Great idea, Uli! I am going to see the desert wildflowers, too. There are several websites that track flowers. This one is particularly good and has links for others. It has pictures posted daily. http://www.desertusa.com/wildflo/ca.html It has a graph that shows how far advanced the flowers are. Yesterday the huge Anza-Borrego Desert Park, just east of San Diego, was at 60%, and today it is already at 80%. Here is a quote from the site: Jan 23, 2005 Russ reports: Went to Anza Borrego SP Jan 23. The sand verbena and evening primrose is looking good off of Di Giorgio road. The park rangers said it looked like 2 weeks until peak. They are expecting a great year. Other areas, like Death Valley, have also begun flowering. -- Diane Whitehead Victoria, British Columbia, Canada maritime zone 8 cool mediterranean climate (dry summer, rainy winter - 68 cm annually) sandy soil