Fall foliage – Part 1: A quest for fall colors

I am still overwhelmed with love for autumn and don’t know where to begin this entry… Many things to write...

Đi tìm mùa thu ...

- Fall, where are you?

This is my first fall in Sunnyvale, California. As mentioned in my previous entry, before I came here, I fully (and falsely) believed that when it is autumn, open the door and I will see autumn everywhere, every leaf elegantly changed into red and yellow, every street gorgeously lit up with flaming fall hues... I was quite eager to see how that happened here. I secretly waited and waited. Time went by and by. It was mid-September, the end of September, the beginning of October, then mid-October already… I wanted to take in all autumn scent and color, but displayed to my eyes was just a very subtle touch of fall colors on some trees lining the streets...No extravagant foliage of scarlet, orange, or gold, or crimson, no rains of plentiful leaves twirling and carpeting the streets. I was a little upset when fall here was painted with just hazy sky, chiller weather and very little color change… 

But if you have visited some other places, like Stanford or South San Francisco this season, you might feel even more disappointed. I had a misconception that SF is supposed to have a more beautiful autumn as it is colder there. But conversely, autumn foliage is so hard to find in SF. As I see it, this is because of the kinds of trees planted in the area. If a place is filled with many coniferous trees - the evergreens as I wrote in the previous entry, we could never enjoy a beautiful display of fall foliage. So, I am happy to know that, at least here in Sunnyvale, I can see autumn colors and can go nearby to pick autumn leaves!

we finally find beautiful fall colors

Autumn Sunglasses 


Have I told you that I have a magical pair of autumn sunglasses?

It was not until autumn came did I discover that these glasses had such a magical feature.
One day in autumn, to my surprise, I spotted vibrant red foliage everywhere! But when I took off my sunglasses to see it more clearly, I saw those trees topped with just a little red. I put on my sunglasses and then I saw those flaming fall colors again =))) This is magical like a gadget from Doraemon comic books =P Yes, as you may already know, the simple trick lies in the lens’ color :P. It is simple, but its effect is surprisingly fun! Whenever I wear them, I can notice even the slightest fall color on any trees. Isn’t it interesting to have a little magic that helps us to see fall? ;P

But I still wish to see true fall colors, with my own eyes ^_^

how tiny I am! 

Splendid fall colors

I kept on listening attentively to every walk of fall....

It was my simple joy and habit to look for autumn colors every time we went out…

Though I almost gave up my hope of seeing any breathtaking autumn sight in our residence, deep down inside, the quest for the beautiful autumn foliage has never ended.

...

Finally, at the end of October, I was so delighted to spot many trees putting on their splendid scarlet and glowing yellow…on the street nearby, on our way to the market, on the way to my husband’s workplace… Fall has really come to Silicon Valley!!!! Needless to say, how wonderful it is!

My writing is not good enough to fully tell the story or eloquently express how I feel in this small entry, just put it in a sentence, our quest for autumn leaves this year is so exciting, and I have gained interesting insight into fall in Silicon Valley…


I love my husband for driving me around at weekend and taking pictures of me & autumn foliage! We had a good time and took a lot of photos, but we still could not capture all the fall’s glory into these small photo frames!

There are quite a lot of photos, so here I upload the first part. Please view the slideshow below.

Part 1: A quest for fall foliage

Click here to view album (26 photos) 

I will continue this entry with more photos in my next posts.


Click here to viewPart 2

Click here to view Part 3

Click here to view Part 4

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