Ron and I took advantage of the cooler weather to head to Coleman Lake in the Talladega National Forest just 40 miles from home last week. There is no cell reception there, plus thunderstorms were predicted for the weekend, so we only stayed three nights. But what glorious days we had!
We met some lovely people there, and I embarrassed myself badly by being a terrible chatterbox. When I meet people I REALLY like, I tend to do that.

Orange fringed orchid. For a real eye treat, click to enlarge, then click the picture again to enlarge it even further. It’s gorgeous!
But most of the time was spent out exploring the trails and the beautiful show of jewels that nature provided.
I find I am starting to forget the names of plants. I hope that it’s just from disuse, not from aging! So I’ll present the pictures and allow you to caption the unlabeled ones as you’d like! 🙂