Both the mountains and the river...we headed out to Luray, VA for four days of wedding festivities, but took some time to go play on our own as well. The elderberries were blooming:
As we pulled out of that overlook parking lot we did a double-take as there were orchids blooming right along the side of Skyline Drive.
We also saw a lot of this curious flower called fly poison. The most we've ever seen, in fact, all in the area known as Big Meadows.
We camped along the Shenandoah River and had the chance to go out in a canoe several times.
The first time we were out, someone spotted this red-headed woodpecker flying back to feed its young in the top nest of this snag. What we realized later was that the snag is actually a woodpecker condo. That baby poking its head out of the second hole is a pileated woodpecker.
And then, one morning when we had gone to check back on the woodpeckers, Elizabeth spotted a catfish flopping around on the surface of the water. Upon closer inspection, the catfish was in the mouth of a mink. The mink swam to the edge of the water and carried the fish up the bank and disappeared into the underbrush. We didn't take a camera out that morning, but we did the next morning, and after a little waiting in the same area we saw the mink again on the bank.
