Cleveland National Forrest

Monday is 'cleaning lady day', which means we leave for the day for an adventure. Kathleen suggested the Cleveland National Forest.  As it turns out, there are four sites for this National Forest and we picked a different one: the one with the Paloma  Observatory in the background [sorry, no pictures]. 

Along the way, we stopped at this roadside vista. Here's Joan, on a very windy and somewhat shaking viewing platform.

If you didn't believe the windy part, here's Joan getting a hair massage...

The view from the platform is amazing.  If you check out the very middle of this picture, you can see the expected three story casino on Native lands.

The white structure is an old Fire Tower, now abandoned due to air pollution. The towers to the left are part of a massive tower system on this promotory.

Just to the left of the above picture is this amazing cell-tower 'whatever' that seems to be required to power the internet so that I can update this blog...

The National  Forrest has suffered the ills of recent forrest fires: these white trees are dead and create  an erie scene.

We parked near the Fire-Tower and took one of the walking trails through an oak and pine forrest where the Acorn Woodpecker lives and exhibits the weird habitat they create.  This woodpecker created holes in dead oak trees [and some other trees]  and they stuff acorns into these cavities. They re-use these cavities every year, stuffing them with acorns in case of winter emergencies.

Next is a couple of ghost christmas trees: they died in a recent fire, and provide a wonderful sight.

Here's more of the Acorn Woodpecker's work, this time in a fallen oak log.

And, drumroll please, the artist himself: an Acorn Woodpecker!
 Voila.

Sometimes cameras allow you to see things that happen too quickly to for our eyes to see... Enjoy!

There were warnings of mountain lions in the area we walked, but fortunately, they kept hiding while we walked though...  Just as well, since we saw the warnings after our walk...

Our drive back home was through huge orange and lemon groves, and plant nurseries that extended for miles.  Unfortunately, we also encountered heavy traffic.