The peak colors in late September and early October in Minnesota are amazing, and they pass in the blink of an eye! The golds, yellows, rusts, oranges, and reds build for several weeks, and just when you think the leaves can't possibly get any more vibrant...they fall of the trees. And it happens overnight. Trees with branches full of bright leaves one day are bare, brown skeletons the next. But that day before the leaves fall is the most spectacular day of the year! Especially from the vantage point of my parents' farm house on the hill, where the views are endless. We climbed to the catwalk on the top of the house, three stories and an attic above the ground, and for as far as the eye could see was trees, leaves, and water. After being in southern California for the last year with thousands of people in every direction I look, I felt truly free in the midst of that vast wilderness with no sign of a soul for miles. 
After four days in northern Minnesota, Mom and I left the Midwest autumn behind and returned to blazing sun and temps in the triple digits in southern California. Full autumn has not yet arrived in SoCal, but the nights are cooling down, promising gentler weather ahead. Though the last weeks have been "unseasonably warm" (seems the same as last year to me!), the fall rains should be on the way and I can't wait to be chilled for a while! The air will get crisp, and though there will be some trees that change color and lose their leaves, most things will turn greener and more colorful with the rain.
Minnesota has a fall migration of local wildlife and it's not unusual to see hundreds of geese and ducks flying overhead as the move toward better weather. I didn't think about how it might affect the wildlife in southern California when the weather changes, because the change isn't so extreme, but as the deep ocean waters get colder, the whales start to move in closer to shore and pass by SoCal on their way down to Mexico. It's a great time for whale watching, so we took cruise off the coast of San Diego today, hoping to see blue whales.
We weren't so lucky as to see any whales (the "unseasonably warm weather" has kept them in deeper waters) but we did see hundreds of dolphins, which is an amazing sight in itself. They truly are playful creatures, and they travel in HUGE pods. All of them together reminded me of the schools of minnows that can be seen by the hundreds in Minnesota lakes, but the dolphins are far more playful and amazingly beautiful in such large groups.
I miss fall in Minnesota when I'm not there, but fall in southern California is growing on me with all it has to offer--and my new mission is to be out on the ocean at the right time to see the fall migration of the blue whales. But as much as I love fall, the best part was spending it in both places with my parents - walking with my dad in the woods around the farm in Minnesota, and finding the pod of dolphins while out on the ocean in SoCal with my mom. 
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