I am obviously having a hard time staying on top of these challenges, but I am so grateful for them. The fact that we were behind on these challenges was nagging at me so I decided we should call grandma and go for a hike in our beautiful mountains this week to get caught up. I am so glad we did! It was such a beautiful day and we had such an enjoyable time enjoying the beauty of the changing leaves, the clean mountain air, and the exercise.
The first trees we encountered, and by far the most abundant on our hike were oak. I don't know if this is the official name, but they are called "scrub oak" here and they grow like weeds.
Their leaves were a variegated yellow and green or orange and brown. I love the distinctive shape of the oak leaves. The scrub oak does not have an acorn, that I am aware of, but they were beautiful.
We also saw a few maples among the oak. Their leaves had the most brilliant color.
Next we came to this beautiful stream surrounded by aspens. We stopped to catch our breath and enjoy the sights and sounds of the stream.
The boys were fascinated by this leaf that appeared to be suspended in mid-air. It was actually being held aloft by a spider's web.
We loved the huge roots of this tree. The perfect spot for another rest...
After working up a decent sweat, we finally made it to our destination. The reservoir was beautiful!
We could have stayed here all day, but we had one more stop to make.
We still hadn't seen any apple trees, so we made a stop at Farnsworth Farms. They have an apple orchard where you can pick your own apples.
Unfortunately we were about a week too late, but they had plenty of apples that we could buy. They also have their own cider press and sell the most delicious fresh cider ever.
We also picked up a couple of pumpkins from their pumpkin patch.
The kids brought home several leaves from our hike, and we all brought home memories of a wonderful day spent enjoying the beauty of God's creations.
4 comments:
Wow! Great hike and nature study! I really enjoyed reading your entry and viewing your photos.
We are right at the peak of apple picking time here in Northern California so it surprised me to read in a few entries that the time has passed for your harvest. Interesting.
Thanks for the link and I look forward to your next entry.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom
PS Can I use the photo of your children at the reservoir for the Outdoor Hour Photo of the Week? Email me: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com
That looks SO fun! It makes me regret even more that we haven't done a fall hike this year. My husband is out of town- but why didn't I think about calling Grandma? :)
Glad to know I'm not the only one combining :-). Great photos and hike.
I love the looks of fall I'm getting by seeing everyone's outdoor hour.
Wow. It actually looks like fall where you live. I'm jealous! We don't even get apple trees here (gulf coast), so we read about them :) The closest thing we have to signs of fall is that the temperature is starting to get below 80 after a cold front.
I love seeing these pictures! Here in the bayou, we don't have clean streams with rocks and beautiful trees. We pretty much just have swamps and mosquitoes. Ugh. Enough whining :) Your pictures are beautiful!
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