Day Trip: Toledo Botanical Gardens

So, yesterday my friend Esther and I drove four hours to Michigan for a bridal shower being thrown by her fiance's family.  We had a nice time at the shower and Jason's family is as nice as he is... but the highlight for me was definitely our stop at the Toledo Botanical Gardens on our way home.  We had seen the sign from the highway on our way there and both Esther and I instantly wanted to stop but decided it would be the perfect detour after the shower. 

I looked up the gardens on my iphone just to make sure of the hours and the admission.  Conveniently, the gardens are open til dark seven days a week and admission/ parking are free!  We parked, grabbed a map from the welcome station and proceeded in awe into the gardens. 

From the parking lot we could see and hear a wedding reception in the large grassy area in the middle of the gardens.  As we wound our way down the paths, we could hear plenty of great wedding music.  Not only that, but at one of the gazeboes, there were two lonely wedding favors left on the benches- big round, woven fans- just what we needed in the 90 degree heat. 

This was my favorite garden- the English Garden.  All I needed was a book and an iced tea and I probably would never have left.  In the future, I would pack a picnic lunch and spend the day rotating from garden to garden and bench to bench. 

Travel tip:   For a great one day vacation, take advantage of free admission sites in nearby cities and pack your own snacks/ meals.  You can save tons of money (since all you are really buying is gas) and are more likely to eat well. 

I am used to seeing geese and ducks like crazy in the park near my house.  There were plenty at the botanical gardens and even a few aggressive ones that we had to speed up to get by.  But, these swans took my breath away!  Not only are they gorgeous and graceful, but they swam right up to us from all the way across the pond!  They probably thought we had food for them, which we didn't but it was amazing to get an up close look at them.

Other than the English Garden, there was a Rose Garden, Pioneer Garden, Grass Garden and an Herb Garden.  Another great garden was the children's vegetable garden.  There were several varieties of peppers, lettuce, huge patches of chives and tiny little eggplants- too cute!  More to come on my own little backyard gardening attempt...

Here is Esther by a statue called "The Bird Lady" which totally reminded me of Mary Poppins! It was all I could do not to burst into "Feed the birds, tuppins, tuppins...."

Esther and I eventually meandered back to the car, stopped for a not so quick/ healthy bite to eat and drove the remaining two hours in a major heat lightening and rain storm- an intense end to a really lovely afternoon.