The Natural Beauty of Lake Sonoma

Some of you may have seen my photo-essay about the Pomo basket collection housed within the small museum at Lake Sonoma here in Sonoma County in Northern California... Lake Sonoma was created when the Army Corps of Engineers built a fairly large "earthen dam" in the early 1970s across one end of Dry Creek Valley thereby flooding out several square miles of it. 

I thought you might enjoy seeing the "outdoor" wonders that one can enjoy at Lake Sonoma, too!

The parade of natural beauty begins before you even get out of the parking lot with examples of landscaping plants like this "bearded iris"... Don't you just LOVE that color?

As I was viewing the Pomo basket collection inside the visitor's center, I heard a Canadian goose honking somewhere outside -- so I ducked out the back door to see if I could snap a quick photo...

Before I could locate the goose, though, a flash of black and white feathers flew by and came to light in nearby tree. I was thrilled to discover that it was a "belted kingfisher"! I'd never seen one in person before. This one seemed to actually enjoy "posing" for photos!

I finally located my Canadian goose swimming around barely 20 feet away:

After finishing my tour of the museum and gift shop, I got back into my car and drove further up the lakeshore to a scenic overlook:

It's probably because it was a weekday but, I was still amazed at how few boaters there were out on the lake:

The view in the opposite direction from the lake looking up from the overlook is actually pretty interesting, too:

There's a very impressive-looking bridge spanning one portion of the southern end of Lake Sonoma:

The strange thing about this (apparently) very expensive and complicated piece of engineering is that it's located on the dead-end road that begins at the visitor's center and only goes as far as the boat launch! (I guess the Army Corps of Engineers takes its bridge-building responsibilities pretty seriously!)

All in all, Lake Sonoma is great place to spend the day. It's got something to offer just about everyone from wildlife observation and bird-watching to the cultural displays in its little museum to the miles and miles of water for boating and fishing enthusiasts to enjoy...

Oh! And it's not a bad spot for amateur photographers, either! ;o)