Groupon!

www.helenKbeacham.com

I love Groupon (and LivingSocial)!  They make me want to do things that would not necessarily hit my radar!

About 2 months ago, I bought tickets to Brookgreen Gardens near Murrell's Inlet, SC, and yesterday, my husband and I drove the 1 hr & 50 minutes it took to get there from Summerville.  My goal was to go while the waterlilies were in bloom so that I could photograph them for future paintings!  We meandered through the sculpture gardens for 1.5 hrs (the heat got to 92 degrees before we were done!) and then we stopped for lunch (and COLD drinks) at their restaurant (quiche & caesar salad for Ray and a tomato basil wrap for me).

Here are a few pics of the grounds.  Oh, by the way, they have a wildlife area that you'll enjoy too.  You can drive your car from the sculpture/fountain area to the nature & animals area.  They also have a butterfly house which I didn't get a chance to go into.  I hear they constantly replenish the butterflies, so it should be open and available almost year round.  This is an extra $3/person for adults and something less for kids...it helps pay for the re-stocking of butterflies!

Live Oak trees throughout the grounds.  

Plenty of wide-open spaces for the young ones to feel like they're not on a "museum" tour!  (see close up view of the flowers in the pond, in the pic below).

These are actually waterlilies (of sorts?).  They have "squiggly/fuzzy" edges.  Very unusual.  They're very small...maybe 1.5-2" across.  You can see them from further away (to see their relative size) , in the previous photo of the pond that they were growing in (see above).

Every path led you to another aha moment.  The sound of running water everywhere helped to make you "feel" cooler.

I think this one was called the Fountain of the Muses.  Very playful...joyful!

Lots of welcome shade throughout the structured gardens.

Inside the swamp area.  Birds everywhere!

Ibis.

Bald Eagles.  The kids would enjoy this Nature walk.  Just be sure they're not so young that they'll scare the birds with their enthusiasm!  There was a peaceful, hushed feeling over this whole trail, and rightly so!

www.helenKbeacham.com


Read my latest post!