McGowan Falls and Other Treasures

Yesterday we drove down to the tiny hamlet of Varney to meet my sister and her husband at Pebbles, a popular restaurant in the area, about an hour away.  It's a large buffet style place, and can seat a lot of people, in three different rooms that all feel a reasonable size.  It's built out of the old Cardinal Motel, a place my family stayed at once when I was about 14.  This was a belated birthday visit for us two guys.

There was a picnic area and playspace right beside the parking.  Someone had obviously spent some seriosu time building these very creative swings and slides!

McGowan Falls is right on the edge of Durham, the town about 5 minutes north of Varney and right on our way home.  It reminded me of the visits to waterfalls I used to make, carrying my larger Nikon camera and tripod, trying to get shots of the water falling in different parts of the view.  This time the warning signs were new, and quite direct.  (I don't want to be threatened with drowning!).

The signs were certainly large and visible!  Makes me wonder if there hadn't been a drowning.  There is a large millpond behind the dam.

We drove on halfway home before we did some ditch diving as we drove through a swamp.  This patch of Trillium was enough for Mrs. F.G. to pull over and stop.

There were also hundreds of Coltsfoot, now gone to see and looking quite fuzzy and hard to photograph.

My favourite find in the ditch was this large White Trillium hiding behind some grass blades.

Too many photographs already, but here's a final ditch find, a healthy big clump of Marsh Marigold with their bright yellow blooms.