We visited the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in southern Virginia. I love the name. I had wanted to go back in the fall when we were first in VA, but Hurricane Matthew threw off all our plans. So now we're camping in Merchants Millpond, just like I wanted, and we hit the Dismal Swamp in the morning of an errand-running day. Here, G is learning about the Underground Railroad and the people who ran to the swamp, but didn't leave it to go north. It was fascinating to think about HOW they managed in the swamp, and the bargains they struck with other people in the area to get what they needed in return for work.
We stopped to look at the turtles. This is on their wildlife drive, which are kinda hit or miss for spotting wildlife. The first time we stopped, I got out of the car to take a picture, and the turtles all slid into the water as quickly as they possibly could. This time, I got the picture, and on my way back to the car, I noticed something in the water that made me take pause. Note the snake to the left. It was just laying there, not moving. Bill asked the ranger about it when we returned to the visitors' center, and was assured that it was a snake who's just kinda lethargic. Good to know.
There were several boardwalks along the drive. Our van is a bit of a beast, so parking it was very challenging in a lot of areas. But when we did do the boardwalks, it was beautiful. So much green around, simply amazing. And we got to hear an incredible assortment of birds, frogs, insects....totally cool.
Driving along, we saw this dude in the water from quite a distance. Bill stopped the car, we stared for a while, took our picture, and kept cruising. He's a cottonmouth. Pretty dangerous snake. I'm glad we were in our van. When Bill talked to the ranger about him, he said the fact that the snake's head was up like this was a sign that he was not happy we were there. But I contend that his unhappiness was NOT due to us, because we saw him with his head up like this for a while on our drive. Nevertheless, an agressive posture.
At the end of the drive is the lake with this beautiful dock and boat launch. We didn't see anyone on the water, though it was certainly a beautiful day for it.
We saw tons of turtles right by the lake, on the way back to the car. K and I were mesmerized, and the boys were quite frustrated with us taking our sweet time getting back to the car. On the drive back, though, I made Bill stop the car because I saw green moving through the water very quickly. For whatever reason, I thought it was an otter. Nope! We got to see a beaver bringing stuff back to his lodge. Pretty sweet deal!
We had errands to run in the Chesapeake/Norfolk area, so I got in touch with some old buddies from our NOVA days, and they met up with us at Costco. This trip has really been great for catching up with old pals. What a great way to end the day!
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