Place: Aspendell, a hidden gem in the Eastern Sierra......

We are just back from a fall road trip to the Eastern Sierra.....It was a rejuvenating sojourn as expected...While planning the trip, we hoped to see lots of autumn foliage...but we had no idea that we will be able to see maiden snow shower of this year!!And I had not even experienced a proper snowfall !

On our way to Bishop Creek, Lake Sabrina and Lake Blue..we came across this small, scenic place Aspendell, situated at 8,000 feet altitude...Trees were golden and orange...but it was blanketed in dark, ominous clouds.. and it was snowing. Road was slick with the fresh powdery shower. Unable to cruise further, we had to head back to our lodge at Bishop.

Cardinal village....

Lured by the autumnal foliage and snowy landscape, next morning we drove there yet again. And what we got was indescribable. Have a look!....

We felt blessed to savor fall, rain, snow, cloud, creek, lake, serenity all in one!..

Observation: Two lakes, two landscapes..

Pictures of two lakes...one is Alpine, another chaparral...
Lake McDonald in Montana...bordered by snow-capped mountains..

Lake Poway in California...fringed by arid hills, stunted bush..

Plant: When mustard blooms in chaparrals......

Being an amateur painter and an avid nature lover, I absolutely love this quote by Stanley Horowitz

"Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all". What an apt analogy! When I saw  the South California chaparrals abloom with wild mustard, I could not help mutter those well-chosen words and bask in the ethereal landscape...

Spring and early summer comes and chaparrals of South California get splashed with golden blooms of wild mustard...That's when I love it the most...
It was my very first experience of the heavenly, yet brief blooming season...in Crystal cove state park...

My spouse, enjoying the beauty...

Its Whiting ranch wilderness park...same season, roughly same geographical area....but it was the year, it did not rain..and see, how dull it looks...

I wish, the South California drought ends and we get copious rain..such that the mustards bloom in zillions, painting the canyons yellow..