Engorged again

We're a bunch of creek-walkers in this family. One of our favorite summer activities is to head over to Wintergreen Gorge and go exploring. Who needs a path when you can walk right up the creek?

One of the minor issues we had on Saturday was that we've had some rain lately and the creek wasn't quite as placid as it normally is.

With some carefully placed steps, though, we avoided any major mishaps.

I got more chances to practice using a slower shutter speed to capture the water. My exposure isn't nailed yet, but it's better!

Spikey came along with us this time and had a blast. Funny thing about that dog...he's got a bit of a water phobia. We really had to coax him to get him to go into the creek a lot of the time, but I think he got the hang of it.
I think he thought he was going to find something in this hollow tree, but no such luck.

The best part of the trip for Emily, Dan, and Liam is looking for creatures. Against my wishes, they hunt for snakes, toads, and whatever else they can find. And of course it's not enough to just see these critters, we have to pick them up. And sometimes we have to take them home in a bucket for a few days. (GAG!)

Warning....the next few pictures aren't for the creature-phobic!

On Saturday, we found a salamandar....he was lucky enough to get put back.

And we found two small water snakes. (Yes, that's Em holding them. She has no fear.)

This one was a little feisty! (Don't worry...no teeth. It didn't hurt her.)

Now, this last shot is straight out of "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom." Don't say I didn't warn you.

We also found a toad and a garter snake. All the snakes and the toad were put in a bucket. Ummm, duh, family....snakes eat toads. Poor Mr. Toad didn't make it home with us. Of course, Mr. Snake needs to eat too, right? This is what we found after they were in the bucket together for about 5 minutes.


Poor Mr. Toad.