Thursday, November 8, 2012

Sunday Escape

Last Sunday, hubby and I packed a picnic lunch and headed out for a Sunday Escape.  We drove up to Oak Glen.  It's a beautiful area nestled in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California.  The weather was wonderful, the skies were brilliant blue and the trees were popping with color.  Finding fall color in Southern California can take some effort.  When we find it, it's an extra special treat. I was soaking it up as much as I possible could.  So gorgeous!





Oak Glen is famous for it's apple farms.  We stopped at two that day.  One was Snow-Line.  The little store that sells apples, cider, fresh made donuts and other fun stuff had a line coming out the door.  But, we were perfectly content just sitting under the beautiful trees.  It felt so peaceful up there.  Ahhhhh!


We brought Salsa with us and she seemed to be soaking up every precious moment of the day too...and every smell.  Notice the little sticks and dirt on her nose and tongue.  Such a cutie!  She managed to stay awake the entire day.  She only laid down in the back of the car for a few minutes on the way home but quickly popped back up to keep taking in the views through the windows.


Another apple farm we stopped at was Los Rios Ranch.  I've been going there since I was a kid!  I love that place.  It has wide open spaces, a cider mill with a big window to watch them pressing cider, an area to press your own cider, a great little store, and something we never realized they had until Sunday...hiking trails.  We had to check those out...


There were a lot of people there that day but it was beautiful.  I was lucky to get this shot with no one in it.  We'd like to go back on a weekday when it's not quite so crowded and enjoy the peaceful surroundings.

We saw some fuzzy seeds...


There was a little pond with a floating dock.  Pretty.


Oak leaves...my favorite...floating on the water.


There's a type of tree that grows teenie, tiny pine cones but it doesn't have pine needles...it has leaves! I wish I knew what it was called.  It grows where it snows and in the more deserty area like where I live.  There was one of these trees along a trail that was the biggest one I've ever seen.  It must have been pretty old because it was huge!  Check out the big clumps of baby pine cones...


Here's what they look like when they're all grown up.  So cute!


What a wonderful day we had!  It was so relaxing and I found myself letting out big breaths of stress the whole day.  I think it was just what I needed!  

We came home with three, big, one gallon jugs of fresh squeezed cider.  One for my dad for his birthday, one for us to drink, and one to make hard cider.  It's fermenting now!  Can't wait!  Yum!

I had a few more pictures I wanted to share, including some of a huge, wonderful, old chestnut tree.  However, Blogger keeps posting them sideways for some reason.  Hmmm?!  I guess I'll try to post those pics another day when Blogger is more cooperative.  

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, I can't even tell you the last time I went on a picnic. Sounds like you had a super fantastic day! There is no shortage of fall foliage here in the south right now but it doesn't ever get old, that is for sure. Your dad is sure to love the cider! that picture of your dog just cracks me up! she is so precious!
Have a fantastic day!
~Dawn

Sandra said...

Beautiful. I think we get spoiled here in Canada,, especially with the cottage, because we get those marvelous colours every year. And every year, I take more pictures of them, becasue they are just so bautiful!

roxie said...

I think your deciduous tree might be an alder. Since it's not a pine tree, those aren't pine cones,but you got marvelous photos of them, so identification should be easy.

You have the loveliest outings!

mompsgirl said...

So glad you got to spend some time around beautiful fall colors! We've had a beautiful fall here in Denver w/all the leaves turning color and the 60+-degree weather. Now I'm settling in for a bit of a weekend snowstorm. Glad I stocked up on projects!

Murr Brewster said...

Blogger only posts things sideways when it's really, really tired. And we know how that feels.

I think you got yourself an alder tree, there. The female and male bits are on the same tree. The male bits are long catkins. Look it up and see if it looks familiar.

Benita said...

Your colors are much better than ours were this year due to our drought. You have some lovely reds in there we didn't get this year. I, too, would like to know what that tree is. Let us know when you find out.