Poppies? Where?

Today my mom, cousin and I took a drive out to the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve to see the poppies and other wildflowers. I read on their website that this year there are not many poppies and that the grasses have taken over. I remember going about 20 years ago and there were poppies as far as your eye could see - it was spectacular. This was the first time my cousin had been out there and I was hoping it would be that way this year, but it was not to be. There were a few spots where there were poppies, but mainly what looks like what we call foxtails were everywhere. There was a meadow-like area where there was a large field of Goldfields that was beautiful. We didn't walk out that far, as the wind was blowing wicked strong and it was a brisk 56 degrees (don't laugh - that's brisk for us here - we're very spoiled). The flowers we did see along the trail we took were Bigelow Coreopsis, Blue Dicks (my cousin made a good joke about this, but I shall refrain from repeating it here!), Fiddleneck, and Pygmy-Leaved Lupine. It was awfully hard to get a good picture because of the wind, but I did manage to get a few good shots. I couldn't get many closeups though - the flowers were blowing around too much!

On the way back, we stopped for lunch at Camille's Sidewalk Cafe. My mom had the Napa Valley Chiken Panini, I had the Veganini, and my cousin had the Sonoma Veggie Wrap. We each enjoyed our selection (they were delicious) and we will definitely go back again.