We headed to Keystone Ski Resort today for some high altitude summer hiking and scenery! Like many of the ski areas in the region, Keystone operates a gondola and chairlift up to the top during the summer for food, scenery, and activities. At Keystone specifically, most of the trails on the mountain are designated for mountain biking but there is a short loop for hiking that goes to a slightly higher elevation.
Continue reading “Keystone”Meadowlark Botanical Gardens
It has been more than a month since we last visited the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Virginia. It has been a rather hot and humid summer so we haven’t been out much. Luckily, today was quite comfortable with clear blue skies, reasonable temperatures, and minimal humidity! In the park, there were still many flowers to see and birds as well, though we didn’t see as many as on previous visits. But overall, it was still a great place to be!
Continue reading “Meadowlark Botanical Gardens”Middle Patuxent Environmental Area
We were in Howard County, Maryland today and decided to visit the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area. It covers a large area along the Middle Patuxent River and contains various trails. We ended up doing the Wildlife Loop Trail by the main parking lot. It was a bit wet and muddy at places but we got through it.
Continue reading “Middle Patuxent Environmental Area”Meadowlark Botanical Gardens
We decided to visit Meadowlark Botanical Gardens again today, late in the morning before heading to lunch in Fairfax. While we didn’t find any Baltimore Orioles this time around, we did see many birds and pretty flowers! We also saw our first Purple Martins, a species that we’ve never seen before!
Continue reading “Meadowlark Botanical Gardens”Lotus Season at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens
The lotus flowers at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens have begun to bloom! We made a late morning visit to check them out. Its not peak yet but there are some very beautiful examples already! Peak bloom is currently expected to occur in three weeks.
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