And then we discover you can only stop your mail for 30 days. Hmm. So we stop it for 30 days and ask my sweet sister to pick it up and then we will restop it for another 15 days. Ah, government!
Zoo Knoxville’s impressive reptile & amphibian exhibit
A king cobra comes out to greet us! Very impressive.
And then there is the king cobra, the longest venomous snake in the world. She slithers out of a hole in the wall to greet us. And she is a beauty.
What is cool about king cobras, both the parents will guard the nest until the eggs hatch. But the minute the baby snakes hatch, they are on their own.
It is always amazing to see the red wolves!
Dale’s casting was installed back in 2019. It is holding up well!
Greg is one of the world’s leading experts on painted dogs. After Greg’s talk, we got home Sat and the world locked down on Mon. Poor Greg didn’t get home to Zimbabwe for almost six months. His flight to South Africa was literally turned around upon landing and sent back to London as the country stopped accepting any new arriving flights, even for African citizens.
The wolves are really active since the rain cooled things off. We watch 5 brothers play & check us out. With only about 250 American red wolves in human care, each wolf is vitally important to help save the species from extinction. We are honored to spend time with them.
Red wolves don’t eat people!
A sign outside the red wolf habitat. But red wolves don’t eat people!
Edgar Evins State Park
Our first night camping spot
Ferns & spiders, oh my
We have never seen so many ferns on our hike.
Dale is up by 5:30 and we go on a fabulous hike through glades of ferns, paw paw trees and goldenrod. We are getting lots of ideas for our forest back home, especially the new 0.6 acres we just bought right next door to us.
And we find this cool orb-weaver spider with a triangle on its back. The triangle on their back resembles a flower that attracts pollinators allowing the spider to catch their dinner. Mother Nature at work.
There are a number of great hikes at Edgar Evins State Park and we end up going on 4 of them over a 2 day period. We opt to spend 2 nights at the park to rest up from all the prep work before our trip even started.
We see a cool an arrowhead orb weaver spider
A Magical Storybook Trail
A storyboard seen on a hike at Edgar Evins State Park
Our last hike before leaving the State Park is designed for children, called the Storybook Hike. We take Gibbs and he is not impressed but we are!
Ten storyboards were placed along a half mile hike through the woods. Each one describes an animal and its activity while counting from 1 to 10. It was fun and I am sure kids would love it. Plus, we have never seen anything like it before. Very imaginative for a state park.
Tomorrow we head toward Kansas City & Omaha. Whoo hoo!
Gibbs is not as impressed with hiking as we are!
Loti,
Thanks very much for keeping Gail and me in the loop. We had dinner with Nancy and Dusty on our way back from the lake last Thursday.
Safe travels!
So glad you got to catch up with Dusty & Nancy but wish we could have joined you.Next time…
Safe travels, WW’s! We love joining your adventures vicariously. The elevated campsite is very cool. Looks like a lovely park!
You should definitely check out Edgar Evins. If you go, try to get site #44. Look forward to catching up when we get home.
Wonderful pictorial saga. Envious. You two know how to ‘Rough it up Right’.
Stay safe and please keep us in the loop.
Thanks. We are having a blast & learning so much! Hope all is well with you both.
Wow! Between you and sister Cindy I am getting a great feel for our country’s beauty behind the scene. I feel like I am with you both on your adventuress/ Keep the blogs coming as I find them very interesting. mStay safe and keep having fun, Mom
Thanks so much Mom! We are having a blast and are glad you are here with us in spirit!
What an amazing time you are both having. Inka would love those hikes. I love the King Cobra, she is stunning, I think snakes are so misunderstood. Thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog, looking forward to the next one. By the way I love those Beyond Burgers too, very yummy indeed.
Thanks Alison. And we agree the king cobra was one of the stars of our visit to Zoo Knoxville. And I am glad you like the Beyond Burgers. It is so nice to be able to eat a burger on a bun without killing animals.
I just love where you are camped over looking the lake, sounds to me everything is so perfect. Seeing the reds must fill you with so much joy it must be so .overwhelming I can’t imagine how I would handle that . Lovely seeing Dale’s casting at Knoxville knowing how much it will help spread awareness for the reds. This is a very special trip for you both and seeing ”bog turtles’ bobbing their head out must have made your day complete.
Winnie, the baby bog turtles for sure made our day! And any day is great when you get to see red wolves! And then to have such a cool campsite, it was a perfect stop.
Hi Loti and Dale,
Loved reading about your travel adventures…very interesting
how you have highlighted some of the the beauty and intricacies of the natural world that often get overlooked.
Wonderful…see you when you return…
Thanks Patty. Our natural world is big and beautiful. Now if only we can save it!
Loti, I loved reading your blog and learned a lot!
The King Cobra story reminds me of a Thai expression: “He run like man with cobra egg!”
The poor South African scientist, unable to get home for 6 months! Whenever we feel inconvenienced by the pandemic, we should think of Greg!
It’s wonderful to see Dale’s red wolf casting in its forever home!
Campsite #44 was so cool!
I love the golden orb spiders that we have in Austin, but I’ve never pondered how the bright yellow pattern may attract prey–brilliant!
The storyboards are also brilliant for connecting children with nature.
Alas, Zuri sympathizes with Gibbs reluctance to hike in the great outdoors! She wants to hide in the underbrush or climb trees!
Looking forward to the next one! Paula
Thanks so much, Paula, I learn a lot every time I write one. And we agree, we should think of Greg whenever we feel a tiny bit inconvenienced by the pandemic. Cheers!