Sonoma farm trails - pears, apples

FALLin' in love with pears and apples! This pear chart is absolutely captivating. Click chart to enlarge and know your pears tis' season.

At Gabriel Farm in Sebastopol, CA, I saw many of my favorite Asian pears - crisp texture and juicy flesh.

All the pears varieties were at $2.50/lb and I got myself some Ya Li - the alluring Asian pear that takes the shape of a bartlett or any European pear, lightly flavored, crisp, juicy and aromatic; Shinseki - yellow colored, flavorful, crisp with a hint of citrus flavor, and Niitaka - tanned, crisp and juicy.

There were others such as Honsui, 20th and Shinko ... and oh gosh...I did not know there were so many Asian pear varieties. You could find out more about each Asian pear variety here.


Papa and Mama pear. Where is baby pear ?

I did not find them in Gabriel Farm but did see the cutest baby mini Asian pears at another farm in Petaluma, CA.

Baby pear is here! Now, where is Goldilocks! :P

Gabriel Farm also grows Fuyu Persimmons, also known as Fuyus. Full orange in color, you can eat them hard or soft. A sweet tasty late fall treat. That explains why the persimmons are still green, unripe, on the tree since we are only one step into autumn/fall.

Persimmon tree

Golden asian pears hanging high on the tree, so tempting...

Pear tree

Apples...nice and red, ready to be picked

Apple tree

Do you like Asian pears ? Or prefer the classic apples?

Tag: fruits, pears

Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park

After the Firehole Lake Drive, we proceeded to the Lower Geyser area.










The spouter becomes a steam vent by this time.

White Dome Geyser, Firehole Lake Drive, Yellowstone National Park

From Midway Geyser Basin(link), Firehole Lake Drive (one way, northbound) loops off the main road to many other geysers.


White dome geyser




Caught in action - we were lucky!

Midway Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park

It was still Saturday. After setting off at 5am early morning from Utah and with gas stops, we stopped by Jackson, Wyoming for lunch, then set off to Grand Teton about 12.30pm. We managed to catch the Old Faithful Geyser at 1610hrs. Thereafter, we wanted to see more geysers since they are "new" to us and they are such interesting phenomenon. Since it's already September (late summer), we don't get super-long days. However, we felt fortunate that it only started to turn dark at about 1930hrs. After Old Faithful, we continued our journey to our motel stay for that night at West Yellowstone, Montana. From where Old Faithful is (Upper Geyser Basin), we were able to make Midway Geyser Basin and Lower Geyser Basin our attractions stops before checking in the motel.




This is the Excelsior Geyser. Excelsior Geyser pool discharges 4,000 to 4,500 gallons (15,100–17,000l) of 199°F (93°C) water per minute. A powerful eruption near 1890 damaged its internal plumbing system, and it now BOILS as a hot spring most of the time.




As the steam blows on my face, I felt my face steaming in a steam humidifier (Phillips brand?)


Look like a piece of textured art.