Meeting Up with Pam

I had started reading Pam's blog, Nomadic Newfies, quite a while ago because she does a lot of hiking and takes beautiful pictures, especially of flowers.  I thought she lived in Wisconsin so when we were on our way to that state, I contacted her and asked where her favorite hikes are.  She did one better and offered to meet us in Kettle Moraine State Forest and give us a personal tour.  Cool.

The first loop she took us on was through the woods on nice wide trails with some rolling terrain.  The famous Wisconsin mosquitoes weren't too bad and we only had to use minimal bug repellent.

Reading her blog, I thought she must be a genius because she always knows the proper names of every flower she photographs.  She confessed that she sometimes has to research them, but she knows a lot anyway.  I loved these tiny Indian Pipe flowers which Pam said she hadn't seen yet this year.

 
Even Ron identified this as Mayapple.  And look!  An apple.

Pam, like all of us, gets up close and personal with the flowers, but she also talks to them.  I didn't hear any answers.

One of my favorites is Queen Anne's Lace.  It's just so pretty.

We were awed by this gorgeous blue butterfly, which Pam identified in her post as a Red Spotted Purple.

And she also identified these Aphrodite Frittilaries

We made a stop at the Visitor Center where Ron could ask all his questions and where I sat in tree sap and almost ripped my favorite hiking pants trying to stand up.

Then Pam took Ron, me, and my sticky pants to the Bald Bluff Trail.  We hiked about 1/2 mile up the bluff before Ron and I admitted we were ready to go home.  Pam was very understanding, although I'm sure she would have kept going.

We really enjoyed meeting Pam who is a bundle of energy.  My excuse is that she is quite a bit younger.  :-D
It turns out I was wrong about her living in Wisconsin since she's over the line in Illinois.  We were actually closer to her when we were at Chain O' Lakes, but it was too hot then for hiking anyway.  We're so glad she was willing and able to meet up with us.  Thanks, Pam.

Oh, and before you ask, I Googled how to get tree sap out of clothes and there were lots of choices, but I went with rubbing alcohol.  I just poured it on, rubbed a bit, and the sap disappeared.  Who knew?