Atlanta Botanical Gardens

This picture is out of order and I couldn't get it to move. It is a great way to start this blog though, because it is so beautiful! The hydrangeas at the Atlanta Botanical Garden were almost as pretty as my little girl!

On Thursday Nana, Amelia and I loaded up to go to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. In preparation for our trip Nana kept Amelia awake during her morning nap time so she'd sleep all the way there. It worked like a charm and Amelia was a happy little gardener when we got to the gardens.

We originally went to the Gardens because they have been advertising the Canopy Walk like crazy around here. It was really neat and pretty, but I don't think it was worth the money they have spent on advertising. It was a lot higher than I expected (a little too high for me) and it was cool how it was just suspended there, but it wasn't very long. I don't know what I had in mind. I guess I thought it would be all over the gardens or something. To sum up my rambling... it was neat and worth seeing but not my most favorite feature.

The girls on the Canopy Walk

One thing that was super awesome was all of the art in the gardens. There were all of these glass blown fruits and sculptures that were absolutely beautiful. There were pears, apples and peaches. They were hanging from trees and placed all in the edible garden.

While we are on edible topics, the first thing we did when we got into the garden was have lunch. We both ordered the special pimento cheese sandwich and edimame sesame salad. The pimento cheese was spicy and homeade and wonderful. And the salad was just as tasty and unique. This is the 2nd edimame salad I have had and I love them both. I will have to google some recipes soon. Amelia even enjoyed the beans. They were flavorful and cold on a hot day.

Pear Tree

Peaches in the Edible Garden

Speaking of the Edible Garden, it was my most favorite part. They had tons of yummy veggies, fruits and everything imaginable. They even had pomegranate bushes. There was a huge herb wall. It was taller than me and wide. The herbs grew out sideways and there were multiple rows of each. I'm not doing a great job of describing this, but imagine wallpaper made of really fragrant 3-D greenery.

There were also 2 greenhouses with nothing but orchids from floor to ceiling. I think orchids are beautiful. I owned one for about 5 months before I killed it. My friend Andi brought it to me in the hospital when Amelia was born. I remember emailing her on Amelia's 3 month birthday because I was SO proud to have kept both of them alive for 3 months. They are some persnickety little things! I can not imagine having 2 full greenhouses of them. But, oh they were so beautiful!

(Like my necklace?!)

Then it was off to the children's garden. Nana and I kept talking about how much Amelia will enjoy this next year. We will definitely go back. There was a treehouse and a fountain to play in plus much more. Such a fun place!

"I'm so big!"

It was a hot but fun day at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. So hot that we had to stop by The Varsity on the way home for a Frosted Orange. It was Nana and Amelia's first time having a Varsity F.O. and they loved it. Nana said it tastes similar to an Orange Julius (which she loves), but nothing compares to an F.O. in my opinion. "What'll Ya Have?" Awesome happiness, goodness, Thank you!

Due to never ending construction in Atlanta we could only turn right out of the Varsity. This meant we had to take a detour to get home and by "detour" I mean I got us lost. We ended up driving by every Atlanta tourism attraction and landmark trying to get home and laughed the whole way. "Hey, I've always wondered where that was!" We finally got in the right direction and made it home. It was a great day and we can not wait to go back.