After Aron and I found ourselves among the trees at the peak of their bloom the other night, we decided to drive out into nearby Capay Valley on Saturday afternoon and follow the “Blossom trail”—on which we passed orchard after orchard.

And on which we snapped photo after photo.  Here are a few…

Did you know that California is the only state in the country that produces almonds? I recently learned that California’s Mediterranean climate (cold winter, mild spring, and hot, dry summer) is ideal for the crop and that the state grows over 80 percent of the world’s almonds. More than 2 billion pounds! No wonder the fields around us are filled with flowering almond trees.

They’re part of the plum family–and are closely related to peaches and apricots–so you may notice a resemblance.

The whole field smelled sweet, almost like honey. And Hudson couldn’t stop smelling the flowers.

In fact sometimes he’d nosedive straight into them.

The blooms that are on the trees now are being pollinated (one could hear the buzzing throughout the orchards), but it will be seven or eight months before the almond harvest begins.

Here’s the route we followed. The season is brief, so if you’re in the area, be sure to check for when locals are predicting is peak.

P.S. Beautiful spring blooms in New York City last March.

[Almond statistics from the Sacramento Bee; Blossom trail map via Esparto Regional Chamber]

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