Happy Monday!

Wishing everyone a great day and a happy new week!

"An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day."

"A walk in nature walks the soul back home."

"We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone."

Comments off, enjoy your day!

Happy Monday

Wishing everyone a great day and a happy new week!

"Never ruin a good day by thinking about a bad yesterday. Let it go." 

"Holding on is believing there is only a past, letting go is knowing there is a future."

"We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone."

Comments off, enjoy your day!

Saturday's Critters # 556

 Welcome to Saturday's Critters! Hello and Happy Saturday!

 If you love all God's creatures like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!

1. June 11-12th, hubby and I enjoyed an overnight trip to Shenandoah National Park, we like the Skyline Drive, hiking on the Limberlost trail and stopping at all the overlooks and of course the trails at Big Meadows. Below are photos from Shenandoah, birds that were seen and wildflowers and scenic views. 

2. Below are the Eastern Towhee, a Veery and I am guessing the Eastern Wood-Pewee.

I've been using the Merlin Bird Id app on my phone while I am out hiking, below are two screen shots of the birds I could hear while hiking on the Limberlost Trail. 

The Eastern Towhees were heard and seen all along the trail. 

3. The Mountain Laurels were blooming beautifully along the Limberlost Trail.

4. The Mountain Laurel blooms were either white or a pretty pink color. 

5. Our walk on the trail at Big Meadows , we saw some butterflies and lots of wildflowers. 

My first of the year Monarch Butterfly sighting. 

The speed limit on the Skyline Drive is 35MPH  for a reason, the deer and any wildlife can be crossing the road just around one of my many curves. 

One of the many deer we saw during the two days we visited the park. 

6. Birds seen at the Big Meadows were the Song Sparrows and the Field Sparrows and near the parking lot were the Cedar Waxwings. 

7. Stopping at various overlooks at the scenic views of the Appalachian Mountains, the White-tailed Deer , wild Columbine and an Indigo Bunting. 

8. The Limberlost Trail has always been a favorite of mine, below it looks like I captured a young Brown Thrasher, we saw  family of Wild Turkeys close to the parking lot. 

Shenandoah National Park is one of my favorite parks to visit, it is nice to stay overnight and be able to visit later in the day and early in the morning.  I hope you enjoyed the photos. 

I am linking up to Heidrun's Mosaic Monday  I hope you can stop by and visit Heidrun and check out the Mosaic Monday post.

Thanks to all my visitors and for your past and present comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves and respects wildlife. Thank you for linking up a critter post.

Here is my linky:

Thank you for sharing your critters and post!

Happy Monday!

 Wishing everyone a great day and a happy new week!

" An early morning walk is a blessing for the entire day."

Limberlost trail, Shenandoah National Park

"Be like a tree, stay grounded, keep growing and know when to let go."

"We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone."

Comments off, enjoy your day!

My World, Our World

Happy Monday!

 We went on our first overnight trip to Shenandoah National Park. We spent the night in a hotel at Front Royal Virginia, it is close to the beginning of the Skyline Drive.  We had been watching the National Park website waiting for the park to re-open, some trails are still closed. 

A view of the Appalachian Mountains, Shenandoah National Park.

 We saw a lot of deer on the Big Meadows, pretty views of the park and sky.

The trip went smoothly, it was not too crowded. The only thing we could not do was eat at a restaurant, it was take out only.  We took a cooler with some snacks and water. We hiked our favorite trails on the Limberlost Trail, Big Meadows and a little on the Appalachian Trail.  The Mountain Laurel blooms was just about to open when we were there.

The Scarlet Tanager  was heard singing and seen from the Limberlost trail.  My favorite trail in the park, it is very birdie. 

The Scarlet Tanager is a beautiful color, it really stands out among the green leaves.  Other common birds we saw and heard were the Eastern Towhee, Indigo Bunting, American Redstart and I am pretty sure I saw a Chestnut-sided Warbler hiding behind some leaves.  I heard some Veery too, they have a cool song. 

This fungi was everywhere we looked while walking the Limberlost Trail.   I think the fungi is called Chicken of the woods.

The White-tailed Deer are seen along the road, on the road and trails.  We saw a cute fawn crossing the road with it's mama.  You never know what could be around the next curve in the road.  I wish some drivers would slow down, there is a 35 MPH speed limit in the park.

A view of the Big Meadows..Bathrooms were open, which is important for me.  The Big Meadows store was open but their cafe was closed.   

We planned this trip when we had 2 days of good weather for hiking and it had to be during the week. The weekends are just too crowded.  Overall we had a great getaway, I took lots of photos. We are looking forward to the next getaway maybe the Delaware shores..

Knock on wood  14 days later we have come home virus free and feeling good. I hope everyone is doing well, take care and stay well. Now we are looking forward to our next getaway, I have the urge for more road trips.


What's happening in your corner of the world? Please check out and visit the following memes and links. I hope to see you there.


 
Thanks to Angie the host of  Mosaic Monday

Thanks to LadyFi  the host of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks for visiting and commenting, have a happy day and a great new week!

Our World, My World

 Hello and Happy Monday!

For my post today, I am sharing our day trip to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. We drove on the popular Skyline Drive in the park, from the Front Royal park entrance down to the Big Meadows area. We wanted see to some fall colors and pretty trees, it seems this year is not going to be a good year for colorful trees. Not in this area or at home. Maybe due to the warm weather and or the drought? The colors were spotty, here and there. 

 We did see some pretty red and yellow leaves, the sky was a pretty color blue.

We did see more colorful trees up close, when we took a walk on my favorite Limberlost trail.  There is an apple tree near the parking lot, we saw a large group of horse back riders on the horse trail.

 Me and my shadow, our walk on the Limberlost Trail.  These ferns were pretty.

Some of the yellow colors and trees on the Limberlost trail.

 I like the sunburst and colorful trees on the photo below.

As far as bird sightings, it was too windy. I did hear some Dark-eyed Juncos, Kinglets and we saw a family of Eastern Bluebird at the Big Meadows. 

 It was a windy day, The Eastern Bluebirds were hanging out around this pine tree.

 A view of the colors on the Big Meadows.

The Range View overlook, it was one of our first stops and the last stop on the way out of the park.  You can see the view shows mostly green trees on the mountains, the moon looks small but still bright in the sky. 

Please check out and visit the following memes and links. I hope to see you there. 

Thanks to Angie the host of  Mosaic Monday

Thanks to LadyFi  the host of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks for visiting and commenting, have a happy day and a great new week!

Limberlost Trail and Big Meadows @ Shenandoah

Happy Monday everyone!

I am sharing some more images from our last trip to Shenandoah Nat'l Park. On this day we hiked the Hawksbill Trail first and then we went to the Big Meadows and the Limberlost Trail. We did some walking on this day! 

The flowers below were seen all along the Skyline Drive, such a cheery sight to see. 

We saw a few White-tailed deer on the Big Meadows. 

There were some pretty roadside daylilies along the Skyline Drive. 

The Limberlost Trail is one of my favorite, easy flat walking. Usually this trail is great to see the Hooded Warbler, Redstart, Towhee and the Scarlet Tanager seen below bottom right. 

Another bird I saw on the Limberlost trail was this Black and White Warbler. They move along the tree like the Nuthatches. 

Black and White Warbler.

I hope you will visit the following memes and links. I'll see you there. 

Thanks to Angie the host of  Mosaic Monday

Thanks to LadyFi  the host of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks for visiting and commenting, have a happy day and a great new week!

Our World, My World

Happy Monday, 

I wanted to share some more photos from our getaway to Shenandoah Nat'l Park. We saw a Black Bear along the drive and took a short walk on Big Meadows and my favorite trail called the Limberlost Trail.  

The view from the Range View overlook on the Skyline Drive.

A Shenandoah Nat'l park bird mosaic: Top row are the Red-eyed Vireo, Scarlet Tanager, Hooded Warbler. Middle Row is the Indigo Bunting. Bottom Row is a female American Redstart, not sure maybe a Veery and last a Great-crested Flycatcher. 

Pink Trillium, a pretty wildflower found in the park. 

Some of the Shenandoah Nat'l Park wildflowers. 

A Black Bear seen along the side of the Skyline Drive.  

A view of the Limberlost Trail.  We watched a couple of Eastern Phoebe in this area. 

Not sure what this moth/butterfly is?  

The Indigo Bunting was a common bird seen in the park, they were everywhere we went in the park. 

Thanks for your visit today!  I hope you enjoyed my post and photos.


Thanks to Angie the host of  Mosaic Monday

Thanks to LadyFi  the host of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks for Yogi for hosting Skywatch Friday! 


Check out the links above, I hope to see you there. Thanks to the hosts today. Enjoy your day and new week.


As always I thank you for stopping by and as always I appreciate your comments.