Friday, July 30, 2010

McLaughlin’s Daffodil Hill

Posted by Karen on 28-Mar-2009

 McLaughlins Daffodil Hill

(Click photo for all 71 photos)

Lori and I headed up to the foothills to join the Sacramento Digital Photography Meetup group at McLaughlin’s Daffodil Hill Ranch.  The ranch is privately owned and they open it to the public for several weeks each spring, to share the wonderful mass of daffodils that have been planted there over the years.  The open area is about 6 acres and offers thousand of daffodils to enjoy.  After the flowers, I tried to photograph some of the animals they have their in cages.  Shooting through chicken wire is trick I haven’t totally mastered yet.  But, they have a couple of peacocks, bunnies, doves and fluffy chickens there. This was my first trip to see Daffodil Hill and I’m sure I’ll go again one year.

Folsom Zoo Sactuary

Posted by Karen on 06-May-2006

200605062 Folsom Zoo Sanctuary

(Click photo for all 49 photos)

After the wildflower walk, Lisa and I headed back to Folsom to grab some lunch.  Before heading home, we decided to visit the Folsom Zoo Sanctuary and I’m glad we did, as I’d never been there before.  The zoo is a unique facility in that it houses animals that are native to Northern California and can’t be released.  This zoo is sometimes called the “Misfit Zoo”.  The animals in the zoo were either injured or abandoned in the wild or were pets that became too unruly for their owners.  After being relocated, these animals were nursed back to health and acclimated to their new surroundings.  And the bears here have a special job–they test the bear canisters that we hikers are required to carry when backpacking in bear territory.  The testers fill the canister with tempting food, slather honey on the outside and then they canister give the canister to the bears.  It’s the bear’s job to try and get it open; if the bear fails, we hikers have another option for protecting our food.