Georgia Botanical Gardens

I had to go to campus again today on a two-fold mission: (1) to attend the awards luncheon for my program (I didn't win anything this year...but they wanted people to come support those that did), and (2) to pick up the poster I had printed for a conference on Tuesday. 

The awards luncheon was at the Botanical Gardens and...wow!

I mean, we've seen the signs but we just...never knew. It's like Duke Gardens...but better somehow? Except that it's not connected to campus directly so it's a little less accessible. But it's pretty awesome. 

They have beautiful plants...

...miles of walking trails...a children's garden and play place...lots of things!

I made Rachel pose everywhere to take pictures to send back home to convince everyone we need to come back. And I think we will—Rachel said it looked like a good place to take graduation pictures.

Here she is on a map of Georgia:

Here's a little tunnel thing:

And the cool playground:

Here are some snail statues:

And here's Rachel for scale:

There were all sorts of bridges...

This one was bouncy...

Here's a lovely pagoda torii gate:

Another bridge...

The water garden...

And a little field full of danger hornets (nice of them to warn us, honestly):

I can't believe we've never visited! It's a beautiful space. 

Some girls in my program organized some writing sessions at the gardens over the summer, so perhaps I'll try to attend some of those sessions to enjoy the ambiance...and let the kids play in the gardens.

We'll definitely be going back for grad pictures, I think!