Friday, October 7, 2016

Lake Siskiyou ~ Mount Shasta, California

Lake Siskiyou in Mount Shasta, California...

Lake Siskiyou Mt Shasta California

View of Mt. Shasta from Lake Siskiyou... This hot summer has melted almost all of the snow off!

mt shasta california

There's a Great Blue Heron fishing at the bottom of the photo...

lake siskiyou mt shasta california

What a spectacular view!

I could have stood there and watched him for hours. It would have been neat to see him catch something, but no such luck. After a while, he walked off to look for a better spot.

great blue heron lake siskiyou mt shasta california

There's Wagon Creek Bridge...

wagon creek bridge lake siskiyou mount shasta california

If you look closely you can see Castle Crags in the distance...

lake siskiyou mount shasta california



Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Burney Falls

McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park is a beautiful place to visit. Lake Britton is great for swimming, boating, and fishing...

Lake Britton California

And Burney Creek separates the falls from Lake Britton...

Burney Creek California

But the real jewel here is Burney Falls...

Burney Falls California

This 129-foot waterfall simply takes your breath away when you are standing in front of it.

 Burney Falls California

Behind the falls is one of the few known nesting sights for the black swift.

Burney Falls California

We didn't see any swifts during our visit, but we did see this nest high above the falls...

nest Burney Falls California

It looks like it might belong to an osprey, or maybe even a bald eagle.

Burney Falls California


No wonder the falls were called "the Eighth Wonder of the World" by Theodore Roosevelt!

Burney Falls California

Burney Falls California



Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens

Our trip to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens was breathtaking! The coast is already a beautiful place, but the gardens are truly a wonderful gem!

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I took a few hundred pictures of all of the pretty flowers in bloom, but I'm just posting a few or else we'd be here all day! There were colorful dahlias, roses, iris, poppies, lavender, and a neat succulent garden.




Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens



The view from the cliffs is pretty amazing, too...

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A White-crowned Sparrow was singing a cheery song from this tree...

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My favorite pic of the day!
(For more photos of the birds we saw, visit my birding blog Wings and Daydreams!)

The perfect place to daydream...

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Find out more about the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens at their website HERE.



Thursday, June 23, 2016

Shasta Dam

You don't have to go far to see amazing things in nature, that's for sure. This Osprey nest was right next to the parking lot at the Shasta Dam Visitor Center...

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And look at what was inside!

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There's a baby on the left with his head turned...

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There he is!
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The juvenile has orange eyes and the mom has yellow eyes...

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 There were TWO babies in the nest!

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Uh-oh! They're on to us!

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www.rachellevaughn.com

They sure have quite a view up there...

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Shasta Dam

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Mt. Shasta
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www.rachellevaughn.com

www.rachellevaughn.com