Reynolda Gardens - Bonus Coverage!

Today was such a nice day, and I finished my lunch early (Malay - yum!) so I decided to take a quick trip to Reynolda Gardens.  I didn't have my "fancy" camera with me today, but I had my little pink Sony Cybershot, the one that started it all. :)

 Common Buckeye

 Painted Lady

Viceroy - I was pretty excited about this one.  I have never seen one, or if I did I didn't pay much attention and thought it was a Monarch.

Fridays at Reynolda Gardens and Tanglewood Arboretum

Yahoo!  10 glorious days off in a row!  And I had a wonderful start at RG Friday morning.

 Painted Lady - you can tell Painted Ladies from American Painted Ladies from the eyespots on the lower wing.  American Painted Ladies have 2 and Painted Ladies have 4.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Water Lily - love this one!

Then after RG, I swung by the Arboretum at Tanglewood.  I didn't stay too long though because it was a tad hot and the mosquitoes were eating me up!  Still saw some butterflies though.

I thought this was a Pearl Crescent, but after looking at my book I think it may be a Silvery Checkerspot.

Grandfather Mountain

On Saturday I went on a trip to Grandfather Mountain with a group from Our State Magazine.  There was a whole day of fun activities planned, including "behind the scenes with the animals" and a guided hike.

Cougar.  She was so sweet, you could hear her purring.

Kodiak. A cinnamon colored Black Bear. The bears are trained to put certain body parts up to the fence in case they ever need medical attention. His treat was apple slices. He was so cute!

 Black Bear

 They even have a butterfly garden!  Painted Lady.

Does.

Barred Owl

Screech Owl

Screech Owl - All 3 of the owls were hit by cars and now they cannot fly.

Forrest Gump Curve.  From the movie, which I did not know.  It's from when he runs across the country.  There is no walking allowed on the roads, so I took this from our shuttle bus, and couldn't get the actual curve or the mountains beyond in the picture. Now I want to watch the movie again!

This was taken from the Mile High Swinging Bridge.  Which does not swing anymore (the old one was wooden, and the new one is steel), but it does move!  It's a little scary.  I did not get a picture of the bridge because it started raining (again - also rained on our hike).  At least I got the rainbow!