Joan and I have visited Dawes Arboretum several times in the last year, but I've documented only one such. Today's omnibus post catches up with three other occasions.
Wind Sculptures - 9/04/20
In 2020 over sixty wind-driven Lyman Whitaker wind sculptures were installed at the arboretum. Joan and I visited it on a sunny September day. (Click on any image to enlarge.)
Static photos of a kinetic sculpture make no sense, so here's a video clip of several of them (not all sixty!).
We also saw this dragonfly, a slaty skimmer.
The south end of the arboretum grounds holds a large pond.
I have few other photos, so it's time to move on.
Frog Sculptures - 07/30/21
The focus of this trip was "Ribbit the Exhibit," a collection of twenty-four frog sculptures placed around the grounds, none too far from the parking area. They delightfully speak for themselves, but first, two non-amphibian photos. First, a tiger swallowtail.
Then a dragonfly, a female eastern amberwing.
And on to a few frogs ... the focus of this visit ...
Walking the dog.
Riding a bike.
A croaking good concert.
Taking a break.
Watering the garden ... lower right.
Shhh.
Yippee ki-yay!
East Side - 9/03/21
This Friday we decided to return to the east side of the arboretum, much wilder than the main grounds, and reached by a tunnel under State Highway 13. En route to the tunnel, Joan and I stopped to admire an eruption of garden spiders on one of the witch hazel specimens.
The females are many times larger than the males, and there were many of the same size, spinning webs within feet of each other -- siblings?
Those white zigzags are not an accident, but part of the design of the web. The supposition is that the benefit of preventing bird collisions with the web outweighs the detriment of alerting insect prey.
Beyond the tunnel but before entering the woods, we saw butterflies and thistles.
The environment in the forest was much different, of course. At one point we heard a chainsaw, and soon encountered a crew clearing the trail where a tree had fallen across it. Joan and I stopped for a chat.
Fresh "Ghost plant/Indian pipes," or monotropa uniflora.
The woods had their own, more circumspect, orb weavers. I took this photo just as the builder plunged out of sight on a silken thread. I'd gotten too close!
This nut of the American beech caught our eye, too.
Dawes Arboretum is a gem, and it's only 40 minutes or less from our house!
For June 10th, the last hiking day of our expedition that began here, Joan and I opted for a number of shorter hikes on the east side of the Red River Gorge Geological Area, picking up several sights while not trekking hours away from the car. After all, we got quite wet the day before.
Rock Bridge Arch
Our first destination was the Rock Bridge Arch, several expressway exits and a winding, unpaved road away from the lodge.
The greeting sign.
A modest loop.
The trail plunged into a ravine. Of course, that meant we had to come back up later. At one point a hooded warbler landed on a handrail just ahead of me, and I halted, but in two seconds it realized I was there and flew off.
We reached the bottom, surrounded by hemlocks and rhododendron. A short walk took us to Creation Falls.
A view from downstream.
Very soon thereafter, the bridge appeared, the only bridge/arch in the Red River Gorge that is over water.
A better view.
After admiring the bridge, Joan and I continued along the loop through this magical forest, and didn't encounter anyone else until near the end.
Chimney Top
We drove back out on the gravel road and then several miles north to the Chimney Top trailhead.
There is a stern warning at the beginning of the short path out to the viewpoint. People have fallen to their deaths going beyond the fence.
A portion of the panorama there. (Click on the image to enlarge.)
Closeups of the features rising out of a green sea.
Zooming in ...
Princess Arch
Back at the parking area was also the trailhead for Princess Arch, just off the top of the prior map, but only a short walk away.
Standing almost underneath it.
A closeup of the far end of the arch; a short loop trail heads out to a point and then returns to the top of the arch.
Looking from the other side.
We spotted these interesting bi-colored leaves here, green on top and pink underneath.
Sky Bridge
To reach the Sky Bridge, second in popularity only to the one at the eponymous Natural Bridge State Resort Park, we drove back down to the main road and headed north.
We expected a crowd, but, perhaps because of the day of the week (Thursday) or yesterday's downpours, Joan and I saw only a handful of other visitors. The top of the bridge is close by the parking area.
No guardrails, but it's several feet wide.
At the far side, the path narrowed,
led to a small viewpoint, and then began to descend, taking us to the bottom of the arch we had just walked across.
I couldn't take it all in with one image ...
panorama mode on my camera wasn't tall enough, and the auto-stitching stuttered.
The path continued level alongside the ridge, whose flanks were often exposed.
The rock strata have seen a lot of torment. Definitely click on this one to enlarge.
Water erosion has also created cups and curves.
There is a short drive from the main parking area to a two-vehicle spot at an overlook; however, the vegetation has grown up and obscured the view. Don't bother with that one.
It's a short quarter-mile to the arch. This photo looks along the side of the arch.
Other hikers standing in front. Now you can see the "arch," which feels more like a rock shelter with a window in the back.
It whistles because the wind blows through this gap, a constriction in the arch's only opening.
A quick walk back to the car followed, and a short drive south to Angel Windows. Angel Windows is also a quarter-mile from its parking area.
Angel Windows As usual, the trail began with a small descent.
A small, preliminary window.
We passed a very rusty-looking bluff.
This formation has lots of arches and windows.
Eye-catching roundleaf catchfly nestled at the foot of the main column.
On our return walk we encountered some eager young boys and their dads. At the parking area the two moms were sitting and chilling with each other.
Angel Windows was our final stop for the day. Cleanup, dinner, and packing followed, and the final day of hiking was done. The next day we drove back to Ohio, having thoroughly enjoyed our first overnight outing (six nights! six!) in a long time.
Static photos of a kinetic sculpture make no sense, so here's a video clip of several of them (not all sixty!).
I have few other photos, so it's time to move on. 
Then a dragonfly, a female eastern amberwing.
And on to a few frogs ... the focus of this visit ...
The females are many times larger than the males, and there were many of the same size, spinning webs within feet of each other -- siblings?
Those white zigzags are not an accident, but part of the design of the web. The supposition is that the benefit of preventing bird collisions with the web outweighs the detriment of alerting insect prey.
Beyond the tunnel but before entering the woods, we saw butterflies and thistles.
The environment in the forest was much different, of course. At one point we heard a chainsaw, and soon encountered a crew clearing the trail where a tree had fallen across it. Joan and I stopped for a chat.
The woods had their own, more circumspect, orb weavers. I took this photo just as the builder plunged out of sight on a silken thread. I'd gotten too close!
This nut of the American beech caught our eye, too.
