Christine ~ America the Beautiful From Sea to Shining Sea…

The Scuppernong River

Traveling through Greece several months ago, I was amazed how beautiful the country was, however, arriving home I once again realized America is just as beautiful as any country in the world. Stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific we, as Americans, are able to enjoy, rocky mountains towering to the sky, plains, rolling hills, marshes and bayous. I know I’ve left out many geographical features we are treated with seeing.

Our plane touched down at the Raleigh Durham airport and I was able to attend my nieces graduation at Elon University. The gorgeous campus as was the backdrop to the ceremony. After that I traveled the four hours to the Outer Banks. Stopping to eat lunch at a small wayside park, we were treated to information about the red wolf which can only be found in this specific part of our country. The red wolf is smaller than the grey wolf, about half its size. (sorry, no picture).

Pocosin Lakes

The Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge is located in North Carolina’s inner banks. The refuge is home to endangered species such as the red wolf and red-cockaded woodpecker. A pocosin lake is a shrub bog characterized by a very dense growth of mostly broad leaf evergreen shrubs with scattered pond pine.

On June 1, 2008 lightning stuck the refuge and started a wildfire that spread to over 40,000 acres. Fire was not declared out until January 2009.

The Scupernong River

The Scupernong River is a black water river that flows through various counties in North Carolina and into the Albemarle Sound. The river shares its name with the Scupernong grapes native to the area. A black water river is a river with deep, slow moving channel flowing through forested swamps or wetlands. As vegetation decays, tannins leach into the water, making a transparent, acidic water that is darkly stained.