wild california ~ the carrizo plain

"Welcome to the Carrizo Plain National Monument; a powerful yet peaceful landscape of sky and earth in a pattern seen nowhere else. As you explore this living museum, remember the closer you look, the more you see."

Goodwin Education Center

California Valley, California

a friend of mine called and said "hey flower child, how was it?"

(for anyone new here we have been following the wildflower bloom here in California),

i could only say one word to her,

E P I C

i hope these pictures say more...

we were giddy, the flowers in the Carrizo were impossibly pretty, there were carpets of them everywhere. we gasped, we sighed, we were without words. we drove and drove and looked and looked before taking out our cameras.

my husband said it was like we were drunk on the sight and scent of wildflowers. we sat in a lake of Phacelia (the purple one), we layed on our stomachs in meadows of Owl's clover (the pink one), we mostly looked in quiet reverence.

that's when the critters start appearing too, meadowlarks, and larksparrows, kangaroo rats and the san joaquin antelope ground squirrel (such a big name for a tiny little guy, they are pictured above). we saw pronghorn antelope and raptors. those were too far away for any photos, the deer pictured were out side of the monument.

there were many discoveries that we couldn't identify. we'll look them up later. in the meantime, i'm ending with my favorite flower (i began this post with it too), that i've called

Wachiwi, which is Sioux for "dancer" or "dancing girl." i wonder what the Native Americans, the Chumash, the Yokuts and others that used to inhabit this area would have called it. maybe smilingwavingfriendlylookstowardsthesundancinggirl.

But i always think that the best way to know God is to love many things.

~Vincent Van Gogh

thank you for coming along.

♥ lori