Along the way to Arnold, Ca

We have a getaway place in the western Sierra at Arnold, Ca - it is at 3,000 feet, so we don't get overwhelmed with snow but get some along the way. We drove today from our home in Simi Valley - easy drive, not a lot of traffic   and made in a little over six hours. Spent some time stopping to capture some photos along the way, this is one of the ones I liked. With us being in the heart of the dry season, all the grasses that were so lush and green in the spring and now fire fodder. But there is something beautifully in the starkness. Somehow the oaks survive year after year - scrub oak, black oak, white oak abound. The Indians who were here originally survived on the acorns that they Mae into flour by using stones and grinding the acorns on rocks - leaving grinding holes where ever they did by wearing away the underlying rock. I love the contrasts in this photo, from the blue sky to the dark rock outcropping to the dry brown grass and then the oak and other shrubs.