A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 262

19/September/2015, Day 262.  Saturday.

Today we woke up "early-ish", (I'd like to say "early", but Old Grump had trouble getting out of bed), and drove over to Callaway Gardens.  We had a great time there!  Here are a few pics of our adventure.

We gathered in the kitchen to get a quick breakfast before leaving.

Kuya and Dodong eating breakfast

Sweetie and Lola posing in the kitchen

Grump has managed to develop high blood pressure.  To help him, Sweetie has been making herbal teas for him to drink which are supposed to help keep your blood pressure under control.

Making Grump Lemon Grass and Ginger tea

After a 90 minute drive we arrived at the gardens.  Hooray!

Kuya, Lola, Sweetie, and Dodong getting ready to go walking in the gradens

Even Old Grump is ready to walk!

Scenic view in the gardens

First we got lunch at the cafe in the discovery center .........

Lola, Kuya, Dodong, and Sweetie having a snack.

...... then we set off walking!

Grump and Kuya crossing the bridge .....

..... followed by Lola

First stop was the Day Butterfly Center, where for the entire month of September the beautiful Blue Morpho butterfly is featured.  But first, some tree climbing was required!

Lola and Kuya climbing.  Butterfly Center in background.

The Butterfly Center is filled with gorgeous butterflies that display brilliant blue as they fly.  Grump tried and tried to capture several of the butterflies in flight, but his photos are a poor substitute for actually seeing the butterflies in person.

Blue Morpho butterflies

More Blue Morpho butterflies

From the Butterfly Center we made the long walk to the Sibley Horticultural Center.  It's a pleasant, mostly shaded walk along a paved trail, (great for a stroller!), through a scenic hardwood forest.  The Horticultural Center itself is a neato place for any plant lover to hang out and admire the flowers and greenery.

Kuya had his doubts about what you may come across in the Horticultural center.

Suspicious Kuya

You may just encounter an Old Grump!

Harumpf!

There are nice little kiddie sized benches and tables in some of corners of the conservatory.

Kuya on a kid sized bench

Of course, some folks refuse to admit they are no longer kids!

Kuya and Grump at the kiddie table

Get outta there Grump, you're too big!

One of the cool plants in the conservatory was this pineapple.

A Pineapple

Kuya met a G.T. yellowjacket.

Hi There!

Sweetie was sweet and beautiful!

Sweetie amongst the plants

Not all our time was spent walking ....

Taking a break, relaxing on a swing

After we were done walking, we decided to drive down the road to Pine Mountain, and see what was there.  We were hoping we could find a place to get a snack, and lo and behold, we found "The Bakery and Cafe at Rose Cottage".

Where we had a snack.  (Yes, that is Grump in the reflection!)

It was quite a pleasant surprise!  We got there too late for lunch, and too early for dinner, but Grump and Sweetie did have some of their corn chowder, and it was super yummy!  Kuya slurped down a chocolate mousse all by himself, and Lola had a croissant.

We also bought some loaves of artisan bread.  Now watch out!  While very delicious, the bread ain't cheap!  If you aren't willing to spend $5.00+ per loaf, you'll probably want to stick to the mass produced stuff you can buy at the grocery store.

We got home in the early evening, and after our long walk and drive just enjoyed relaxing.  Later, as it began to get dark, Grump got an irresistible pyro urge, and using the portable fire pit that we had retrieved from someone's trash last week, built a little fire.

Our first fire in our "found" fire pit

Unfortunately we didn't have any decent wood laying about, so Grump used some boards from the broken fence in our backyard.  As that wood is treated with God-only-knows-what, it's not the healthiest thing to burn, and you certainly don't want to inhale the smoke.  But at least we built our first "backyard bonfire".

Goodnight all!