Continuing on the Road to Carlsbad Caverns
May 20, 2007
We only made it a few hundred yards further along the road when I just had to stop again. There was this intriguing trail up the hillside with lots of blooms showing.
 | At right is a look back up the highway we had just traveled. This interesting salmon colored flower was right at the entrance to this area. |  |
How could you resist going up a trail like this?  |  |
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| The beauty of the trio above holds up no matter how closely you examine them. I was just mesmerized by the beauty of the blooms. |  |
 | Further up the hill there was an entirely different kind of cactus with a dramatic rose-colored bloom. It was like a clump of smaller egg-shaped cacti, and the collection reminded me of a coral head.  |
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The long thin arms of the plant above right reminded me of the soft coral we often see when scuba diving. It is interesting to find paralllels to things in the sea. I found it interesting that the flower shown at right would be growing among the cactus. It looks like it would require a lot of water. Perhaps it just grows when you have had good springtime rains like we have just had. |  |
Fragile beauty among all these thorns!
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| Continue on the road to Carlsbad Caverns |
2007