Orchid Hunting

This weekend, Greg and Graham took me to the Northeast Kingdom to go wild orchid hunting in the cedar bogs about Lake Willoughby. We stayed at Graham's mother's beautiful hilltop home above Lyndonville on Saturday night and ventured out on a misty and chilly Sunday morning, accompanied at first by Lyle, a hilarious and extremely self-assured albeit feminine looking curly haired dog. We were all four soaking wet after about 10 minutes in the woods, and by the end of the day, Greg had one leg in mud and another in water. I was happy just to be in the woods and was trying my best to not make a big deal about seeing any orchids in case we didn't. Graham, in rubber boots, really showed us Flatlanders up, scoring all three orchid sightings of the day. In all, he scouted three varieties of lady slippers: snowy pink and the two pictured here, small yellow and white. We missed the fringed orchids and the grass-pinks, but maybe we'll see them some other day. Greg took these beautiful photos.


Ballet Slippers?

Lake Willoughby in the Mist

Small Yellow Ladies, look at those curls!!

Besides orchids, we saw tons of beautiful blooming lupines, a couple of waterfalls, gold thread and other rich woods plants, and we spent a lot of time "looking" at chocolate bars. In the afternoon rain, Graham determined to take a dip in Lake Willoughby, which was probably about 40 degrees. Just putting my toes in gave me a permachill for the rest of the afternoon. On our way home, we saw a wild black bear! It was a really fun, relaxed overnight and great to see wild orchids for my birthday!