Life on Paws and Wheels

Simba and I visited Historic Brunswick Town and Fort Anderson in Winnabow, North Carolina , one of the most fascinating historic sites we've explored along the Cape Fear River. What makes this place especially unusual is that two dramatically different periods of American history occupy the same ground. The archaeological remains of an important 18th-century colonial port lie beneath and alongside enormous earthen fortifications constructed almost a century later during the Civil War. Walking through the site is therefore like exploring two historic places simultaneously. Brick foundations reveal where colonial homes and businesses once stood, the towering walls of St. Philip's Church survive from the 1700s, and massive Confederate earthworks cut directly across portions of the abandoned town. Beyond them flows the Cape Fear River, the same waterway that made Brunswick commercially important during the colonial era and strategically important during the Civil War. For Simba an...

Simba and I visited the Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden in Wilmington, North Carolina , a small but extraordinary preserve filled with Venus flytraps, pitcher plants, sundews, and other carnivorous plants. What makes this place especially fascinating isn't simply the number of unusual plants growing here. Wilmington sits within the remarkably tiny region of the world where the famous Venus flytrap naturally occurs in the wild, making a visit here completely different from seeing one growing in a greenhouse or sitting on a store shelf. The garden occupies less than an acre within Piney Ridge Nature Preserve , yet an impressive variety of carnivorous plants grows within its wet, sandy habitat. Wooden viewing areas and paths allow visitors to look across the protected bog and search for individual plants without trampling the sensitive environment. Some of the plants are large and immediately obvious, while others are tiny enough that you really have to slow down and look care...

Simba and I hiked through Jones Lake State Park near Elizabethtown, North Carolina , exploring forest trails surrounding a shallow, tea-colored lake formed within one of the strange geological features known as a Carolina bay . At first glance, Jones Lake might look like an ordinary lake surrounded by forest, but its unusual shape, shallow water, distinctive ecosystem, and fascinating history make this state park considerably more interesting than I expected. Our hike took us through a landscape that continually changed as we traveled around the lake. Sandy stretches and longleaf pine forest transitioned into dense vegetation, wetlands, boggy ground, and boardwalks, while short openings through the trees occasionally revealed the dark water of Jones Lake. Pond cypress draped in Spanish moss grew along the shoreline and directly within the shallow lake, creating some of the most beautiful scenery we encountered during the hike. The park also has a particularly important place in North C...