Our Visit to Gibbs Gardens at Ball Ground, North Georgia

 Having seen lovely spring bulb photos on FB from a local friend, I started exploring this special Botanical Garden in North Georgia: Gibbs Gardens

Avoiding the Easter weekend due to the crowds on the road as well as here at the Gardens, we booked a ticket on line for April 8.

Very easy, having our Senior Admission on our iPhone... we were in!

At the welcome center we were greeted by the friendly resident kitty Spot and he was easy to cuddle with.

Fed and cared for by the workers and during winter when they close, he moves downstairs inside the welcome center and is being fed daily by workers that need to tend the 220 acres of garden...

We started out walking around. 

Lovely setting and plenty of Japanese maples to admire

However cloudy all day, we had NO rain!

18℃ or 64.4℉

There were PLENTY of benches for resting and taking in the beauty of the gardens!

Plenty of tulips were still blooming

In the Japanese Garden, don't know what the sign above reads...

Lovely Cherry Blossoms!

This cherry tree is budding out...

We just leisurely walked our 4.3 km or 2.67 mi

The elevation ranked from 400 m or 1,312 ft to 550 m or 1,804 ft

Rolling hills with views from different heights!

Last year they ranked 2nd amongst 'BEST AMERICAN BOTANICAL GARDENS'

This all began in 1980 as a private estate of 300 acres or 121.4 ha and after 30 years it became a world-class public garden!

Back to our Hyatt Regency Suites Atlanta Northwest... We enjoyed two free award nights; one of the perks when staying with one good line of hotels!

Hyatt Regency Suites Atlanta Northwest | previous post

Pieter Picking up his Campbell Colleagues and showing them TULIPS in The Netherlands | massive tulip display

Pieter Picking up his Campbell Colleagues and showing them TULIPS in The Netherlands

 We had been in The Netherlands since April 21, 1984. After a business trip to Switzerland and also to Ireland, on May 6, Pieter drove back in our rental car to the Schiphol/Amsterdam airport.

Picking up his Campbell Soup colleagues and treating them on the way south to Limburg by stopping by some real tulip fields.

These tulips are NOT grown for their flowers but for the BULBS only!

got this info from 'bollenstreek.nl'

Quite a sight these rows of tulip by color!

Pieter's Campbell Soup colleagues were quite impressed and had to capture this sight...

Pieter in return captured them.

That was a perfect welcome to The Netherlands!

Amazing Tulip Fields short 3 min. YouTube video

Mom got called MOVIE STAR for once she was the CENTER of ATTENTION!

 

Now 25 years ago but this is such a dear memory of my Mom!She NEVER was the CENTER of ATTENTION before...Always a hardworking Mom and without any complaining, she helped Dad in the fields and greenhouses and ran the entire household for nine!Sure, I've helped her a lot but she never had time off, for visiting with a friend or seeing her own Mother. Mom never had a driver's license, so she was pretty much stuck in her kitchen and home.Dad on the contrary, being a member of two choirs, had to perform regularly, and he sang solos and got lots of attention. Mom was proud of him! She was an ANGEL and one that never complained...On March 20, 1996 Mom & Dad flew together with our friend Marianne, who'd visited her son in The Netherlands, from Amsterdam to Atlanta.So I found it was time for giving her a special gift! On Friday of March 22nd, Pieter went with Dad to his Rotary Club meeting. Just Mom and me, we drove to the next city, about one hour away and we both had Glamour Shots made as it is called.Mom had NO makeup on, only some powder for reducing shine and LIPSTICK!Her hair got done with big rollers and then all the garments came out.The photographer had asked me ahead of time, some Dutch words so he could give her his commands in HER language. Mom was so charmed by him and he even spoke Dutch she later in the car said!Dad was quite impressed when we both got home, she still was radiating, so happy and relaxed and she felt pampered by so much attention.When we went on Friday March 29, to pick up the photos that I'd selected off the computer screen, Mom & I went out for lunch and some shopping. Returning home, Dad could not believe with what she came home with. One selected photo and all the small ones; he got very 'quiet'...~When on that Friday evening, all friends complimented her, including Uncle Bo, as how young she looked compared to her very 1st visit in 1987, eight years earlier, Mom was in heaven and Dad was very, VERY quiet! Mom even reprimanded him one time, where she said he had to look nice...She called it her BEST GIFT EVER so that made both our hearts sing.A gift well chosen...Next day she had a hard time saying goodbye at the airport, after I'd checked both of them in First Class on my Royal Wing card from KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. They even let all four of us use the Lufthansa lounge which both airlines did share for their first class and business class passengers.We'd purchased Mom & Dad a regular economy ticket but it was a gift, in return for being able to use their car at times when visiting in The Netherlands...
Related links:{Mom Did Wear Many Hats} | Showing some of Mom's glamour shots{Mom Lived 16 Days Short of Her 91st Birthday} | Mom's writing in our guest book after the 1996 visit{Challenge Accepted + Easter Photos} | previous post writing about Mom's visit when we had photo shoot{Happy 89th Birthday Dear Mom} | previous post summing up things my Mom taught me