Adventures at the NC Botanical Garden

I took Kevin to the local botanical garden with my membership+one card.  We looked at the displays around the main building and spotted a birdwatching area.  Kevin saw a Cardinal and I saw a Downy Woodpecker.  Then we spied a gate into a forested area with trails, so we left the garden and went "hiking."  We heard an Eastern Towhee (drink your ~tea~), Chickadees and saw a Turkey Vulture.

We saw this flower in the woods.  It looked like a Trillium to me, so I Googled "trillum red," and that is what it is!  Later we saw a section of the garden with hundreds of them.  We also saw a Pitcher plant.

We came across a bridge and you can't keep boys out of water!!!

I sat for a LONG time while he waded.  He even saw some little fish. 
We finally went back into the garden to see the treasures there.  They have a section of carnivorous plants, so we went looking for that.  Next we ran across this amazing chess set.  The pieces were all in disarray.  Kevin put them all in order, then played a game against himself until he was stuck in checkmate on one side and won on the other!  He reset the chessmen.  As we were walking away a family came along and started playing.

We were privileged to find an anole eating a fly!!!  A garden worker told us what kind of lizard he was. 

She told us about other things in that area including a Bloodroot plant, showing us the roots which have a red liquid looking like blood!