What the Walrus said . . .

Photos and Anecdotes from a vagabond!

WI-FI is a pain in the . . . .

As you are aware, I am traveling to a series of our Nation’s wonderfully majestic parks, as well as to some of the State Parks that are just as amazing. What I have come to find very quickly that the majority of these places have no internet capability . . . which has been making keeping the blog running just a tad bit interesting!! So . . . to fix this issue I purchased a plan from AT&T yesterday that turns my car into a mobile hot spot . . . HUZZAH . . . but wait . . . it only works if my car is either running or is on auxilliary power.

So for now I am going to keep this blog short until I get this issue with power sorted out.

I am in my space at Assategue Island National Seashore. I have completed my bucket list item of driving the length of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I firmly believe I could have held off starting this trip for two or three weeks, but I wanted to go. Getting an early start has saved me from the masses of humanity that happens in our federal parks, but the scenery is still changing from winter to spring in most of the upper portions of the Blue Ridge Parkway . . . so there are a lot of barren, if not dead, looking trees.

However, I have been finding some stunningly beautiful wildflowers, sometimes fields of them, all along the way. New issue . . . I need your help identifying the flowers. I will tell you what I think they are and you can tell me what a idjit I am (if you know what the flower REALLY is!)

Wild Blue Iris growing individually is a small area along Otter Creek along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

A Trillium. I found these all along the upper portions of a section of the Virginia mountains.
Pink Trillium. I found these mixed into the same fields where the White Trillium were growing. Looking at them, and see some the the wear and wilting taking place, I can only assume that they are about at their life expectancy and will soon be dying back.
While I was on my hands and knees photoghraphing the Trillium I previously presented here, a North Carolinian pulled up and asked me what I was doing?? I told him tghat I was capturing photos of his State’s gorgeous wildflowers. He then told me, very quietly, as if there was a crowd around us that would overhear, that he knew of a rare flower and pointed down to the bottom of a valley with nearly vertical walls. Well naturally, not willing to miss out on an oppurtunity, down the mountain I went. How I do not have a magnificent case of Poison Ivy right now, I have no idea! After about an hour of bush-whacking through the underbrush, lo and behold . . . Yellow Lady Slippers . . . a total of four flowering plants!!
I believe these are Blue Bells. They were growing on both sides of the Shenandoah River trails in Shenandoah River State Park, Virginia.
No Stinking Idea!! LOL These gorgeous little daisy-esque flowers were growing all over along the roads and in the fields of North Carolina and Virginia. Thought??
I only found these once along the road in the northern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. I have no idea what the flower is, but it is a most impressive red and grabs your eyes and pulls them to it! Any ideas?
And finally, this tiny little gems were found along the entire Parkway, sometimes in huge patches, other. times as almost stand-alone clusters. They also seemed to be suffering from the ravages of time, and they seemed to all be wilting fast!

This again is my first post using my Subaru as a hot spot. It seems to be working well but I truly will not know until I attempt to upload this update for you all. If this works I will be back later today to wrap up my photos from teh Blue Ridge Parkway . . . and catch you up to date on where I am today!!

See you all again soon . . . fingers crossed!! LOL

Open document settingsOpen publish panel

  • Post

majik756

3 responses to “WI-FI is a pain in the . . . .”

  1. Hi Matt, An amazing app that even seasoned naturalists use is SEEK. Download it to your phone and it will tell you most any flower, tree, bug, etc. It is awesome! Happy travels! Kris

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  2. Great photos Matt. I’m no help on the flower names but thankfully it sounds like the app will help! Joseph actually guessed the Lady slippers just from me reading your blog out loud haha smarty pants! LOL

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment