Right place, right time…

… or just chalk it up to dumb luck.

I went for a drive on a scenic road west of Redding this morning and turned on a small road (because there was a directional sign to my destination) which was actually several miles before the one I intended to take.  I stopped and looked at my map and it appeared they would both get me where I was going so I stayed on the “wrong” road and decided I’d come back on the other, more major, route.  It’s a good thing I did that or you wouldn’t be seeing these next photos.

I already posted one “mirror image” picture earlier today (prior post, “From the walking path along the river”).  Well, as I was driving north on this small road, headed for Trinity Lake, I got a brief glimpse of another body of water off to my right.  I turned around and went back to “Cooper Gulch” and this is what I saw after I went down to the parking area:

Further up the road there was a tiny fawn in the road (it still had lots of spots), standing in my lane.  I stopped and let it run into the woods (and after I drove past I saw Momma deer cross the road too).  Shortly after that I stopped at a pullout area because I saw a lone kayak out on the lake and wanted to get a picture.  While getting in position I looked down towards the lake and saw this – a first for me.  Two deer “swimming” out into the lake!

They appeared to be adult does and weren’t panicked, just taking a leisurely swim (although they probably started because they heard me pull off onto the gravel).  I was surprised they made such good forward motion with their skinny legs (unless they remembered to pack their little deer-flippers).

And Mr. Smiley-pants JohnBoy left his digital camera in his backpack at the Airbnb in Redding so I had to drive further up the road to be able to see the kayak in the smartphone picture (red, in the center of the photo):

Clearly it’s “mirror image” day here on the blog!