The Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve is a remarkable place to admire the spring bloom of the stunning California state flower. A place that looks in summer like the sun must have burnt every trace of life to the ground and it is hard to imagine that there is any time during the year where something, besides maybe a cactus, could thrive there. In spring, however, nature proves otherwise.

The Carrizo Plain National Monument is a remote place in the heart of California's Central Valley that comes to life with wildflowers during spring, occasionally showcasing a superbloom in ideal years — as it was the case in 2023. The monument is a vast grassland that historically stretched across much of California’s Central Valley. Today, it is, in the midst of agriculture and the oil industry, the last remnant of this type of landscape in California.