Lost Among the Shoots

The other day, after our sunflower farm visit, we made the trip to RI institution - the Fantastic Umbrella Factory. It's a place down in Charlestown and it kind of defies description. No, the do not make or sell umbrellas. It's a collection of small artisan and souvenir shops on a wooded property along with animals (goats, chickens, emus, ducks, and other fowl), a greenhouse, and a small cafe.

Benj and his surf hair

There are wonderful gardens all over the property and in the back there is a bamboo forest. I hadn't known it was there but we happened upon it and decided to explore. Julia was not too certain about this plan because as we were heading in she overheard some other folks talking about getting lost. I'm sure this was easy to imagine from her perspective because it was thickly wooded bamboo, towering over her head!

The explorers venturing into the forest!

a little nervous about whether we would make it out

she found the way back!

 It was a fun adventure and Julia was thrilled that she got us out safely! We then went onto the greenhouses where we happened upon a garden snake (Benjamin's first sighting of one outside of a zoo). We watched him slither away for a little while (as Lyndsay and I did our best to stand there and not act freaked out as neither of us is a fan of snakes) and after he disappeared into some plants Benjamin's response was "we need to go find him. I want to pet the snake." I am glad that he did not have a response of fear but that won't be happening while I'm standing there!