Overnight last night, I was experimenting with some camera settings.  I neglected to reset the camera to my usual settings, and subsequently forgot that I had changed them.  Today was a lovely day, and I took a "field trip" to Oak Glen in the San Bernardino mountains -- a place known for the apples they harvest and sell in October.  Unfortunately, most of my photos didn't come out at all well.  I am posting a few from this trip, as well as one from the weekend.

On Sunday, Saddleback Mountain was beautiful in the haze of late afternoon.  This shot shows quite nicely where there have been fires -- the lighter brown parts on the left half of the mountain are all burn areas, while the darker areas did not burn.



To get to Oak Glen, I went through Yucaipa, on the western end of an area called Oak Glen.  During the summer, there were several brush fires in the area -- the next few shots show how close these fires came to the town.





As I drove up and eastward into apple country, the mountains were very clear and beautiful.





The trees in Oak Glen have begun to turn -- it's over 5,000 feet high there.



At one of the apple stands, there were a number of displays for the tours of school kids.







Leaving Oak Glen, I went down the mountain on the Cherry Valley end, the eastern end of the valley.  It was the first time I've done this trip from west to east -- there were spectacular views that I'd not seen before, but unfortunately, there was so much light and the camera was set on a night-time setting, so I do not have photos of that part of the trip!  I'll do the trip again sometime, though it may not be till next year -- stay tuned!!!

Behind the wrought iron fence and gate in yesterday's post is a small park to which several local historic buildings have been moved.  The most known of these is the Serrano Adobe, used by the County Parks Department as their park headquarters.



Dating back to approximately 1858, two rooms of this house are furnished in the period.









The house is surrounded by farm machinery from that time through the early 1900's (pictures are not shown in chronological order of their use, but rather in the order of their display).









A post house contains a display of a carriage used by local residents.



There is a second house that has been moved to the park -- the Bennett Ranch House.  This was not open, but below is a shot of the front porch.



Continuing around the park, one comes upon a church (shrouded in trees, so not shown here) and a school



with its outhouse and a well pump.



An open pit oven



and a "Horno oven."



There is also a diorama depiction of the lives of people of California prior to 1769 -- the granary.



A wickiup (hut) used as the family dwelling.





The grounds are nicely planted with widely used decorative trees and other decorations.

 

A slice of an old Live Oak tree, with a similar tree behind and above.



Pepper trees.



And eucalyptus trees.

Wanting to get out of the house this afternoon, I decided it was too hazy for nice scenery photos -- so I went to Heritage Hill Historical Park in Lake Forest, CA.  This is a small area where they have re-planted a few historical buildings from the El Toro-Lake Forest area.



I'll post more shots of the park tomorrow, but wanted to show a few this evening.  The entry is fenced with wrought iron.



The post decorations in color

 

and in black and white

  

The main gate was secured by an elaborate wrought iron lock mechanism.





and on the other side.

As it approached time for sunset this evening, the clouds looked as if there might be a good sunset.  The clouds above my home were light and wispy.



A stoplight shot.



And several shots at the beach.







The birds were flying by.



The sun behind clouds over Catalina Island -- but there were thick clouds in front of the island this time!



There was not a pink sunset -- the sun actually went behind fairly thick clouds before it set behind the horizon.

Well -- I've lied!  If you know where to look, you can find some wonderful color in the leaves of fall in Southern California!



Waiting for a friend at lunch today, I walked all four sides of an intersection, taking the below pictures of one of those places.