Wildflowers – Wandering Dawgs

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #342 – Going Wild

March 30, 2025Posted in Birds, Butterflies, Photography, Wildflowers, WildlifeTagged Denali National Park, Everglades National Park, It's a Wild Life, Lens-Artists, Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Photo Challenge, wildlife photography37 Comments

Let’s take a walk on the wild side with Egidio’s challenge “Going Wild”. I love being in wilderness areas and photographing the landscapes, wildlife, wildflowers, and birds I see there. For this challenge I chose images from my three favorite wilderness areas.

Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia

The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is closer to my home than any of my other favorite wilderness areas. We have been there many times and always enjoy the wildlife and birds we see there. The butterflies on wild thistle in the header image was taken in the Okefenokee.

Young alligator in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge

Everglades National Park, Florida

We have visited Everglades National Park in Florida many times through the years. There are several entrances to the park with Flamingo being the most remote area. The Everglades is a bird lovers dream with many varieties all throughout the park. No matter where you go in the Everglades you are likely to see alligators.

Egrets and Spoonbills gathering in a pond near the Flamingo Campground in Everglades National Park

This alligator ignores the human invaders of his territory at Shark Valley in Everglades National Park

Denali National Park, Alaska

Denali National Park is the most remote wilderness area I have ever visited. I loved the feeling of being miles away from civilization while we were there. The scenery is breathtaking and the wildlife abundant. Most of the wildlife we saw was too far away for a good photo even with my telephoto lens.

Celebrating 12 Years of Wandering Dawgs

I started the Wandering Dawgs blog in March, 2013 as a way to document our 4 month RV journey from Georgia to Alaska and back. In the beginning, the only people who read my posts were friends and family. Today, I have blogging friends from all around the world! I recently celebrated the 12th anniversary of Wandering Dawgs! Many thanks to everyone who reads my posts and leaves me comments.

Many thanks to Egidio for this challenge Lens-Artists #341 – It’s a Wild Life

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #241 – Spring

March 25, 2023Posted in Nature, Photography, WildflowersTagged Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge, Seasons, Spring, Spring blooms, spring blossoms22 Comments

Sylvia asks us to show what spring means to us.

To me, spring doesn’t begin on a specific date on the calendar. For me, it is spring in Coastal Georgia when the azaleas and Dogwoods are blooming, when there is new growth in the garden, and when the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations begin in Savannah and Tybee Island.

Forsyth Park Fountain turned green for St. Patrick’s Day, Savannah

To me, spring also means working in the garden beds and watching birds at the bird feeder.

Sometimes we like to travel in the spring. The next images show some of my favorite spring blooms from our travels.

Many thanks to for Sylvia for this challenge Lens-Artists Challenge #241 – Spring

Lens Artists Photo Challenge # 221 – Flower Favorites and Why

October 22, 2022Posted in Flowers, Nature, Photography, WildflowersTagged Flower Favorites and Why, Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge20 Comments

For this challenge Ann-Christine asks us to show our favorite flowers and share why they are our favorite.

How can I pick just a few flowers? I love them all. Flowers make me smile all year round.

Winter brings Camellias and Hibiscus blooms to the garden.

In spring I love to see the Azalea, Dogwood, Day lily, Magnolia and Hydrangea blooms.

The colorful blooms of summer are not only beautiful but often attract butterflies and other critters.

Fall in the garden is filled with butterflies drinking their fill of nectar from the last remaining blooms.

From Texas to Alaska to Virginia and here in Georgia wildflowers always brighten the landscape.

Roses always make me happy.

Many thanks to Ann-Christine’s Lens-Artists Challenge #221 – Flower Favorites and Why

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #195 – Colorful Expressions

April 21, 2022April 22, 2022Posted in Nature, Photography, WildflowersTagged Colorful Expressions, Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge17 Comments

Mother Nature’s colorful wildflowers add beauty to our world.

Many thanks to Anne for the challenge Lens’Artists #195: Colorful Expressions

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #184 – Travel Has Taught Me

February 5, 2022January 22, 2024Posted in Alaska, Louisiana, Photography, Texas, Travel, Utah, WildflowersTagged Antigua, Caribbean, Favorite Quotes, Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge, St. Kitts, Travel has taught me37 Comments

“To Travel is to Live” – Hans Christian Andersen

Travel has taught me that there is beauty everywhere you go if you just take the time to look around. When we were traveling by RV, we always had several major destinations for each trip. At first we just drove between destinations without taking much time to enjoy the places in between.

The more trips we took, the more we enjoyed the out of way places that are often overlooked by travelers. Lake Bistineau State Park, Louisiana was one of those places.

Cypress Trees in Lake Bistineau State Park

I’ve learned that traveling opens up opportunities to try new things, even things that terrify me. Our hike to Delicate Arch at Arches National Park is a perfect example of this. I’m scared of heights and almost didn’t make the hike when I read I would have to walk along a narrow ledge with a shear drop off. With Henry’s help and encouragement, I made it. The payoff was this fantastic view.

Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, Utah

I learned that asking a local is the best way to find out about the area, the history, and the out of the way places to visit that don’t show up in tour guides. One year we spent about two months wandering around Texas when the bluebonnets were blooming. A ranger I met in one of the state parks gave us directions to a scenic drive on a dirt road that we would have never discovered if we hadn’t asked.

“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay home.” -James Michener

Travel has taught me I can learn more about a lot about a place by having conversations with people who live there. At the beautiful Russian Orthodox Church in Ninilchik, Alaska we met two women who manage the gift shop and maintain all the graves. They grew up in Ninilchik together and lived with relatives in Anchorage to attend high school because at the time there was no high school in Ninilchik (there is one today). They graduated together in 1950.

Gift Shop for the Russian Orthadox Church in Ninilchik, Alaska

Travel has taught me to try the local foods. We have enjoyed barbecue beef brisket in Texas, pasties in Michigan, Indian Tacos in South Dakota and Arizona, New Mexico cuisine, local seafood in Florida, Washington and Oregon, pork tenderloin sandwiches in Missouri, Dungeness Crab straight off the boat in Alaska, and so many other delicious things we can’t get at home.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”― Mark Twain

Mark Twain’s quote describes exactly why Henry and I chose to go on our cruise in January. I’ve learned that every day is a gift. None of us know what tomorrow will bring. A single phone call, doctor’s visit, or an unexpected event can change your life in an instant.