Roadtrip part 2: Borrego Springs
Just about 45 minutes to an hour away from Julian is the low desert town of Borrego Springs. We drove here for one purpose: tennis.
The transition from the lush greenery of Julian to sun-beaten rock formations that gate the desert was quick. Every curve of the road presented new scenery. This baffled me. The land seemed to consistently shift every 5 to 10 minutes. Always different, but always breathtaking.
Exhibit a: The road just out of Julian—deep lush greens.
Exhibit b: 5-10 minutes later, rockier mountains take over. The variety of shrubs immediately change.
Exhibit c: Mountains are sage green, everything gets muted.
Exhibit d: And then, a totally different color palette. Warm tones in greys, browns, yellows.
We are in the Low Desert now. Somewhere along this way we saw a roadrunner wheeze through.
We came here to play at The Courts, a beautifully designed series of tennis courts owned by a group of graphic designers and illustrators, I believe. (I found out about it because an illustrator I follow, Leah Goren, happens to be part of this group.) Now I’ve only been playing tennis for over a year and to put it simply, I am still no good, but damn this sport is addicting. This trip marks the first of many travels in the name of tennis.
There was a hummingbird along the bushes while we were playing. We played horribly but happily. But for some reason (excitement) we chose to play during the daytime, somewhere along 10am to noon and I overheated. I overlooked how dry the desert air might be, combined with its intense heat. I thought hey if I can play under the sun in the Philippines, maybe I can do this. Ah, but dry low desert heat is a different beast from the humid heat my body is used to. My nose started hurting, my sinuses started feeling weird and my throat was often parched. I started panting profusely and my body was all red. It was an interesting moment but I had a lot of fun nonetheless. I think I shall be back. But maybe in the late afternoon til nighttime.
