Out and Aboot the World's photostream

Actually, it's the Painted Hills, located in Central Oregon. Like most things this amazing, the picture doesn't do the real thing justice. Gosh, it was cool. I'm glad I finally found the time to go.

An Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina), eyeing me suspiciously. If you study the patterns on his shell you can see that the right and left sides are, for the most part, symmetrical.

These fine animals can live up to 100 years, and are commonly snatched up and made pets. As cool as this guy was, I let him be.

False Turkey Tail Fungi (Stereum ostrea) live on rotting wood. They grow into these beautiful fan-shaped structures resembling something like an exotic cucumber-flavored Terra Chip. I saw others in orange and yellow. But the green ones appealed to me the most.

An Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus). These too were plentiful. Though it was hard to get anywhere near them. Very skittish.

And Eastern Fence Lizard (Sceloporus undulatus). These were all over the place. This one, however, didn't scurry away when I approached. I think he was hoping that if he stayed perfectly still, I wouldn't eat him.

If you select a larger version of this picture, you can see all the individual scales. Beautiful.