via Flickr http://flic.kr/p/p6TMox
Late Afternoon Swim
Fall Walk in the Woods
via Flickr http://flic.kr/p/pLfetq
Bird on a Log
Local wild bird refuge, but the effects of the summer drought were still showing on the wetlands. Luckily, we’ve had a bunch of rain since mid October when this was taken!
via Flickr http://flic.kr/p/q138by
Sea Lions in Newport
Thar She Blows!
Unfortunately, I wasn’t quite fast enough to get the whale who was just offshore at Rodea Point when he was blowing out of the blowhole, just as the spray was landing.
via Flickr http://flic.kr/p/piSeb9
Prarie Dog
via Flickr http://flic.kr/p/oU7Cv4
Mountain Hikes
I hear there may be some of this in Oregon too, but I will miss walking around the mountains in this area of the country. Especially being able to go for these hikes just about year round!
Table Rock
Blue Wall Preserve
Wildcat Branch Falls
Pisgah National Forest
Greenville Zoo
As part of my farewell to South Carolina, I’m posting pics from our time here. One of our favorite pastimes, anywhere we go, is strolling around the local zoo. Greenville did not disappoint in that regard. It might not be the largest zoo we’ve ever seen, but it is a lovely place to wander around!
Sunny Sunday Morning Boat Ride
After seeing the Okefenokee swamp on a dreary, rainy day, going back on Sunday in the bright sunshine was actually quite different. Oh there’s still the same wildlife, but everything just seems a little less foreboding, and having other folks out canoeing and enjoying the refuge area changes the atmosphere tremendously.
We chose to take the 90 minute guided tour as opposed to rowing ourselves around, from Okefenokee Adventures. They have all kinds of ways for you to explore the swamp, from renting canoes or kayaks to multiple day tours on the swamp! Our guide’s family had lived in the area for 7 generations and he knew all about the wildlife and the plant life, which would take an entire lifetime to become aware of, honestly, there are so many different species of animal and plants in the swamp!
Naturally, we came across a few gators during the trip.
What I love about that photo is that you can see just how black the water is. Look at the gators body, at the point where it goes from being out of the water, to under the water. You can’t see a thing! This is why they say for every gator or snake you see, there are 10 you don’t. You cannot see anything that is under the water here.
Of course, the hawks are really just as impressive when you get to really watch them do their thing out here too.
All in all, the tour was fun, educational and a great way to wrap up our time in Okefenokee before heading home!
Laura Walker State Park Georgia
Aside from a run-in with a snake, this state park, which is located very close to Waycross, GA, and basically across the street from the northern entrance to the Okefenokee Swamp (which is NOT the wildlife refuge, but the commercial part of the park, which has it’s own attractions, albeit of a different nature), was a lovely way to wrap up our Saturday.
After a rainy morning and some train watching, the sun actually came out as we headed back to Waycross, so we decided to make one more stop and a short hike in Laura Walker State Park.
First we hit the nature trail, which started out in among the long pines.
It then continued along some swampy areas, and Mirror Pond.
I’m guessing you can tell where the name Mirror Pond came from, no? 😉
After that hike, and the long day we had already had, not to mention the bug bites, (Oh good lord the bug bites! Even with bug repellant on I got chewed up pretty good in the swamp.), it was nice to just stop and watch the late afternoon sun over the lake.
The sunny late afternoon was a nice change from the rain earlier in the day and a precursor to what we were going to get on our return to Okefenokee for our boat ride. More on that in a future post!