Top 12+ 2025

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

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. This time around 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.

Basso Bridge (foot traffic only)

Mark Twain Cabin

January - Canada - Bountiful Farmers Market

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

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

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

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

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

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 at night—and the flower buds open fully only once. So the question was: would we get to see them 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

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 to Wittenberg 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 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.

The house on Rügen, 2003, viewed from back

The house on Rügen, 2025, viewed from front
The porch has been added on.

Family Reunion Group Photo

May - British Columbia - Peace Park

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 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 those plaques:

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

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

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 to 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.

Morro Rock viewed from below

July - Montana de Oro State Park

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

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.)

Long Meadow Trail near Wolverton

September - Chilnualna Falls

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

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

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. While some of the white birch trees had a few 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

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.

Sandwich and Sweet Potato Fries at Eddie's Cafe

Di Amici Coffee in Mendota

December - A Purple Surprise

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 the other was 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 were plenty 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.

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.

Top 12+11 2024

Here is my year in review summed up in a few photos. I'm being risky this year, publishing it before Christmas, but I like my choice for the December photo enough so that I think I'm safe. This year for my annual review, I have the usual Top 12, but I also added one for each state or province (includes Canada and Mexico) we visited outside of California.

January - Sunrise

Sunrise from our front yard

There are a lot of things I like about living in Fresno, but air quality is not one of them. In the summertime, pollution gets trapped in the valley. In the winter, fog settles in (which also serves to obscure the pollution). But there are those days in the spring and fall, and in the winter right after a storm goes through, when the the skies are clear. On this particular January day, the cloud patterns added to the morning colors (probably some pollution effects here as well) to make for an awesome sunrise.

We weren't even supposed to be around to enjoy that sunrise. We had planned to be in Mexico, but I had broken my toe about a week earlier and had just had surgery a couple of days before. It was January 31st, our last official day working for Multiply (though we were using up vacation time). I had peeked through the blinds and seen the colors and decided I needed to hobble outside in my special boot to grab a photo from our front yard. We won't get a view like this again, because the tree in our yard and the tree in our neighbors yard across the street have both been cut down.

February - Blueberry Blossom

Highbush Blueberry var. Hello Darlin'

One of the things that suffered a lot in the 14 years we were out of our house was the landscaping. Some fruit trees had died and others were not healthy. So one of the many things we began to do was plant new fruit trees and other landscaping trees and shrubs to replace some of the old ones. We also decided to add some blueberries to the mix, which we had not grown before. We bought three different varieties, as that makes for better fruiting. Of course, we had to make sure they were varieties that would bloom about the same time. And we were happy to see that the blueberry bushes we planted in January were already blooming. we didn't have a big harvest, but we were happy that we had anything at all for the first year.

March - California Poppies and Kings River

California poppies beside the Kings River in Piedra

In March, the wildflowers begin to bloom in the nearby foothills. We were busy with yard work and other tasks around the house, so that we didn't have much time to go enjoy them. And walking had been a challenge for me, because my foot was still healing. One day we had enough of work and being trapped in the house. My special boot had finally come off, so we hopped in the car and drove about a half-hour east to where the Kings River empties out of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Some years, the wildflowers are spectacular here (see photo below) — this was not one of them. But there were a few California poppies blooming along the edge of the Kings River.

Piedra in a better year for flowers.
Photo above was taken at the bottom of the hill shown in this photo.

April - Bigelow Coreopsis

Bigelow Coreopsis along the Pacific Crest Trail near Walker Pass in Kern County

One of the amazing sights we have in California is when the desert flowers come into bloom. There are different flowers in different places. The timing and composition varies from year to year based on precipatation patterns. There are actually websites where you can check to see when the peak bloom times might be. We didn't have a lot of time to go investigate the desert flowers this year, so we figured we would go see them someplace fairly close. Some years, the California poppies go gangbusters in Antelope Valley, but I was checking the "flower cam" at the poppy preserve and they weren't looking very good this year. So we opted for the Mojave Desert in eastern Kern County. We spent some time in Red Rock Canyon State Park and we also went up to Fossil Falls in adjoining Inyo County. But by far the most amazing display was on the eastern slopes of the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains.

We drove up Highway 178 toward Lake Isabella and the hillsides, which are mostly bare for much of the year, were painted yellow. We parked at Walker Pass and walked north along the Pacific Crest Trail until we were surrounded by the blankets of yellow from Bigelow's Coreopsis. There were actually lots of other things blooming, but they were almost obscured by the yellow flowers.

Here is what they look like from a distance

May - Alstromeria

Alstromeria var. Indian Summer

While the cats away, the mice will play. Ingrid was off for a women's retreat so I decided to go on my own "retreat". I left early on a Saturday morning and headed over to Santa Cruz for the spring plant sale at the UCSC Center for Agroecology. This is where I had taken an apprenticeship when we first moved to California in 1993. While I was living on the farm back in those days, I learned about Alstromeria flowers. Over the years, we acquired several different varieties which graced our backyard here in Fresno. But when we returned, there were none left.

So after getting some vegetable and bedding plants at the Spring Plant Sale, I went down to San Lorenzo Lumber (Discount for members of Friends of the Farm and Garden), and I bought two different varieties of Alstromeria. (I wanted more, but I contained myself.) This variety is called Indian Summer. It still has some blooms on it as I write, even in December.

June - Big Baldy

On top of Big Baldy in Kings Canyon National Park

It was four years almost to the day since we had last visited Big Baldy in Kings Canyon National Park, and it was time to escape the Valley heat and go to the mountains. The trail to Big Baldy follows a narrow ridge to the summit of the mountain. Since our previous visit, a wildfire had taken out most to the trees on one side and top of the ridge. This meant two things. One, there was not as much shade. Two, there was a different composition of plants that had come up now that the forest canopy was gone. We enjoyed examining the different wildflowers along the way. This picture was taken looking back to the east from the summit, where you can see the high Sierra peaks in the background.

July - Desert Rose

Desert Rose (Adenium obesum)

In the fall of 2023, we had gone to a plant sale held by the Fresno Cactus and Succulent Society. While we were there, we bought a desert rose (Adenium obesum — not at all related to true roses), to "replace" the one we had with us for many years in Thailand. (That one was several years old and gnarly when we bought it, and so was a bit expensive.) The desert rose we bought in Fresno was a small plant in a 4 inch pot. Desert roses are fairly slow growing with a unique shape that lends well to bonsai. They will drop their leaves under stress, but will bloom on the naked stems — which is a good thing, since in Thailand our plant would often get defoliated by oleander hawk moth caterpillars. As a drought adaptation, they have chlorophyll in their bark and so can photosynthesize without leaves. They are native to the Sahel — that region just south of the Sahara Desert from Senegal to Sudan. Think sunny, hot and dry. They seem to handle humidity okay, as they are popular in Thailand. But they don't seem to like cold. (Kind of like me, running around the house bundled up when the thermostat is at 70F.)

Well, winters in Fresno can be a bit chilly, so we brought the plant inside. But our winters seem to be lacking in sunniness, which was compounded by the fact that the only window we have with significant sun in the winter is the master bathroom, which has one window above the toilet. The desert rose was not happy! ☹️ We thought it was going to die. Finally the days got longer, and we were able to put it back outside in a place where it could get more sunshine. It thanked us by producing a few blooms. Yay!

Below is a photo of the one we left behind in Thailand for comparison.

Desert Rose in front of our apartment in Thailand

August - Morro Rock and Morro Bay

Morro Rock reflecting Morro Bay

We really enjoy the central coast of California, but with all the stuff going on, it was almost a year after returning to California that we made it there. We typically hang out in the Morro Bay area because of the diversity of possibilities of things to do. There are the mountains and the bluffs at Montana de Oro State Park. Then there is the estuary full of wildlife. The harbor with its hustle and bustle of restaurants, fishing boats and sightseeing boats. Then there is the beach for walking. But what stands out is the rock. It is a really big rock.

Morro Rock is 581 feet / 177 meters tall. It is a volcanic plug — a remnant neck of an extinct volcano. The rock is protected as wildlife habitat. If you're lucky, you can spot some of the peregrine falcons that nest on the rock. The first day we were at Morro Bay, we could hardly see the rock because of the fog. But the second day, the fog cleared off and we could see the rock reflecting in the still waters of the harbor.

September - Half Dome from Sentinel Dome

Half Dome (on right) viewed from Sentinel Dome

We picked a school day in the off season thinking Yosemite Park would be quiet. We were wrong. We didn't even go to the valley — which is generally the more crowded part of the park — and still parking spots were hard to come by. Our first destination was Taft Point. The last time we came here in 2008 there was hardly anyone to be seen. Not so on this day. After visiting Taft Point, we took a trail that circled under Sentinel Dome before climbing to the top of the dome. This is a longer, more difficult way to go, and we did not see many people on that trail until we joined the other route that goes to the top of the dome. From the top of the dome, you can get nice views in every direction. In this view you can see Half Dome on the right. Tenaya Creek flows in the canyon to the left of the dome. What is impressive in this view is the vast amount of bare granite rock that is visible.

October - Foggy Morning

Morning Fog over Central Avenue southeast of Fresno

One of the characteristics of winter in the Central Valley of California is fog. During the night, cool air flows down off the Sierra Nevada Mountains into the valley below. When the cool air hits the moist air in the valley bottom, it causes the moisture to condense and make fog. Usually the fog is thickest just after sunrise.

Some winters have more fog than others, depending on how much rain there has been. On this morning, there were scattered patches of fog — but not enough to keep me from going for a bike ride. Right at sunrise, I came upon this patch of fog that seemed to create a tunnel on the road.

November - Mammatus Clouds

Mammatus Clouds over our house

November offers another weather-related photo. I was working in the front yard when the wind pick up really hard and really fast. I rushed to the back where Ingrid was already starting to take the clothes off the line. This brief, powerful storm did not bring us a lot of rain, but we did get a nice double-rainbow and, what I find more interesting, some beautiful mammatus clouds.

December - Lewis Creek

Along Lewis Creek

We were wanting to escape the fog in Fresno that had been persisting for the previous several days. It would lift — but not very high. It had been cool, damp and dreary.

I wanted a trail that was not too long and not too far away and below the snow line. We ended up going to the Lewis Creek Trail, which we had last been to in 2006 (photo below — I'm still wearing the same shirt). Since that time, probably about 10 years ago, a fire had burned through, killing off many of the big trees. When we first started out, I thought we were on the wrong trail, because I remembered it being a lot more shady. The trail starts off uphill a bit from the creek, then it winds down past some private land and eventually meets up with the creek. The the trail follows the creek up to Corlieu Falls. We were grateful for a few hours with some sunshine, since when we got back home in mid-afternoon, the fog still had not lifted.

Along Lewis Creek in 2006

Part 2 - Other States and Provinces

Nevada - Lovelock

One of several places to lock up your love in Lovelock

In May we decided to take a road trip to visit Ingrid's family in Alberta. To add some adventure, we decided to not take the direct route. Our first day we traveled north on Highway 99 to Interstate 80. We traveled east on I80 until we got to the town of Lovelock Nevada. I picked Lovelock to spend the night for two reasons. First, It was about half way to our next destination. Second, the name. So how does a place end up with a name like Lovelock?

There were some natural marshes along the Humboldt River, which passes through what is now Lovelock, and in the mid-19th century it became an important stopping point for people crossing the continent. An English settler named George Lovelock came in 1866 and bought squatters rights for 320 acres. When the railroad came through, he gave 85 acres for a train depot, so the depot was named after him, and it stuck for the name of the town that grew around it.

To enhance tourism, the city put up several places where couples can put up padlocks showing the permanence of their love, putting a new spin on the name of the town. We didn't purchase a lock, but we did pose for a photo by some of them.

Utah - Great Salt Lake

Great Salt Lake and the Rocky Mountains viewed from Antelope Island

On the second day of our journey, we continued east on I80. Our original plan had been to turn north in Wells, Nevada, toward Twin Falls, Idaho. Instead, we decided to keep traveling east, crossing the Bonneville Salt Flats. We decided to spend the night in a suburb on the north side of Salt Lake City, but before we did that, we made a visit to Antelope Island State Park. Antelope Island is located in the Great Salt Lake. We spent a couple hours there, checking out the lake and the vegetation that manages to survive in that environment. What we really enjoyed was the view looking back across the causeway to the snow-covered Rocky Mountains.

Idaho - Snake River

Basalt Columns beside the Snake River in Idaho Falls

The next day we were heading to West Yellowstone. We turned off I15 in the town of Idaho Falls. After eating lunch at Panda Express, we went to see the "falls" for which the town is named. We found a small park on the Snake River just below the falls. We were disappointed that the falls in the present day are mostly water flowing over a dam. However, just below the dam, the river cuts through some old basalt colunms. It looks almost like some man-made retaining wall, but this one was built by God, and is probably a lot more solid than anything a human would have put up.

Wyoming - Old Faithful

Old Faithful Geyser faithfully erupting

We spent two days in Yellowstone Park, which was not enough time because there are so many interesting things to see. One of the trails we wanted to try still wasn't open though, because it was too early in the season. One can hardly go to the park without seeing its mainstay, the Old Faithful geyser. It was Ingrid's first time to go to the park, but I had seen the geyser back in 1965. I don't remember much from that time except that at one point I was lagging behind my family on the boardwalk, and a geyser decided to spew some hot water just as I was going by. We had been told by the ranger earlier the dangers of wandering off the boardwalk, but I was just scared by the sudden explosion next to me and bolted to where my parents were up ahead, taking a shortcut off the boardwalk in the process. This time around, I managed to keep to the boardwalks. We decided to get our first view of Old Faithful from a distance. We joined about a dozen other people who braved the short climb to the viewpoint overlooking that geyser field.

Montana - Great Falls

The Great Falls of Great Falls, Montana

From Wyoming, we were headed to visit relatives in southern Alberta. I had never gone to that part of the province before. We could have made ther drive in a day, but we decided we would rather not push ourselves and do some sightseeing along the way. We spent the night in Great Falls, Montana. Before we left the city, we decided to find out why the place was called Great Falls. This, too, was a bit disappointing because, like Idaho Falls, a dam had been put up at the site of the original falls. Still, it was nice to drive up to the viewpoint and check out the Missouri River from above.

Alberta - Pyramid Lake and Pyramid Mountain

Pyramid Lake and Pyramid in Mountain in Jasper National Park, Alberta

Most of our time in Canada was spent visiting relatives, starting with an aunt and some cousins in Bow Island. On our way there we passed Writing on Stone Provincial Park, which is known for its unique rock formations and for petroglyphs. From there we traveled north to Barrhead. We took Dad on an overnight trip to Jasper National Park. It was the first time for him to visit the park since before Mom went into the nursing home several years earlier. On the first day, we went to Pyramid Lake. The first time I had visited that lake was on our honeymoon 40 years earlier. While we were visiting the park, we were under the realization that this might we'll be Dad's last visit to the park, so we did our best to help him relive old memories and make new ones.

Pyramid Mountain and Pyramid Lake from our honeymoon trip in 1983

British Columbia - Natural Bridge and Kicking Horse River

Natural Bridge over the Kicking Horse River in Yoho National Park, British Columbia

We left Alberta by taking the David Thompson Highway through Saskatchewan River Crossing and heading south to Lake Louise Village where we spent the night. The following day we took the Trans-Canada Highway through Yoho National Park. I think this was my first time driving west on this stretch of highway. We detoured to Natural Bridge, a formation on the Kicking Horse River — I had never been there before. This was a pretty spot, and I tried out the long exposure setting on my phone to take this photo.

Washington - Frye Cove County Park

Rain Forest at Frye Cove County Park, Washington

After several days with family and friends in BC, it was time to head back to the US. Our car was loaded with things we had stored with relatives in BC while we were in Thailand. Our first stop was Shelton. We had some time, so we made a detour to Frye Cove County Park near Olympia along the way. This is a very wet part of Washington, and everything was covered with moss.

Oregon - Haystack Rock and Cannon Beach

Haystack Rock reflecting on Cannon Beach, Oregon

Finally some sunshine. We had had some rain every day since we left Montana until we got to Oregon. We left our friend's house in Shelton, WA, and headed for the Pacific Coast. One of our first stops in Oregon was at Haystack Rock. I had seen several pictures of this rock over the years, and now was finally my opportunity to see it in person. This one is not as big as Morro Rock in California as it is only 235 feet / 72 meters tall. It also has a different kind of origin. It is made of basalt and is a remnant of an old lava flow, the rest having been eroded away over time. The rocks to the left are collectively called the Needles.

It took us a while to figure out where to park so we could walk to the beach, but it was worth the effort to see the reflection in the thin film of water on the beach.

Arizona - Lipan Point, Grand Canyon

Lipan Point, Grand Canyon, Arizona

Convergence. Ingrid had always wanted to see the Grand Canyon. Now seemed like a good time. One of my brothers had moved to Phoenix over the summer. A Thai friend of ours had married an American and was living not far from Phoenix, and they were about to make a trip to Thailand, so we could send some things along with them. So we decided we would make a trip to Arizona. We went to Phoenix first, then we traveled north to Williams, where we stayed while visiting the Grand Canyon, which was about an hour to the north of there. Williams is a quaint tourist town along the Historic US Highway 66. We even found Thai food there—one of our servers was from Khon Kaen, the province next to where we last lived in Thailand.

We didn't have much time to plan, as we had been busy prepping the exterior of our house for painting and we had begun putting down some primer. And since we didn't know much about what to see at the Grand Canyon, we booked a tour for the first morning with a group called Canyon Ministries. That same afternoon and the next morning were spent checking out viewpoints and other sites along the South Rim of the canyon. There are lots of viewpoints, but my favorite was Lipan Point. The photo shows a view looking west to north from Lipan Point. It's amazing how the Colorado River has etched out all this sedimentary rock.

The weather was unseasonably hot, so we didn't want to do a lot of walking. After we left the Canyon, we went to check out the Little Colorado River Canyon. Then we drove north, almost to Utah, to see the Glen Canyon Dam and Horseshoe Bend. When we returned to California, we detoured through Oatman, a ghost town along the old highway 66 that now has become a tourist town—the wild donkeys plying the streets help the tourism effort.

Baja California Sur - Playa Balandra

Playa Balandra, La Paz, Baja California Sur

In January, we had planned to make a trip to Mexico. A friend of ours had rented a condo and had invited us to come, all we had to do was buy plane tickets, which we had done. But then I broke my toe and needed surgery and we ended up not going. We got credits for future flights with American Airlines. Fast forward to November, and we realize our credits are expiring at the end of the month. Where can we go with American Airlines for about the amount of credits we had? After doing lots of searching, we decided to go to San Jose del Cabo, one of the two "Cabos" in Los Cabos, the other being Cabo San Lucas.

This would be our first trip to Mexico. We hasitily put this trip together and really didn't know what we would do there. I had never really entertained the thought of going to Los Cabos before. We ended up working with the concierge at the hotel to plan some things to do in our 5-day adventure. One day we went whale watching, and got really close—too close?—to some humpback whales. Los Cabos was really built up for tourism though, with resorts everywhere and more under construction, so one didn't really feel like one was in Mexico. So, for one day we joined a bus tour to La Paz. We were the only non-Mexicans on the big tour bus. (The tour guide would give his main presentations in Spanish, then he would summarize for us in English. Because of the need to do this, we got to sit in the front row of the bus the entire time.) La Paz is the capital of the state of Baja California Sur and it seems like it has a raison d'ête other than tourism. As well as visiting the town, we went to two beaches near there, my favorite being Playa Balandra. On the way back, we stopped in a small town called Todos Santos and saw the Hotel California, which may or may not have something to do with the song by that name.

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And so another year comes to a close, but this is our first year we are "retired" (at least from paying jobs). We're grateful for all those who have helped us as we transition to this next phase of our lives. And we're grateful to God for the health and wisdom to get through the year.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8