We’ve been waiting all year, and it’s finally here, pumpkin spice season has officially started! Pumpkin spice, which doesn’t even really contain pumpkin in its ingredients, is usually made up of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and allspice.  Most famously linked to coffee, pumpkin spice has become somewhat of a fall trend. What people don’t know is that it can be paired with a variety of wines, bringing your holiday festivities to the next level. We’ve put together a short list of wines that go perfectly with our favorite fall flavor, and let’s say just it’s full of sugar & (pumpkin) spice and everything nice.

Chardonnay

Full of aromas of crisp fruits, Chardonnay, which is generally paired with nuts and vanilla makes for a great fall wine. Pairing this wine with pumpkin-flavored desserts such as pumpkin pie as well as pumpkin spice cookies is the best way to finish your holiday meals.

Rioja

Along with cooling weather comes the desire for red wine. Rioja is a Spanish red, aged in oak for a year; it usually has dark berry and oak flavors, accompanied with a smooth, spicy finish. This classic red will go great with pumpkin soup, dazzled with pumpkin spice croutons or even roasted pumpkin seeds.

Rosé

Rosé is often considered a summer wine, but the right rosé can go a long way any time of the year. Pairing a dry rosé with a savory snack is the way to go. Pumpkin spice kale chips, pumpkin spice Triscuits, or even pumpkin spice Chex Mix are all fall snacks that will go great with a variety of rosés.

If you’ve eaten all you can eat but are still in the mood for that pumpkin spice twist, you’re in luck! There’s a pumpkin spice wine spritzer that’s super easy to make! Just take any dry white, pumpkin spice liquor (yes, it exists!), and some seltzer to top it off and you’re good to go!

Each of these incredible photos is more difficult to believe than the one before, but that just shows how unbelievable nature really is, if you only know where to look.

This famous photo was taken by Jean Guichard. The lighthouse, called la Jument, is critical for maintaining maritime safety along the Brittany coast in northwestern France. Built on a rock in the middle of the sea, it endures frequent storms and raging seas. The man pictured here heard Guichard’s helicopter and went to see what the noise was. Then the giant wave hit. “If I had been a little further away from the door,” he later said, “I wouldn’t have made it back into the tower. And I would be dead today. You can’t play with the sea.”

This photo was taken with long exposure at the moment lightning hit the tree. Electricity shoots down the tree trunk and spreads to the ground, illuminating the trunk in a beautiful violet color. As pretty as it is, if you ever get stuck in a thunderstorm, it’s best not to stay outdoors!

This photo was captured before the magnificent thylacine went extinct. Also called a Tasmanian tiger, this species wasn’t actually a tiger, nor was it a canine. In fact, this was considered the largest carnivorous marsupial on earth until the International Union for Conversation of Nature declared it extinct in 1982. The Tasmanian government did the same four years later. However, many reports come in of sightings in the wild, raising the likelihood a population of these majestic animals is still living somewhere out there in the wild.

The sight of this is enough to send most people running to the basement, yet this girl was brave enough to pose for a picture with the tornado behind her. You would expect her mother to come yelling after her to stop playing around and to get into the cellar, but her mother is actually the one taking the picture! Marrilee Thomas took the photo of her daughter, Audra, in 1989 on the family property. A barn was destroyed but no one was injured, thankfully.

This was taken by a woman who woke up in the middle of the night when she was camping. She heard strange noises and poked her head out of the tent to see what exactly was going on. Raccoons generally stick to themselves, but tonight something brought them all to her campground. In all likelihood, this freaked-out outdoorswoman didn’t properly seal her food, which attracted these forest critters. What’s scarier is the fact that while over a dozen are pictured here, there were probably many more that don’t appear in the image.

Water and electricity together are so dangerous that everyone should be cautious when using electric appliances near water. The combination is even more deadly in the ocean when lightning strikes. One bolt can send 300 million volts into the waters, killing nearby fish. This is far more than enough voltage to kill a human. If you are ever caught swimming and hear thunder or see lightning, it is highly recommended to exit the water as soon as possible. Swimming in bodies of water when lightning can strike is extremely dangerous.

This vintage photo shows the Endurance, a ship that got caught in ice during a 1914 expedition to Antarctica. The ship was unable to move, and the crew figured they would be released by the thaw during the spring. Instead, the climatic changes caused the ice to exert so much pressure that the ice damaged the hull, causing the ship to sink. Forced to abandon ship, they made their way to Elephant Island. Most of them waited there while several comrades left for South Georgia Island to call for their rescue.

While this photo looks photoshopped, it’s actually real. It may look like a tsunami was flash-frozen, but actually, the photographer here captured a phenomenon known as blue ice, which is when falling snow gets so packed on a glacier it eventually becomes part of the glacier. The reason it is blue is that the ice absorbs lower light frequencies while reflecting the higher ones. This means that red, orange, yellow, and green get absorbed, but blue and violet are reflected.

This isn’t just another random picture of Sylvester Stallone taking selfies from Twitter. These turtles, named Cuff and Link, are actually the same turtles that are featured in the 1976 movie Rocky. That makes the turtles over 40 years old! In the movie, Rocky Balboa, a small-time boxer with a once-in-a-lifetime shot at the world title, gifts the turtles to his girlfriend, Adrian. The picture was posted on Sylvester Stallone’s Twitter account. “In CREED 2 with my original buddies from the first Rocky,” Stallone wrote. It’s likely that these turtles will have a cameo role in the upcoming film!

Careful there! This man has scaled a cell phone tower to do maintenance after a storm caused ice to form in the jagged manner seen below. When condensed water droplets freeze on surfaces, this is known as hard rime. These form in the direction of the wind, and can be seen on planes, trees, towers, and other structures that are exposed to the elements. It looks like it’s very slippery up there, so it looks like this guy was smart enough to ascend the tower with climbing equipment.

The megalodon, which means “big tooth,” is an extinct shark species that was four times longer than a great white. These frightening marine predators would crush bone and tendons with their powerful teeth. Measuring up to 60 feet long, this photo shows a reconstruction of this monster’s giant jaws alongside a life-sized model of a great white shark for comparison. It is considered by paleontologists as one of the largest, most powerful predators that ever lived. Thankfully, sailors don’t need to worry about this marine monster anymore.

At first, it looks as if someone skilled with photoshop produced this photo of marshmallow-like clouds. In reality, these clouds are called mammatus clouds, or mammary clouds, because they resemble udders. These clouds often appear along with severe stormy weather or tornados and pilots tend to avoid them because of turbulence. They are formed by cold air sinking in pockets, which produces the puffy shape as hot air rises in tandem. The first time these clouds were described was in 1894. If you see them, best get indoors!

We assure you, this picture is real—sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. These goats are climbing an argan tree, native to Morocco. These trees are valued for their timber, oil, and fruits that are also sought out for food by these goats, bringing them to these heights high up in the branches. What’s impressive is the fact that the tree is holding so many goats at once. Unfortunately, the area covered by argan forests was halved in the past century. Although goats aid in dispersing the seeds, they also stunt the growth of the trees.

Also known as Carribean white tent-making bats, these cute critters are Honduran white bats. They eat only one type of fig, building “tents” out of leaves that they cut and fold down to provide shelter. These animals are so cute many would go out in the wild searching for them, but that’s only possible in the Central American countries of Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Paraguay, where they are native. A female bat can give birth several times a year, but only to one bat pup at a time.

Here is an unbelievable picture that is actually a frame from a 1981 film called Roar. At least 70 cast and crew members were injured by predatory animals during production, which lasted 11 years. This fact was used to attract an audience, but the film was a financial failure. Actress Tippy Hedren claimed later the number of people injured was actually over 100, explaining: “If we wanna make a movie with lions, people are gonna get bitten. We just hope that nobody dies and we’ll do everything we can to makes sure that doesn’t happen.”

In this historical photo from May 4, 1922, twin twisters rage together through Austin, Texas. The building is actually the Texas state capitol building, and this is what is considered by historians to be one of the worst disasters from tornados in Austin. The two tornados were originally one twister that split to wreak havoc throughout the city. When all was said and done, 13 people were dead and at least 50 others were injured. Some $400,000 in damage was done to property, according to estimates.

A spotted black jaguar is one animal you’re likely not to see, even if you live in South America and parts of Central America where these cats are from. Originally, the natives considered them different animals from their lightly-colored spotted brothers and sisters, but now taxonomists know they are the same species as the jaguar. These unique animals have a dominant melanistic allele that gives them their dark color. This means that a pair of black jaguars can have both black and spotted offspring, but two spotted jaguars will only birth spotted jaguars.

This mesmerizing picture appears to be two different shots that were placed one on the other, but the fact is that happens to be how straight the line is dividing the water from the mountain. This is was taken in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. Established in 1855, it is Canada’s oldest national park. The park attracts over three million visitors every year to its location in the Rocky Mountains. We can see why from the beautiful scenery!

If you’re ever trekking through the tundra and come across a polar bear mother with a cub, don’t do what this Soviet soldier did and offer it condensed milk. Instead, just run! Things seem to have turned out all right, and it looks like the cubs just wanted to play. Polar bears will generally avoid humans in the wild unless they are starving and desperately seeking food. This Soviet-era photo was taken decades ago in the Chukchi Peninsula, the eastern-most part of Russia.

This dog looks completely resigned to his fate after his lunch was commandeered by this cheeky skunk. This canine knows not to mess with a skunk unless he wants to get sprayed and carry the stench for months. Maybe he’s expecting his owner to do something, but his human is just as wise to the skunk’s sneaky stratagems as the dog is. The best course of action when unwanted guests are eating all your food is to cut your losses and let them have their fill before they bugger off.

This photo from Australia looks like it was taken in the dead of winter after the snow fell, but all that white is actually spider webs. Flooding drove these spiders to higher ground, so they used their webs as hot air balloons to get them to safety. They will climb up as high as they can get before sending out silk webs that are then carried by air currents. People with arachnophobia are advised to avoid such areas; the webbing below covered about a mile and a half of land!

This photographer captured a hilarious moment here, with a cat hiding between two walls to avoid crossing paths with a pair of Doberman pinschers. What makes this even funnier is the cat’s acting like a human by standing on his hind legs. These dogs are oblivious to what’s going on, despite their high intelligence. These dogs are also fiercely loyal and muscular, making them ideal guard dogs. They were first bred in 1890 by Karl Dobermann, who lent the breed his name.

These aren’t snowballs someone rolled up on the ground; these are Arctic hares, also known as polar rabbits. This species has adapted over thousands of years to survive the harsh climate of the Arctic. In winter, their fur actually changes to white from brown or gray. This helps them stay camouflaged and avoid predators. This species is native to Greenland and the northern Canadian territory inside the Arctic circle. These are among the largest hares and can reach speeds of up to 40 miles an hour.

This image isn’t of alien lifeforms invading our planet to snatch our bodies. In fact, this was taken in the N3 Cave, the world’s longest salt cave, located in Qeshm, Iran. If N3 sounds like a made up name, that’s because it is: the name is an abbreviation. N3 refers to the three naked people who discovered the cave, first stripping down bare naked to swim through a pool to get to enter and explore. When they emerged, naked, this lent its name to the cave itself.

It looks like someone photoshopped the Imperial Crest from the Star Wars movies into a snowflake. How else could such a recognizable shape appear in a natural formation? In fact, this six-pronged shape has been created due to water’s molecular shape, which forms fractals, repeating a six-pronged shape when water freezes. A water molecule is comprised of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, and freezing causes these to form into a solid, crystal lattice structure. Just looking at this brings to mind the Imperial March, however.

Africa boasts this unique saline lake, which looks more like the surface of an alien planet than a body of water on our own planet, Earth. The reason for this unique color is evaporation of the water: as water evaporates, the concentration of salts and other minerals in the water rises, attracting micro-organisms that thrive in these conditions. These organisms color the water red. This lake is the sole breeding ground of the lesser flamingo, a species that is endangered because of the destruction to this habitat.

This looks like it came from a science fiction movie; it wouldn’t be out of place to suddenly see Captain Kirk and Spock come into the frame. This is a saline endorheic alkali lake located northwest of Osoyoos, a town in the eastern Similkameen Valley of Canada’s British Columbia. In the winter and spring the lake looks quite ordinary, but as the summer comes the water evaporates, leaving brine-y pools like what appears below. The area is fenced off due to its ecological and cultural sensitivity.

This isn’t a still from a movie about the rapture, even though it does look like this pit is so deep it goes into the bowels of the Earth. This photo was taken in 2010 after Agatha, the first tropical storm of the season. Combined with soot from a volcano that ruptured right before the storm, faulty sewage pipes, and massive amounts of rain, the pipes got clogged and leaked. This event shouldn’t be confused with Guatemala City’s sinkhole of 2007, which was also allegedly caused by faulty pipes.

It appears builders constructed the foundations to a structure but then abandoned their project to nature. Although such perfect rectangular shapes make this formation appear to be manmade, it is a naturally occurring structure known as tesselated pavement. This photo was taken in Eaglehawk Neck, Tasmania, which is a strip of land connecting the Forestier Peninsula with the Tasman Peninsula. It looks absolutely stunning, especially with the beautiful colors of the sunrise seen reflected off the rock formation.

This unbelievable picture below was taken in the Mission District of San Fransisco. It appears a schooner is looming in the air high above the city, but this isn’t the Flying Dutchman floating overhead. No photoshop was used here. In fact, this is just the radio tower on top of Twin Peaks, which jut out and overlook the city. Because of San Fransisco’s unique topography, the city constantly has fog roll in and obscure the view. It doesn’t take long for it to dissipate and for a breathtaking view to appear from Twin Peaks.

This picture looks like some divine power has split the skies — or maybe this a misleading, mesmerizing formation that appears just before an inter-dimensional being like the Cthulu enters our universe. In truth, this is a natural phenomenon with many names, like a fallstreak hole, a hole punch cloud, or a cloud hole. It is formed when water molecules are cooled but do not yet have something around which to solidify. Then, after some catalyst causes the molecules to quickly freeze, the sudden absence of water molecules creates a hole in the clouds.

These floating platforms of snow appear to have been inserted artificially somehow, but that’s not how they were formed. The image was captured following flooding during the winter. The top level of the water became ice, which remained after the waters receded. Afterward, snowfall gently accumulated on the icy platforms, creating this unbelievable formation. If you live in a region with much snowfall this sight must be common. Others who live in warmer climates, however, might not believe their eyes when they set their eyes on this for the first time.

It looks like this boat is moved by supernatural laws, suspended above the water and held down only by its anchor. It doesn’t make any sense, on first glance. An object in the water will usually cause ripples, even if it’s anchored, but none can be seen here. This isn’t because it was photoshopped in, but because the water here is so clear that the fishing boat looks like it’s floating in the air, looming above the surface of the water.

This is the only known brown panda in the world. Named Qizai, this fellow lives in the Foping Panda Valley in China. Instead of black, it is believed Qizai received his unique coloring due to a genetic mutation. Sadly, this has made him a loner. When he was growing up, other pandas bullied him. He was just several months old when he was abandoned by his mother. How sad! Let’s hope Qizai has found some friends that respect him for who he is since then.

Many of the photos on this list have been of lightning, which is due to its being seen in some bizarre circumstances. This picture captures lightning formed in a cloud that erupts from a volcano. It’s difficult to imagine something scarier than a joining of these two frightening events, but it indeed occurs in nature. Natural occurrences have been recorded as early as 79 AD by Pliny the Younger, who observed Mount Vesuvius erupting along with “the transient blaze of lightning.”

Here the pyramids of Giza are pictured along with the Milky Way, our own solar system’s galaxy. The ancient Egyptians, who buried their pharaohs in the pyramids, associated the Milky Way with fertility, envisioning a pool of cow’s milk flowing from their cow goddess, Bat. The array of the pyramids corresponds to Orion’s Belt, part of the Orion constellation that is associated in Egyptian mythology with the god Osiris. Osiris is the god of afterlife and rebirth, so it makes sense they would plan their tombs to their religious beliefs.

This amazing photo was taken of saltwater in the Gulf of Alaska meeting freshwater from glacial melt. Different bodies of water don’t mix due to differences in density and salinity. As the saltwater meets freshwater, the two remain separate. Similar phenomena can be observed in other places around the world where bodies of water meet, such as the cape of Africa where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean. The clash between different bodies of water can also cause violent currents.

Although for years dismissed as legend, ball lightning really does exist. However, it is so rare that only some 5% of the world’s population has ever seen it, even though it usually lasts longer than a lightning strike. Ever since 1843, when English physician and electricity researcher Sir William Snow Harris brought the matter for discussion, the cause or causes for the phenomenon have been debated. Let’s hope you never experience it up close—there have been reports from terrified people who watched ball lightning go through windows and walls before traveling around the room!