A very full day

WHEN? Friday · April 23

WHERE? Bellingrath Gardens and Home · Theodore, Alabama

Since the Fairhope Pier was on our way to Bellingrath, we made a stop there and took a few photos and walked out to the end of the pier and back to get loosened up for all the walking at the gardens.

We knew we were missing the display of azaleas, which had already passed. You can read about this in an April 10, 2010, article by Bill Finch at Azlaeas of Bellingrath; Gardens welcomes city’s famed blooms

BUT, there was plenty to look at and take photos of, which also included lots of walking. We thought we were never going to find the the Japanese Garden, which is now called the Oriental-American Garden, but we finally found it. Once we were in it, we began to think we were being held captive and would never get out of it. Finally we exited at the entrance where we came in. By that time, we were "Bellingrathed out" and hungry. The Magnolia Cafe near the garden entrance was in the process of closing by the time we got there, but they still had tuna salad and chicken salad sandwiches, which our appetites were more than prepared for.

Wendell pulled a fast one on us as we left there, and we returned a different way. Boy, was it a different way. He figured out a way to get to Dauphin Island and take the ferry from there back to the Mobile area on the other side of Mobile Bay.

You will not believe how many photos we took as well as two videos, which you can view at:

2010-04-23 Hatfield's Visit