Fall in the Arboretum

Last Sunday, October 26, we went with my parents for a fall walk in the Arboretum. I took over 50 photos, but was able to pare down to posting a fraction of them.

The thing about Portland autumn is that while there seems to be a lot more color compared with my past experiences, it's mixed in with all those evergreens. So it's splashes of color against a dark green backdrop, rather than entire hillsides of reds and yellows. I do want to see an East Coast fall some day.

We had some sunlight at the beginning of the walk.

I'm not sure what kinds of trees these are.

And now... number one... the larch... the larch.
I didn't realize that the larch is a deciduous conifer.

Dad and David dwarfed by the trees.

This odd-looking tree is called Monkey Puzzle. I'm guessing it's difficult for monkeys to figure out how to climb? Sometimes I'm just blown away by how large trees can get. Even an elephant would look smallish next to this one. My mom looks tiny.

More pretty colors.

A large maple leaf suspended by twigs.

This photo's blurry, but cute. :) That's a large leaf. I think it's from a -- wait for it -- large leaf maple tree.

I wanted to collect all these leaves and use them in art projects, but I refrained. Look at the variety of colors.

Bright yellow and orange.

Pale yellow.

And red.

I included this one, despite my hand in the upper corner, because I thought it captured the energy of Mona running through the leaves.

Ginkgo trees. Fortunately, they don't smell in the fall. Ginkgos are interesting because they have separate male and female trees. Read more here, if you're interested.

Dawn Redwood -- another deciduous conifer.

I don't know what kind of tree this is, but its root system is amazing. This is by the Creek trail.

See Mona tiny in the corner?

And the sunlight returned at the end of our walk.

Ooh, pretty.