Merchants Millpond State Park

Merchants Millpond State Park is named that because in this area there were a number of merchants that set up this millpond to help with their logging interests. It is no longer used for that and is now a state park. The Millpond has water in it year round. Paul and I rented a kayak at the park and went out into the pond. It was pretty cool. There were many cypresss trees growing in the water and many turtles sunning them selves on logs etc. There is supposed to be aligators in there as well but we did not see any. The Pond was pretty big and it had buoys to mark the way to canoe into campgrounds. We followed the buoys over to the family camp site. Without the buoys you could really get lost. The pond is just full of trees, water lilies and other water plants. I wish I could put a picture on this site but if you want pictures look at Pauls journal. It really felt like we were in the midst of a swamp. That was the big adventure for the day. Small adventures include getting lost in the city of Plymouth and having to turn around at the end of a residential street, then later taking the wrong road at the state park and having to back a block down the gravel road and get back on the road to the correct place to turn. Paul got caught in a thunderstorn but I was lucky to be in the visitors center at the park during the rain. I have really enjoyed the countryside in No Carolina. Today we drove through more agricultural areas and the homes were nice. There were fields that were being worked so the landscape seemed more open as opposed to the many miles we have traveled with trees along the side of the road. Today we passed acres and acres of flowers. One of the workers along the road said it was sage and told Paul they grind the seeds to make pepper. I am not sure I believe that. I will have to look into that. They were sure pretty and nice to see. There are also acres and acres of corn that is grown in this country. Tomorrow we go into Virginia.