a natural bridge

We made a trip to follow the footsteps of hubby's boyhood treks to Natural Bridge, Virginia last week. You've likely never seen anything like it. Here's a couple photos:

the bridge

Another shot of it (you drive over the top of it on route 11 to get there, you can spy a bit of the guardrail on the top left.

An amazing 1600 year old arbor vitae tree.

This heron was 6 feet below us in the stream. Look at the span of it's outstretched foot. It was very intent on catching a fish.

I spotted this stunningly simple white flower on the forest floor, it looks like a wild morning glory to me, with just the tiniest bit of trailing vine to hint at where it came from.

The girls (we brought along a spare to entertain the tween) found a trio of swallowtails sipping from a puddle under the bridge. Once disturbed, they fluttered about us like something in a dream.