Anne and Davy in North Carolina: Thunder storm warning

Hey there,

As you can see we are still connected to the internet... meaning that we didn't actually leave for Pisgah national forest yet.

This morning we heard that thunderstorms would be pretty bad in this part of the state as of the late afternoon, which is why we decided to go hiking in Dupond forest instead.

Our smallish hike to the Hooker Falls (no kidding, that's the name... now don't you go looking for the origin of that name! :-) ) turned out to become a 3 and a half hour beautiful hike to two lakes, and three kind of falls in the best of weather !

Obviously, Davy and I cannot go anywhere without sighting the weirdest wildlife, so... as he didn't know if we were still on the right track I decided to go have a look at the signs. That's when I screamed out loud: 'Davyyyy!!! SNAKE!!! SNAKE!!! SNAKE!!!'.
Ironically, I couldn't move away because my legs were like planted in the ground from fear... I guess shouting woudln't have helped me much, thinking of it now... :-)
I googled my black friend and saw, relieved, that it wasn't the poisonous kind. It's called black runner, long thin body with a tail like a rattle snake... Brrr.... not a fun encounter, I assure you!
Last aminal we saw was a butterfly, really big and beautifully colored in yellow, black, red and blue. It's size was about 10cm ! I have never seen such a big butterfly :-)

As soon as we got back home (3 pmish), I told Davy we could eat out on the balcony but, as soon as I had prepared the table and chairs, I heard thunder and the sky got all dark... 10 seconds to get it all back inside and swoosh! RAINDROP after RAINDROP cooled down the outside temperature.

By the way, with all this humidity, I believe Alaska gives North Carolina a loan of it's state bird during the summer... Yes, I'm talking of the Mosquito. Even though pretty small, they are really bad ! Thank you Nancy for the anti-itch cream you have lying in the bathroom... takes the itching away... :-) We'll replace it!

Tomorrow then, we'll be off to Pisgah for good !

C ya !