Thumbelina

These oversized weeds remind me of Jumanji--specifically the carnivorous plants in that movie that attempt to eat humans with rather fevered relish. You'd think the photosynthesizing things hadn't seen a decent meal in years. These plants hardly devour adults, but they do have a bite. Giant hogweed (as I'm told this plant is) is similar to poison ivy; contact with skin can cause a painful rash...something I was wholly aware and paranoid of as I climbed among the oversized leaves and spiked stems. My self-preservation instincts often come second place to my drive for a good picture, so I braved the rain, crawled under leaves, sat beneath their canopy and hoped that my layers would protect me from the apparently poisonous sap so I could momentarily look like Thumbelina...