outdoors
-
New Orleans: Botanical Gardens
The botanical gardens might have been one of my favorite places to visit in New Orleans apart from walking around the French quarter and admiring all of the different buildings. The admission is pretty inexpensive even for a family of 6 with $10 for adults 13 and older and $5 for children. It is located in the city park area of town which also boasts the Museum of Art, the sculpture garden, some playgrounds and also a Cafe du Monde. The botanical gardens were very pretty with many plants in bloom and different sections. I loved the long expanses of graces with hedges or fountains. I like the architectural elements…
-
Atlanta Botanical Gardens: Flora
This post concludes my short series focusing on the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. We really enjoyed our visit and this beautiful space reminded me how much I like flowers and plants even if I do not have a green thumb. Not too much was in full bloom when we visited (the orchids area was closed, the tulips were gone and the roses were not there yet) but it was still beautiful. This beautiful plant is a flame azalea: I would have guessed it was a type of honeysuckle. Gorgeous! I used to have a camelia bush… it died! I am not one to water plants so when I try to grow…
-
Atlanta Botanical Gardens: Favorite Spots
When I uploaded the pictures for my Atlanta Botanical Gardens posts, I realized that I wanted to separate them in a couple more posts as I wanted you to soak the beauty in and not be overwhelmed my too many pictures. This post is focusing on different areas of the gardens that inspired me with their beauty or that the boys and I particularly enjoyed. This might be one of the most known features of the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. It was part of a large exhibition some years ago and the “Earth Goddess” is usually covered by many annuals. It is in located in the Cascade Gardens which you reach…
-
Atlanta Botanical Gardens: Origami Exhibit
A few weeks ago, a friend and I planned a playdate at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens with our youngests and after some deliberation, I decided to also take his two brothers as I was already planning to take them out of school early as it was Holy Friday. They really enjoyed our outing and are voting that we get our own family membership to the gardens. We were very thankful to be able to go free with our friend but would love the opportunity to go at any time. It was also Earth day so there were a few activities for the children and the weather was a nice spring…
-
Tips for Hiking With Kids: Spruce Flat Falls
You would think that with all of the hiking we do on vacations and on the weekends that we would be experts about hiking with our kids. We have hiked with them since they were babies, first in carriers and then a combination of carrier and walking until around age 4 when they walk all of the way. On this hike at Spruce Flat Falls, we encountered some difficulties with extreme crankiness that could have been easily solved with my number one tip! Tip #1 Bring snacks and water! This is the only hike where we left both in the car and it was not a happy mistake: the complaining…
-
Recap: Hiking Outfits for the Great Smoky Mountains
I packed a variety of comfortable clothes for our spring break and put together my outfits by rolling them in my packing cubes. It took less space and made getting dressed easier. I did purchase a few things on this trip and I will share those items soon. Here is a recap of what I wore and which activities we did on those days. This is what I wore when we hiked Laurel Falls Branch except that this sweatshirt is a souvenir sweatshirt I picked up in Townsend on the way back. We spent the evening by the river and made a fire. I did not attempt to fish as…
-
Cades Cove: Great Smoky Mountains
I think this was my favorite nature outing of our spring break. It mixed history, views and wildlife and I plan to come back next trip since you never know what animals you may encounter. Cades Cove is a 11 mile one way loop in the Smoky Mountains near the entrance in Townsend, TN. There are historic buildings you can visit, many side stops where you can pause your car and take pictures of the scenery and depending on which part of the day you visit more or less wildlife to observe. We went on a rainy and windy afternoon since I knew we would spend most of our time…
-
Laurel Falls: Great Smoky Mountains
Laurel Falls is an 80 ft tall waterfall and is divided in an upper and lower section separated by a walkway. The Laurel Branch falls trail is paved and 2.6 miles long roundtrip. It was an easy trail for us to walk (children ages 4 to 15) and there were several rock formations on the side that the boys enjoyed climbing. I didn’t let the boys climb this particular one as the other side was a very steep drop but there were quite a few they enjoyed. I do recommend bringing snacks and water especially if hiking with kids as that does keep them happier! I made the mistake of…
-
A Picnic and a Hike
I am sharing some pretty pictures from last week today but I wanted to share how the back story is not as idyllic as the pictures. I really try to be out and about several times a week to enjoy the outdoors but sometimes the pictures are more beautiful than the reality or its aftermath. A Picnic I decided to take my youngest to the “duck pond” for a picnic thinking it would be fun and it was. We enjoyed lunch by the water, walked around the pond, too some pictures and looked at the ducks, geese and turtles. What I didn’t think of was the pollen associated with those…
-
Signs of Spring
It feels like it has been a while since I wrote a non fashion post. I have kind of missed it but we have really traveled or gone on any special outings. Weekends have been busy or relaxed depending on our mood but one thing we have done is enjoying the sunshine when the sun is out. A couple of weeks ago, the youngest and I had a picnic by the river and I took these pictures. Most days we just eat on our porch or go outside in the afternoon to enjoy the mild weather but sometimes it is nice to have some pretty scenery to enjoy. I don’t…