Big Basin

.
We've been really busy in the house lately, hence, no blog postings.

While going through one of the endless boxes of "stuff", we found two stacks of postcards, about five inches total, showing old scenes from Big Basin back in the 1940s. This morning, while we were having coffee, Terry said, "Let's take the day off and go to Big Basin".

Since I'm always ready to take a day off, we packed up the cameras and off we went. We gave the postcards to the Rangers and they were nice enough to give us a free day in the park!

Pretty cool, huh?

Big Basin State Park is the oldest state park in California. Home to towering redwoods, it's the perfect place to commune with nature.

If you've been brought up anywhere
but in the redwoods,
they're pretty jaw dropping.

The park is riddled with trails,
so we took off for a hike.

I don't know if any other species of tree
creates burls like the redwoods.
Here's a shot of Terry
standing by one of the giant burls.

This is the interior
of one of the giant redwoods.
These remind me of the rock formations
we saw in the southwest.

As we hiked over a a footbridge,
I looked down and saw this pattern.
The water was so clear, it appeared invisible.

The deep colors of the redwoods
combined with the various shades of the moss
reminds me of the rich hues of an opal.

Here's the same shot flipped on its' side.
If you enlarge it (just click),
doesn't it looks like an alien landscape?

In case you wondered
why they're called redwoods . . .
Great color, don't you agree?

As always,
the play of light under the trees
is what gets my attention.

We found these flowers
in one tiny grove,
and nowhere else in the park.

Does anyone know what they're called?
I thought they might be wild iris,
Terry thinks they're some kind of lily.

Whatever they are,
they were my favorite
find of the day.

All in all, it was a perfect day off.
Tomorrow, another carload to the auction!