Salamander Hunting

Our first full day of vacation was fairly relaxed. There was some salamander hunting in the morning, a visit to the mall in the afternoon (with the bookstore being the major draw) and then in the evening I got roped into playing in a softball game (which went into extra innings and was finally called due to darkness). Overall, it was a good start to our vacation!

Here's John teaching Ian about pinus strobus (or eastern white pine to the rest of us). Although it looks like he's force-feeding the poor child pine needles, he's actually just poking him with some needles to show him that they are soft. Not sure if that's much better, but Ian now knows pinus strobus, so I guess the offbeat teaching method worked...


Walking around the pond




Hunting for salamanders in the woods


We didn't find salamanders, but we did find dragonflies and ducks!!