. I have no idea why I felt compelled to smile for this picture...

Here is Lael standing on top... ok she is on top of a rock, but not The Rock. It was a fun place to admire God's handiwork!

Back in World War II days, a fellow lived under the giant rock. It is reported that he had quite a comfortable place. Since he had a German sounding name, the local sheriff figured he must be doing some spying for the Nazis. And since he always kept dynamite and caps under the kitchen table... it did not end well. He and a couple of lawmen were killed. Stories going back even further tell us that Native American tribes met in peace at this site of The Great Rock.

Eventually the Nissan struggled back to the main road and we headed for snow. At Big Bear Ski Resort, we probably saw more snow than most of our friends and family in Minnesota have seen all winter. It met our need for the white stuff for another year.

Nobody was on the half pipe - learned that term from Doug.

From delicate orchids to mounds of snow, it was a very good day!