Yesterday's Pictures

It was very late (or early, depending on your point of view) when I posted our vacation pictures last night. Here is a brief explanation of a few.

The green bug is a katydid. It looks like a leaf, is related to the grasshopper, and has ears on its front legs. There are so many of them in the woods around our cabin, it is almost deafening outside at night.


There are huge gatherings of swallowtail butterflies everywhere in the park! There must be something blooming right now that the caterpillars or butterflies love because there are so many of them. The yellow ones are tiger swallowtails, and I think the dark ones are pipevine swallowtails. They are beautiful and the kids love them. It's kind of amazing to stand in the midst of all the green trees and have all these brilliant butterflies circle around you. Very cool!


The kids had fun climbing on the rocks in the stream. The water is SO cold. It's making us rethink our tubing plans; the jury is still out.

The mountain picture was the view from Clingman's Dome yesterday. The first picture is from the Newfound Gap observation point. It was really hazy in the mountains that day.

The birds are cedar waxwings. They are called waxwings because the tips of their tails and wings look like they've been dipped in wax. I think the gray one in the tree is a juvenile, but I'm not sure. The 3 birds were flying together. They are such pretty birds.

Tyler was climbing a tree at the picnic area while waiting for dinner to cook. We grilled burgers and made s'mores. Yum!

We had a good day.