Hanging Rock: A Few Final Remarks

This is the third and final blog post about last weekend's visit to Hanging Rock State Park.  Scroll down if you haven't read the previous postings yet.  This one is a mixed bags of items of interest-- at least to me and Judy.

What's this?  Either trail markers on a tree or some new orange-eyed invasive species-- possibly extra-terrestrial!

You'll have to look closely to see the Fence Lizard so well camouflaged on the log.

I thought this dead, standing tree made an interesting silhouette against a gorgeous Carolina blue sky.

What!? Another lizard.  This one is a large skink.

Of the gazillions of rocks on every side, this was the singularly most colorful one I saw.  How many colors can you detect?

The park was predominantly a hardwood forest.  I'd like to show three prevalent varieties of oak, easily identified by their leaves.  First is Chestnut Oak, with numerous rounded lobes.  It also grows at Morrow Mountain, but is uncommon in the Sandhills (I have seen some on the land adjoining Farm Life School, but not on the nature trail itself).

The leaves of the Red Oak are characterized by pointed lobes.

The White Oak, in contrast, features large, rounded lobes.  Several other varieties of oak are found throughout the southeast and the rest of the nation.  Some are live oak, willow oak, water oak, and blackjack oak.  The acorns of each are unique to that variety.  Naturally.

I know I showed you some rhododendrons in the previous blogs.  But I just couldn't resist.

The Mountain Laurel was just beginning to bloom throughout the park.  This one is not in full bloom, but it was farther along than the others we saw.  By this week it may be at its peak.

What's this?  Oh, this wasn't on the trail.  This was Judy's reward after a vigorous day of hiking.  Sorry I can't tell you the name of this entree.

And this is my Monster Burger.  It lived up to its billing, and helped me replenish the nutrients I had expended on the trails.

And where did we find these delights?  At a cool local place in Rural Hall, NC called Dairi-O.  It was sort of a hybrid of Dairy Queen, Rockola, Five Guys and Fuddruckers.  Is your mouth watering yet?

Well, I guess I've told you everything about our trip except our visit to the Library of Congress.  WHAT?!  Well, I guess you'll just have to check back again.  I won't keep you in suspense too long.  And then I need to get back to blogging about those grandchildren, pronto!