Birthday, Garden, and Congaree

Went to Columbia for Ellen's eighth birthday party last Friday. Seems like yesterday when she was water-born in a tiny cabin in Ashe County, NC:

Jen fixed an amazing vegan chili supper and cake for Ellen's guests (and parents) and a cool piñata modeled after their dog Blue:

Their garden has one of the nicest arrangements of raised beds I've ever seen:

Farmer Dan hard at work early Saturday morning:

On Saturday Daniel and I spent a few hours at the Congaree National Park which contains "the largest tract of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest left in the United States." Cedar Creek flows through the park:

The cypress trees are enormous:

The cypress tree roots send up shoots, called "cypress knees," the purpose of which seems unclear to the experts:

Notice the size of these "knees" in front of Daniel:

We didn't see any large wildlife (we saw signs where the wild pigs had been rooting), but the butterflies and other wildlife are everywhere:

The butterflies seem to sense the salt (?) on our skin, landing on my hand and on a vent hole in Daniel's "Croc" shoe. I took a cool movie of the butterfly on my hand opening and closing its wings, but accidentally deleted it off my camera. Bummer:

A huge wasp nest:

Amazing to think of how wild our nation once was—especially how many huge trees once existed—and sad to think how few of these places remain. I was very impressed with this park—the facilities, staff, etc. There are a couple miles of boardwalks and other hiking trails, making it easy to see the bottomlands. I'd like to make a return visit to see more.