LeBleu Pack: Quail, Burros and Horses...Oh My!

We drove to the Imperial Dam area a couple of days ago to explore and to shoot the area. Craig's dad really wanted to go and I wanted to head over to Martinez Lake to see what it was all about. So glad that the Imperial Dam was closed to the public as it pushed us to drive further to explore the area. We had seen Gambel's Quail before but this whole area had tons...everywhere. They are a small ground bird and it is named in honor of William Gambel who was a 19th-century naturalist and explorer of the Southwest. We ended up at a gorgeous spot called Senator Wash where as soon as you rounded to corner you could see a couple of wild burros along the shore. We walked up high along a trail to see if we could get a wee bit closer to the pair and sure enough we got to about 25 feet from them. Thankfully I had my big lens with me to get a closer look at them. As we were driving out of the park Eeyore was standing in the middle of the road, slowly walking by some trailers.

We spent a good hour there before heading to Martinez Lake and then back home. Martinez Lake is a resort town which is packed full of trailers and homes...not my cup of tea but the area is pretty. Driving home through the Proving Grounds I saw something in under some trees so Craig turned around and there they were, about 5 wild horses taking cover from the hot sun. They were all black and too far away to take a good pic but what an experience. As we drove down I95 to head home we saw another small herd of wild horses...our lucky day! This time they were pretty much in the open desert so it was my chance to get a few pics of them. It seemed like Craig just got going again and we came across 5 more wild burros.

As we were driving into the sunset on 32nd Avenue in Yuma Craig pulled into a side road for us to watch some planes come in for a landing. Can you say loud? Craig's mom stayed in the truck and she said that it shook when the F35b flew over it. Very cool!