Camping at Garner: Day 1 & 2
Camping at Garner: Day 3 & 4
Camping at Garner: Day 5

{All pictures taken within Garner State Park.}
In the morning of last full day of camping, Dan heard something crash into the pop up shelter of ours. He found this on the ground, stunned.


A Cicada. I quickly snapped a picture with my ever-ready camera. He then "let it go".

Only, it didn't go. It crawled onto the top of his finger and rested for awhile. I was amazed and snapped pictures.

Soon after this picture, he (or is it a she?), took off.

And, then we took off. We decided to go back to the visitor's center. I wanted to buy a souvenir. We ended up in the garden again for a few minutes.



Monarch butterfly


Snow-on-the-Mountain



Silver-leaf Nightshade. I'm in love with these and will see if I can't find and plant some when we have a house to call our own.


Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly.


I spied this butterfly and it was quite unusual to me in that it was pale pink. I haven't been able to identify this critter.


A tired Border Patch butterfly

A Bumblebee in the Butterfly Weeds.

We then took off to explore the dam area within the park. We always loved taking pictures in this area, especially in the mornings when people are not quite ready to go swimming.

Dan crossed the river with his mega expensive camera. He rarely looses his balance; but still, he was daring to do this.


I did NOT dare do what he did. I could visualize myself slipping and falling ruining my camera in addition to breaking an arm. Huh. No thank you. Instead, I watched my photographer while I went exploring on a pathway below the Dam.

Can you see my wonderful photographer busy snapping away? What a beautiful setting!


I found this tree further on down below the Dam and made Dan take a picture of me. And then, I made him stand in there while I take a picture of him. I don't think he was too thrilled. ha!


You don't see many squirrels in "new Garner"; but, they are a common sight in "old Garner".

One last thing I did was try to "document" the Ant Lions around our campsite. They are also known as Doodlebugs or Sand Dragons. You see, I saw one busy at work and managed to capture it several days ago. They are extremely tiny and practically invisible to the human eye because they often work below the dirt/sand. Here it is:


We had put it in a bowl and I practiced taking pictures of it with my Macro lens very quickly and then we put it back where I found it.

Well, on this last day of camping, I wanted to capture a pictorial story to go with it.


These Ant Lions industriously create these perfect tiny sand traps in which ants will fall into and get trapped. The Ant Lion will almost immediately come out of hiding, capture it, and devour it.

I had Dan get a tiny little stick to torment this little Ant Lion hiding at home. I snapped picture after picture trying to capture sand flying. No luck.

Imagine my surprise and exhilaration upon opening this picture at home on my laptop:


I had caught the monster coming out of hiding to attack! Awesome!

Priceless!

Camping at Garner: Day 1 & 2
Camping at Garner: Day 3 & 4

{All pictures taken within Garner State Park.}
We didn't do a lot of exploring nearby the campsite. Instead, we just watched the birds, tried to wake up, had breakfast all the while snapping a few pictures.


Tufted Titmouse {Dan}

Carolina Chickadee {Dan} "You looking at me?"


Carolina Chickadee

False Ragweed found in the grass on our campsite.



Dragonfly {First one by me. Second by Dan.}

We decided to head out to the visitor’s center (still early morning) to take pictures of the butterflies, flowers and birds in their garden.





These Barn Swallows were nesting underneath the patio roof and roosting nearby. I took the second and last picture above. The others were taken by Dan.

To be honest, I was amazed that they were raising babies so late in the year. But, it sure provided some photographic moments for us both.



These hummers came around to feeders hung underneath the patio roof. I didn't attempt to capture pictures of them as I knew I wouldn't get any good ones. Dan took these while I went hunting up butterflies, bugs, critters and flowers in the garden. {Dan joined me later and took a couple pictures.}


Sulfur

Monarchs


Mimosa Yellow


Gulf Fritillary

A tired worn out Brown-banded Skipper {Dan}



When I first spied these Spotted Whiptail lizard, I wanted a picture of one so bad. These critters are extremely quick and shy. They run so fast! I am amazed that we both captured a decent picture of one. (I snapped the first picture above, Dan the second}

When we returned from camp, I spotted this unidentified lizard and stalked him. He was quick and not too happy with me. Right after I snapped this picture, he turned, faced me and acted like he was going to jump at me or my camera -- scared me half to death. I scolded him and told him he better not do what he's thinking. He let me snap one more picture before taking off.

I then kind of laughed at myself for talking to, much less scolding, the critter. I do remember looking up and seeing Dan watching me take pictures of it and looking kind of surprised by the lizard's reaction. I think he thought it was going to jump at me too. So, be careful out there. You never know what critters will do, even the tiny and seemingly harmless ones.

We went tubing that afternoon. It was a very long float. I leave you with several images.


I got stuck in a "backdraft" within the water. I snapped this picture of Dan, who was behind me, trying to get through shallow water without having to get up and walk. The scenery here is beautiful.


Yes, kids will find things to jump off of. Sometimes, you'll see them using rope swings, especially closer to the Dam.


That is Old Baldy in the distance.

I hope you enjoyed today's reminiscence.

Camping at Garner: Day 6

Camping at Garner: Day 1 & 2

{All pictures taken within Garner State Park.}


This Roadrunner made an appearance and was running along the road within the park. Isn't that appropriate? - a Roadrunner on the road? Ha! Not very punny, huh? Oh well. Dan had heard the commotion about the bird and quickly snapped a picture of the critter.


Wild White Petunia


Unidentified flower


Tufted Titmouse. "Whatcha looking at?"


Humongous Fly . Actually, this is probably an ordinary house fly. It had landed on my leg and I decided to practice with my Macro lens. I was shocked at the details that popped up within this picture. Can you believe this bugger has stripes?!? And, hair?!? These details are usually undetected by human eye. It is awesome!


Cardinal


We spotted a Woodpecker several times and tried to take pictures of them. This was the only halfway decent picture that we captured. I believe it is a Ladder-backed Woodpecker and a male one at that.


Our friendly "killer" rabbit, the Eastern Cottontail, with the red-eye removed. Not bad.


These Caroline Wrens are flighty creatures - they're constantly moving and flittering about in the woods. I was shocked when I managed to snap this picture at the right moment. Poor Dan, he hunted and stalked them trying to capture one with his camera and never succeeded. I was just lucky.


A Lark Sparrow visited us briefly. I was shocked with this also. You don't see many of these around.


We headed out on the road again, probably for ice, when we spied a flock of wild Turkeys. I grabbed my camera, hopped out the truck and snapped this picture. I think it's rather cool looking...



A dragonfly. This one was leary of me; but, I was patient and he got to be trusting of me and just sat there for the most part. I absolutely love the dragonflies along with the damselflies. You see them all the time down at the river. it's because of them that I have a dragonfly charm on my James Avery charm bracelet in honor of Garner State Park.

Okay, I have a question for you all. What happens when you leave your campsite to go down to the river, go hiking, go to the camp store or go anywhere else? Here is some evidence of what happens.


Vultures will swoop into your site to check things out. Actually, they are scavenging for garbage. I've seen trash bags left on the ground ripped open from these creatures. So, best thing to do is to hang up your garbage during the day and throw them into dumpsters at night.

Camping at Garner: Day 5