Here is my year in review summed up in a few photos. The photos aren't necessarily chosen for their artistic quality, but for the memories they evoke. I also try to capture a broad range of subjects (as opposed to just wildflowers, or just garden plants). This year for my annual review, I have the usual Top 12, but I also added photos from different states, provinces, or countries we visited outside of California.
January - Tombstone Rocks
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| Tombstone Rocks in Tuolumne County |
In January we traveled to Roseville for a belated Christmas celebration with my sister. Her daughter and family were visiting from Spokane, so they would be there in addition to her other daughter that lives in a nearby town.
As we often do, we find some different route to take so that we can see some new sights. First we stopped to see Basso Bridge in La Grange and after that we walked around the nearby Joe Domecq Wilderness Area. Next it was a visit to the Mark Twain Cabin near Tuttletown. But before we got there, we had to drive past the tombstone rocks on La Grange Road (Highway J59), between La Grange and Jamestown. These interesting rocks jut out of the landscape like tombstones. The rocks are metamorphosed volcanic rocks (metavolcanics) and are part of the Gopher Ridge Volcanics formation. These are metamorphic rocks dating from the Jurassic period. These rocks formed as island arcs (volcanic islands like Alaska's Aleutian Islands) on the oceanic crust of the Pacific Ocean, but were scraped off against the edge of the North American continent as the rocks were subducted. The rocks have been metamorphosed, and turned almost vertical by intense east-west pressure. They are more resistant than the surrounding slates, and so stand out as a prominent ridge. (https://geotripper.blogspot.com/2023/09/an-aerial-tour-of-stanislaus-table.html)
It was hard to get a good photo of the rocks, because the road is narrow and windy with no shoulder and therefore does not have many places to safely stop.
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| Basso Bridge (foot traffic only) |
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| Mark Twain Cabin |
January - Canada - Bountiful Farmers Market
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| Bountiful Farmers Market, Edmonton |
At the end of January, Ingrid made a trip to Alberta by herself to visit family. One day she went out for lunch with a friend and she sent this picture. It almost looks like the woman is part of the display, but I don't think that taxidermists work on humans. Bountiful Farmers Market looks like a really fun place to visit. The pictures make me think of some of the shopping malls in Thailand.
February - Weeds and Pollinators
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| Bermuda Buttercup (Oxalis pes-caprae) and Honeybee (Apis mellifera) |
There is a noxious weed in our back yard that creeps under the fence from our neighbors yard. Bermuda buttercup can be quite nasty because it spreads from little bulbs. But it is pretty. Ingrid told me to hold off on weeding it so we could enjoy the blooms a little bit. Looks like the bees enjoy them, too. Unfortunately, it is also intermingled with another weed that has crept under the fence, purple nutsedge. That plant also spreads from root nodules, but it lacks pretty flowers. By letting the flowers grow, I also let the nutsedge grow. At least I try to keep them restricted to the vicinity of the fence.
February - Canada - Let it Snow
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| Dodge Van in the Snow |
While Ingrid was in Canada, she borrowed her dad's minivan, which she had driven before on previous visits to Canada, but on those other visits she did not have to shovel a path through the now to get to it. And this was her first time getting to drive it in the snow. After this visit, she must be better snow driver than I am! While I'm sad that she had to deal with that weather, I was quite content that my biggest problem was refraining from yanking out all the Bermuda Buttercup.
March - Baby Blue Eyes
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| Baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii) |
When March comes, it's time to start checking out the wildflowers in the foothills. One day we headed out on Highway 168, deciding our route as we went while we scouted for places to view flowers. We eventually ended up at the San Joaquin River Gorge Recreation Area. Twenty years ago, we liked coming to this trail, because it was fairly quiet. But now it is very popular and used a lot by people on bikes, so it is not as nice an escape as it used to be. Indeed, the park was fairly crowded on the day we went. There were a few people who actually noticed that there were flowers blooming—one group was using some of the wildflowers as backdrop for a photo shoot. We walked the Ya-Gub-Weh-Tuh Trail down as far as the river. It seemed like maybe it was a bit too early for some of the flowers and too late for others, but there were lots of Baby Blue Eyes (Nemophila menziesii) blooming along the trail.
April - Stevenson Falls
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| Stevenson Falls |
On a sunny April day, we decided to visit Stevenson Falls. The falls are located northeast of Auberry. The road is narrow and windy such that one wonders sometimes if the road actually goes anywhere. On the last part, you have to be especially careful as there is not enough room to pass oncoming traffic in some places and there are several blind curves.
There is a paved road to get all the way to the falls, but it is closed to traffic for the general public, so one has to walk the 3-1/2 miles each way. There were lots of wildflowers to distract us along our journey. Here is a list of the flowers I was able to identify that day:
Ball Gilia (Gilia capitata abrotanifolia)
Bicolor Babystars (Leptosiphon bicolor)
Bird's-eye Gilia (Gilia tricolor)
Blue Dicks (Dipterostemon capitatus)
Blue Elder (Sambucus cerulea)
Bolander's Woodland Star (Lithophragma bolanderi)
Bush Poppy (Dendromecon rigida)
California Chicory (Rafinesquia californica)
California Goldfields (Lasthenia california)
California Yerba Santa (Eriodictyon californicum)
Caterpillar Scorpionweed (Phacelia cicutaria)
Chaparral Whitethorn (Ceanothus leucodermis)
Chia (Salvia columbariae)
Common Chickweed (Stellaria media)
Common Madia (Madia elegans vernalis)
Common Madia (Madia elegans wheeleri)
Common Sow-Thistle (Sonchus oleraceus)
Coulter's Wild Cabbage (Caulanthus coulteri)
Deerweed (Acmispon glaber)
Deltoid Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza deltoidea)
Early Saxifrages (Micranthes sp.)
Eastwood's Baby Blue-Eyes (Nemophila pulchella)
Fiesta Flower (Pholistoma auritum)
Foothill Desert-Parsley (Lomatium utriculatum)
Glassy Onion (Allium hyalinum)
Henderson's Shooting Star (Primula hendersonii)
Larkspurs (Delphinium sp.)
Miniature Lupine (Lupinus bicolor)
Pacific Poison Oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum)
Pipestem Clematis (Clematis lasiantha)
Prettyface (Triteleia ixioides)
Purple Chinese Houses (Collinsia heterophylla)
Purple Fairy-Lantern (Calochortus amoenus)
Purple Owl's-Clover (Castilleja exserta)
Rancheria Clover (Trifolium albopurpureum)
Red-berried Elder (Sambucus racemosa)
Sacred Datura (Datura wrightii)
Sand Fringepod (Thysanocarpus curvipes)
Seep Monkeyflower (Erythranthe guttata)
Shy Monkeyflower (Erythranthe nasuta)
Slender Phlox (Microsteris gracilis)
Spider Lupine (Lupinus benthamii)
Tomcat Clover (Trifolium willdenovii)
Virgate Scorpionweed (Phacelia heterophylla)
Wavyleaf Paintbrush (Castilleja applegatei)
Western Wallflower (Erysimum capitatum)
(Photos of all the flowers can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/eddingrid/albums/72177720325193859)
Even though it was mid-week, there were a lot of people making the walk. Some were swimming in the cool water below the falls.
May - Echinopsis
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| Echinopsis |
Last year we missed it.
In the fall of 2023 we went to the plant sale held by the Fresno Cactus and Succulent Society. Among the plants we brought home were a couple of small cactus from the genus Echinopsis. In the spring they started to develop flower buds. But the thing is that they bloom and night—and the blooms open fully only once. So the question was: would we get to see the bloom. Well, we got to enjoy the blooms for a few seconds, because one plant decided to bloom the day we were leaving early on a long road trip, but we were so busy with last minute stuff, we only had time to just take a glance at them before we headed out. And if the second cactus bloomed, we never knew.
This year was a bit better. We were leaving for Germany early in the month, but not before we got to see the flowers fully open on both cacti. And they had multiple buds se we got to see the flowers for several days, as they did not open all on the same day. One cactus had a white flower and the other a yellow flower. And what is amazing was the size of the flower. The cactus itself is only about 2 inches tall, yet the bloom is long trumpet, taller and wider than the cactus itself! What an amazing little plant.
May - Germany - Wittenburg Door
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| The Famous Door at All Saints' Church, Wittenberg |
If we had to pick a time to travel to Germany, we probably would not have picked early May, but it was when some of Ingrid's family were having a reunion near Greifswald in the northeastern part of the country. Because we wanted to do some other sightseeing and visit some other relatives, we decided to fly to Frankfurt and rent a car. We had an overnight flight, and so we ended up picking up our car mid-morning. I knew I would be pretty tired from the flight, so I didn't want to have to drive too far. We ended up spending the first night in the town of Schkeuditz (no, I don't think that name is actually pronouncable), outside Leipzig.
We planned on doing some minor sightseeing on the way to Greifswald, but we hadn't decided exactly where until we got to Schkeuditz. In the end wew decided to go to see the famous door where Luther nailed his 95 Theses at All Saints' Church (Schlosskirche Lutherstadt) in Wittenberg. Google maps routed us onto Highway B107. Shortly after turning off, we saw a sign for Biosphärenreservat Mittelelbe (Middle Elbe Biosphere Reserve), so we turned in. It was right off the road. We walked around there for a bit, checked out the displays and some of the flowers and then continued to Wittenburg.
The road was convoluted, and after arriving it was hard to find a place to park. We ended up in a parking garage; some lady coming in behind us helped us figure out the machine to get in. We got out of our car and found an exit door to discover we were in the upstairs of a shopping mall. So we had to walk downstairs and through the mall to get out. My phone dropped its digital signal (it ended up doing this a lot), so I had to reboot it. Meanwhile, we used Google maps on Ingrid’s phone to find out where we were so that we could find our way back again. Wittenburg is quite the tourist town, with lots of shops and restaurants spilling out onto the sidewalks of the cobblestone streets. We eventually made our way to All Saints Church. That wooden door where Luther nailed his 95 Theses burned in a fire long ago, but was replaced with a bronze door in the mid-1800’s with the Theses in bas-relief covering the doors. Good luck trying to drive a nail into those doors.
We tried to use the car’s built in Tom-Tom GPS to go on from there, but it wasn’t very good and it led us to a road closed for construction, so we ended up using Google Maps to go on. It was a long, convoluted way back to the A9 highway. Road construction and associated traffic jams had Google maps rerouting us a lot, so we ended up getting to our destination almost 2 hours later than planned.
Not only did we get to see a lot of family on the trip—including a lot of second cousins we had never met before—but we also got so see many places that were significant in the history of Ingrid's parents. This included the house where her parents lived when they lived when they first got married. This house was on the island of Rügen. We had been there on our first trip to Germany in 2003, when a couple had just moved in. Since then, they have done lot of work on the thatched roof house, using local materials as much as possible.
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| The house on Rügen, 2003, viewed from back |
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| The house on Rügen, 2025, viewed from front The porch has been added on. |
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| Family Reunion Group Photo |
May - British Columbia - Peace Park
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| Peace Arch State Park, WA and Provincial Park, BC |
Later in May it was time for a road trip, this time to British Columbia. A nephew was getting married at the end of the month. Then, Ingrid's sister-in-law, also in BC, suddenly passed away. So it was a memorial service, burial and wedding all within a weeks time.
We weren't sure how the border crossing would go, because this was at the time that Trump was calling for Canada to become the 51st state. Things went smoothly enough going to Canada. Then we decided to visit a friend across the border in the US while we were there. We met them in Birch Bay, right on the border. In that town there is also a monument called the Peace Arch located in Peace Arch State Park (Peace Arch Provincial Park on the other side of the border). We had never been there before, and we thought it might be fun to visit, but again, with all the tensions due to Trump's rhetoric, we weren't sure it would even be open, as the monument sits right on the border in a shared park. But it turns out, everything was fine, we could walk around the park on either side of the border without any problem.
The arch is set up like a gateway between the two countries. Inside the arch there is some gatelike ironwork attached to the walls with these words above them: "May these gates never be closed." Outside the arch there is a smaller monumnent with some bronze plaques. This is the text from that plaque:
THIS UNFORTIFIED BOUNDARY LINE
BETWEEN THE
DOMINION OF CANADA
AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
SHOULD QUICKEN THE REMEMBRANCE
OF THE MORE THAN A CENTURY OLD
FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN THESE COUNTRIES
A LESSON OF PEACE TO ALL NATIONS
ERECTED APRIL 25, 1936
KIWANIS INTERNATIONAL
IN COMMEMORATION OF
ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF PEACE, 1814-1964 BETWEEN
CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
THE SIGNING OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER TREATY ON SEPTEMBER 16TH 1964.
AT THIS INTERNATIONAL PEACE ARCH PARK BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE
UNITED STATES, LYNDON B. JOHNSON, AND THE PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA
THE RIGHT HONORABLE LESTER B. PEARSON P.C.
ERECTED AND DEDICATED TO CONTINUED PEACE AND GOOD WILL OF THE PEOPLES OF
CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES BY KIWANIS INTERNATIONAL ON NOVEMBER 28, 1965.
Returning to the US went without a hitch. We had left fairly early so we could catch a ferry later in the day, and when we got to the border, there was no line at all—we drove right up to the border station. With all the uncertainty created by Trump's talk, border traffic was way down, and the border guards seemed happy to have someone to talk to.
June - Washington State - Pigeon Guillemot
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| Pigeon Guillemot (Cepphus columba) |
On the way back from Canada, we were going to visit friends in Shelton, located at the base of the Olympic Peninsula. We normally would drive through Seattle and Tacoma and Olympia to get there, but our friends recommended taking the ferry across Puget Sound (which is the route they take as they don't like driving in city traffic), so we thought we would give that a try.
It took some research, but we finally figured out where to catch the ferry and let the GPS tell us how to get there. We didn't have time to waste to catch the ferry that would work for us. The ferry left out of out of the Coupeville Ferry Terminal, which isn't actually in Coupeville, which is why it was confusing trying to figure out where to go. There is a small park near the terminal called Fort Casey State Park. As we were wandering around while waiting for the ferry, we noticed lots of black birds with white spots and red feet hanging around the rocks. I identified them as Pigeon Guillemot. We met a birdwatcher who frequents the area who told us that these birds nest in those rocks, which is why we saw them doing their mating dances.
June - Morro Rock
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| Morro Rock, Sequoia National Park |
We had seen it from above and below but we had never visited Morro Rock in Sequoia National Park. One of the reasons we had never been there is that the trail to get to it is very short, and if I'm going to drive 2-1/2 hours, I want to do a hike that is worth my while. The other reason that we have not been there is that it is easy to get there and is therefore often crowded. But, we decided that we would finally go to Morro Rock and combine it with another hike to make it worthwhile. We went before schools were out for the year so that crowds might not be too bad.
We got to the parking area by the rock just as someone was pulling out, freeing up a space. The climb to the top of Morro Rock is not for people with a severe fear of heights. There are plenty of guardrails, so there is no risk of falling unless, like some people, you think the rails are just for decoration. There are also a lot of steps to get to the top, so it may not be a good walk for someone with bad knees. But there were some nice views from the top as the air was not too hazy that day.
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| Morro Rock viewed from below |
July - Montana de Oro State Park
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| Amazing Colors at Montana de Oro State Park |
Hard to believe it had been almost a year since our last trip to the coast. As usual, we traveled to Morro Bay. We had thought of going elsewhere, but we did not want to spend a lot of time driving. We made a visit to Montana de Oro State Park, where we would normally climb Valencia Peak. This time, however, we decided to just walk the bluff trail, which we followed all the way to the end near the gate to the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. While there had initially been some fog, the sun finally broke through and we were able to get some nice views from the bluffs. The colors were really amazing. Unfortunately, one of the few trails to one of the small beaches had washed out and so it was closed. We were able to get down to the water to do some tide-pooling at another spot.
In the afternoon we went to the San Luis Obispo Botanic Garden. It has expanded a lot since the last time we visited. The second day, walked the beach north of Morro Rock and then we drove out to Cambria to walk the beach and do some more tide-pooling.
August - Easter Island of California
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| God-made Sculpture on the way to Buena Vista Peak |
We made several trips to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks over the summer to do some hiking. On one of these trips we climbed Buena Vista Peak in Kings Canyon National Park. This is a fairly easy hike with some nice views. One thing we noticed that had not caught our attention in the past was a rock formation which reminded us of pictures we had seen of the Moai statues on Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Maybe the Rapa Nui visited here and got inspired for the design of their statues:
Moai on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
By Aurbina - Own work, Public Domain, Link
After our hike to Buena Vista Peak, we were thinking of walking near the General Sherman tree in Sequoia National Park. But that place was really crowded, so after slowly snaking our way through the parking lot, we drove up the road to Wolverton and did a short walk along Long Meadow. The meadow flowers were already beginning to fade, but there were still a few things blooming. We need to plan on visiting there earlier next year (but need to remember to bring insect repellent if we do that.)
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| Long Meadow Trail near Wolverton |
September - Chilnualna Falls
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| Small Cascade along Chilnualna Falls Trail |
In September, we decided to brave the crowds and go to Yosemite. We started out at Chilnualna Falls. We had no intention of going all the way to the top, we just wanted to hang out near the cascades at the bottom. This is a very pretty area with stair steps made out of granite. I put my camera on a tripod and clung to some rocks to take this photo of a smaller cascade. The trailhead for Chilnualna Falls is on the back side of Wawona Village. The main waterfalls are another 4 miles up the trail.
Leaving the falls, we visited the historical park in Wawona and then drove into Yosemite Valley. We did not drive very far in, we just cut across by El Capitan and did some walking along the Merced River before heading west out of the park towards Mariposa. Along the way we stopped at the viewpoint for Bridal Veil Falls. There we met up with a French Couple. They were hiking through on the Pacific Crest Trail and detoured to visit the Valley. They wanted to get a photo at the El Capitan Viewpoint on the Merced River, where the woman's grandparents had visited and taken a photo back in the 1980's, so we gave them a ride to there. In Mariposa we stopped for a coffee break at The Coffee Shop (which Google Maps shows as now being permanently closed) before visiting the California Mining and Mineral Museum located at the fairgrounds. This museum has some very interesting displays.
October - Jack-O-Lantern
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| Jack-O-Lantern |
In October, I did something I have not done since I was a child—I carved a jack-o-lantern. The occasion was our Meet and Treat event at Butler Church. So I got myself a budget pumpkin and did some carving. The jack-o-lantern has about as much hair and as many teeth as I have.
October - Alberta - Chickakoo Lake Recreation Area
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| Birch and Poplar in Chickakoo Lake Recreation Area |
In October we made a trip to Alberta to visit family. We wanted to do this before the snow and cold moved in. We flew to Edmonton and spent a few days with Ingrid's sister in Spruce Grove before heading up to Barrhead. We had a couple of occasions to go for some short walks to enjoy some of the fall colors on the few remaining leaves. On one day we visited Chickakoo Lake Recreation Area for the first time. This is a very nice park with lots of trails. The While some of the white birch trees had some leaves left, most of the poplar and birch had lost all their leaves. But it made for some very pretty walks along the trails.
November - Merced Wildlife Refuge
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| White-faced Ibis (Plegadis chihi) and Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) |
We were wanting to get out of the house so, in our typical fashion, we checked the weather for various places and decided we would do an outing in the valley somewhere. We decided to make a drive to the Merced Wildlife Refuge to see the sandhill cranes and other wildlife. Getting there almost seems adventurous—we take Highway 99 north and exit at Sandy Mush Road. With a name like that, one is not sure it's a good idea to try to drive on it.
We did see Sandhill Cranes. And there were many white geese, probably Snow Geese, but perhaps Ross' Geeese (they were too far away for me to tell even with a spotting scope). Many species of ducks and coots were plying the waters. But what I thought was cute was this White-faced Ibis that appeared to be stalking the Black-necked Stilt (the ibis don't have white faces in the winter).
We took a scenic roundabout way home, stopping for lunch at Eddie's Cafe in Los Banos and then continuing on to Mendota where we had coffee at Di Amici Coffee. The coffee there was really good, too bad it is such a long drive from Fresno. I was surprised to find such a nice coffee shop in Mendota.
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| Sandwich and Sweet Potato Fries at Eddie's Cafe |
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| Di Amici Coffee in Mendota |
December - A Purple Surprise
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| Common Selfheal (Prunella vulgaris) |
Dreary and Damp. That's how December started. I think we set a record number of days in a row with the temperature not going above 50°F (10°C). The fog was not dense most days, but it did not want to go away. I said to Ingrid, "Let's go for a drive above the fog." I had an idea about where to go, but it depended on how high we had to go to get above the fog layer. As we were driving highway 168 towards Prather, I was almost thinking that we would have to go higher than I intially planned, but finally, just as we approached the traffic circle in Prather, we broke through the fog.
We continued driving through Auberry, down the mountain to where there is a bridge across the San Joaquin River on the back side of Kerckhoff Lake. Just beyond there, we pulled over where there was a parking space beside the lake. I had not planned on seeing any wildflowers, but we had already seen some Telegraphweed (Heterotheca grandiflora) beside the road just as we started down the mountain. And now I noticed two more plants with purple flowers growing side by side near the shore of the lake. One plant was Brazialian Vervain (Verbena brasiliensis, an exotic weed) and Common Selfheal (Prunella Vulgaris), pictured above.
The Common Selfheal caught me by surprise. I have seen it blooming before, but always in summer. I have photos of it from Shelton, Washington in June and September; Kings Canyon National Park in July; Colebrook and Kent, Connecticut in August; and Wilderswil, Switzerland in September. But now I see it blooming in December, almost at the end of Autumn, which seemed a little strange. The graph below is from records in iNaturalist. The grayed part of the graph shows when people observed Common Selfheal, the red part is when people also noted "Flowers and Fruits," which can refer to flowers, flower buds or fruits. Since not every observer populates the "Flower and Fruits" data field, the actual number of blooming plants may more closely resemble the gray curve, since the plant is more easily noticed (and therefore have an observation recorded) when the plant is blooming. And later season observations may be of fruits rather than flowers. Either way, December through February is an unusual time frame for the plant to be blooming.
From Kerckhoff Lake, we went to North Fork where we got a really nice coffee at Rebelz Coffee. This drive-thru/walk-up establishment has been open since the spring of 2023. They have a limited selection of food items, and the blueberry-cream cheese danish was really good. I'm not sure where she gets them from.
After leaving North Fork, we went to Manzanita Lake to do some walking. The park at Manzanita Lake was busier than usual for midweek in wnter because there was a group of people there filming a documentary. From the lake we went to Oakhurst for lunch at Plazuelas Mexican Restaurant. The entrees were a bit pricey for Mexican food, but the shrimp tacos were only $6 a-la-carte, and two of those planty of food for my stomach that was still recovering from the Danish I split with Ingrid earlier. The tortillas were nice and fresh and they accomodated my "cilantro free" requests. After lunch, we did some more sightseeing, as we were not in a rush to get back to Fresno. About 2 pm we left Oakhurst, at that point the temperature was about 73°F (23°C). We stopped in Coarsegold for a cold coffee at Zanders Coffee. Then it was back to the Fog of Fresno.
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| Into the wall of fog. |
Just like we don't always know what is lurking in the fog, we don't know what new adventures await us in the coming year.
