We met Sherry and David earlier in the week, after months of reading each other’s blogs and finally finding ourselves in close enough proximity to connect. We first met at the Owl Taproom for happy hour in Apalachicola and had such a great time together that we met up again a couple of days later for a bike tour of the town. Knowing that we share a love of hiking, nature, birding, and photography, we invited them to join us on our wildflower expedition.
Our daylong journey began in Eastpoint, paralleled the Gulf on scenic Highway 98 for a few miles, and then with a sharp left turn, we cruised onto Highway 65, a gorgeous byway that winds through miles of untouched forest. This is a road I’ve traveled many times with my family, heading to Wright’s Lake for picnics, blueberry picking, fishing, and swimming. It’s been at least 30 years since my last visit, and I was delighted to discover that the lake is even more beautiful than I remembered.
We spent a fabulous day, first hiking the three-mile trail around the lake, discovering fuzzy leaved lady’s lupine, tiny woods violets, and Red-headed Woodpeckers. We were thrilled to find a few yellow trumpet pitcher plants, and hiked out into the savannah to get a better look. (All the time I was thinking, “Oh great—perfect recipe for ticks.” Just last week I woke in the middle of the night, scratching and thinking, “Hmm…I don’t remember that mole…” and on closer inspection, found a tiny embedded tick. Ugh.)
While enjoying our picnic lunch, some fellow hikers we met advised us to travel further up Highway 65 for more sightings of pitcher plants. And so we did. And it was incredible. Enormous stands of the dazzling yellow plants undulated across the savannah; at the same moment, Sherry and I both exclaimed, “It looks like a field of daffodils!” We scrambled out of the truck, picking our way carefully through mud, wiry grasses, and charcoaled stumps of slash pines to get closer to the pitchers. To our delight, we not only found hundreds of pitcher plants, but also the carnivorous tiny brilliant red sundew, exquisite fuchsia-colored wild orchids, and a large stand of the delicate Osceola’s plume. The recent prescribed burn evidently stimulated a fantastic growth of wildflowers.
It was a magical day, made all the better by sharing it with friends who were just as thrilled as we were by our discoveries.[portfolio_slideshow]
Beautiful….who doesn’t love a field of wildflowers? And always fun sharing things with like minded folks. I’m looking forward to seeing Colorado’s wildflowers this July.
Wonderful wildflowers and even better with like-minded friends! Colorado summer wildflowers are on our list of desires to experience. Can’t wait to see your photos!
First off, it’s pouring heavy rain and thunderstorm is raging right now as I write. Hope you guys are spared or did it pass there already? Guess we missed the full blood moon tonight.
Laurel, you are so cute then as you are 60 years later. Love those mementos.
How funny I am also going to check out the pitcher plant at Weeks Bay, but I guess have to postpone it due to this storm that will leave some mud behind.
How cool you met up with Sherry and David they are also an outdoorsy couple.
Oh yeah, we’re in the midst of the storm, too, here in New Orleans — there’s a lake outside of our trailer that wasn’t there this morning. You might have to hike through the mud to get to your pitcher plants, too! It was great for us to meet up with Sherry and David, just as it was so wonderful to meet up with you and Steve. I loved finding the family photos of my early expeditions to Wright’s Lake when I was visiting my folks — such treasured memories.
Wow! I’ve always wanted to see little Laurel pictures! So cute! How neat to revisit that place. It looks beautiful.
Thanks, Amanda. I hoped you would see those family photos. :) We had a great time going through family photos while visiting my mom and dad. Wright’s Lake is a gorgeous place, and you would love the wildflowers.
Love, love this post!! I really enjoy flowers. I don’t even need to know their names, I just enjoy finding and observing them. As you can probably guess, John isn’t a flower person at all. Since he is our blog author, it is a big day when I get a flower in there. Thanks for including so many gorgeous photos:) Those pitcher plants are so neat. I really liked the sundew. Looks like your wildflower hunt was a huge success.
Oh good, I’m so glad you like flowers, Pam! We love discovering them on our hikes — it’s an added attraction and sometimes the star attraction. If you ever have the opportunity, you would love hiking Mt. Rainier — the wildflowers in August are unbelievable, and the hiking is fabulous. We posted about it here.
How wonderful to see those pictures of you as a wee one at Wright lake. I have to say again that your eye and Eric’s are just fantastic. Your pictures of our walk are so artistic. Wish I had waited to post about it, I’d just have referred to your blog. Pouring rain here too, T’storms, winds 25-30 mph. Just what the Suwannee River does NOT need. We’ve postponed our move a day. Hope you are hunkered down and dry.
I’m happy you like the photos of our adventure together, Sherry — it was such a fantastic day. I think your photos are wonderful, too! And I love how descriptive you are — you have an amazing memory for detail. Lots of rain here in New Orleans. Glad they’ve reinforced the levees in the campground….
Oh WOW! The pictures of Mother Pearl and Granddaddy with us! My favorite has always been that one of you with the fishing pole and hat! LOL!
I love these photos, too — you were only a few months old. Can’t believe that was almost 60 years ago. We had fun going through photos with Mom and Dad while we were in Eastpoint. I have a few camping photos to share on the blog. :-)
Great photos. Michigan has Pitcher Plants too….I know a spot and will remember to look for them…When it stops SNOWING! (Still flakes on April 15, 29 degrees in Grand Haven.)
Uh-oh — sounds like you guys headed back to Michigan too soon! Brrr….don’t want to think about snow in mid-April. Hope you had a great time on the Texas Gulf coast.
This was a wonderful post Laurel. Those wildflowers are gorgeous and makes me long to go back to Apalachicola and Eastpoint during early spring.
I just found three tiny ticks on Terry this morning, so have stripped the bed once again after just washing sheets yesterday. :( I think his were found sitting in the grass checking the RV tires. Always makes me wonder how many more might be living with us.
I particularly love the old family photos you posted. You are as beautiful today as you were as a young child. :)
Thank you, LuAnn. :-) I love the old family photos, too — it was so much fun finding photos of the exact place that we were revisiting on our hike with Sherry and David. Hard to believe that was 60 years ago! Ugh — the ticks. We have to stay ever vigilant, don’t we?