Warm Weather Travels: Seeing Green

Hello! My previous blog entry talked about pining for warmer weather. Well, my husband and I did something about it - we drove down to Atlanta for a long weekend. Annoyingly heavy traffic through most of Tennessee and in suburban Atlanta, but that was because it was Friday afternoon. Obviously we weren't the only ones wanting to get away for the weekend! 

Traffic hassles were forgotten last Saturday when we were treated to sunny weather and highs in the low 70's. Took a MARTA train into the Midtown station, where we witnessed hundreds of green-wearing folks lined up in advance of the city's St. Patrick's Day Parade. 

Looked like a fun time, but we had our sights set on Atlanta Botanical Garden. Had been there a few years ago, but we couldn't resist seeing the plantings again. After living with a sea of white (as in snow) all winter, we were starved for some green beyond what people were wearing that day. 

And the Atlanta Botanical Garden didn't disappoint, as my photos will show. 

Planter aplenty of violas

"Earth Goddess", a 25 foot plant sculpture. If I recall correctly, it will be covered in flowers in May. I'm sure that will be a lovely indeed! 

It sure was nice to see the riot of color from these pansies!

The last group of photos are from ABG's "Orchid Daze" exhibit. This exhibit has a different theme each year, with this year's theme celebrating the artistry of French Impressionists Monet, Van Gogh and Gauguin.

The intense colors of the planter and the backdrop were meant to suggest the tropical flavor of Gauguin's Tahitian artwork.

But to me, the orchids themselves are art enough:

I could show off photos of orchids all day, but instead my last photo will show off a more common bloom:

Nothing like daffodils to really announce that spring is here! Ours are still buried under snow, of course. 

While at the orchid exhibit we saw another family from Michigan (identified by the Detroit Tigers and U-M clothing they had on). Like us, they'd driven down for a long weekend excursion as well. 

After our visit to the Atlanta Botanical Garden, we walked to a local thrift store (yes, I look for thrift stores everywhere I go!). On the way we passed a historical marker for a nearby Civil War battle site and what appeared to be a very popular rib shack (line out the door even thought it was an off-hour). 

Made a small purchase at the thrift store and also picked up some vintage goodies at a yard sale we passed by on our walk back to the train station. Will show off what I got in a future post.

So all in all, a very nice day in very nice weather. We weren't wearing green that day, but by the end of it our skin was showing a little red - as in sunburn!