By East County News Service
 
June 21, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) – In the early morning hours on Saturday, June 26, sky watchers in our region can see a partial eclipse of the moon, which is visible across much of North America, South America and Asia. 
 
You're also invited to join syndicated “Stargazer” columnist Dennis Mammana on a lunar eclipse campout June 25-26 in the Anza-Borrego Desert. Reservations are required—and past stargazing campouts have sold out quickly.

By Miriam Raftery

April 15, 2010 - Yes, you can still see wildflowers in bloom in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Thanks to readers Jerry and Marlene Fisher for sending us shots taken this week of the desert floor in bloom--and a flowering ocotillo.

We also spotted a profusion of spring blooms at Summers Past Farm, which hosted its annual Sweet Pea Festival last weekend. Local residents Cindy and Juliana Houser, Laura Butcher, and Bonnie Henselmeier snipped fragrant sweat peas shown in the photo at right.  The crowd quickly grew so large that cutting was stopped for the day, but not to worry--more sweat peas will be available to the public this weekend. 

March 3, 2010 (Vallecito) – Vallecito Stage Station once served as a rest stop for weary travelers along the Southern Overland Trail on the Butterfield Stage Coach. On March 5, 6 and 7, history will come alive as the 1850s camp in the Anza-Borrego desert welcomes visitors to tour the original adobe Vallecito Stage Station and participate in frontier-style activities.

 
Author of New Book on Anza-Borrego Desert’s Fossil Treasures Featured at Aug. 15 Event

July 29, 2009 (San Diego)—Lowell Lindsay, co-author of Fossil Treasures of the Anza-Borrego Desert: The Last Seven Million Years, will be at the San Diego Zoo’s new Elephant Odyssey Exhibit on Saturday, August 15. He will be discussing, in a hands-on presentation, one of America’s most significant fossil treasure troves—the Anza-Borrego Desert, located in San Diego’s own desert backyard.

San Diego County’s Anza-Borrego Desert region boasts the longest continuous fossil record in North America, with fossils of such unique animals as mammoths, giant camels, bathtub-sized tortoises, and a sabertooth cat.